[Advisors] National broadband strategy essential : CRTC chair

[Beaton]

Right on Garth .. I am surprised about Blais¹ call for the telecom
industry to be involved. This was tried by the Liberal government in 2001
with the National Broadband Task Force made up of industry reps making up
about 90% of the task force. The resulting ³New National Dream² made so
many promises with their $4 Billion ask so they could finish the job in 4
years. 

Fifteen years later we are still talking about the gaps, the unserved and
the underserved. Telus executives and their so-called experts today
claimed that the industry will take care of everything if they are given
the time and resources. They said the same thing in 2001 when they said
they could give everyone access in 4 years. Now they are claiming that
Xplornet will deliver the solution for the remaining needs by 2017. I had
to live with an Xplornet connection for several years. They were claiming
it would get better every year back then. Just last week a woman living
outside of Ottawa wrote to me about how bad her Xplornet connection is ..
Very little has changed in the message and the service for those outside
of urban centres.

The First Mile Connectivity Consortium did their presentation last week
(see firstmile.ca/fmcc-team-presents-at-crtc-bso-hearings) and it got
Globe and Mail coverage as well (links available on the same page). We are
asking that the CRTC make the Telco¹s Deferral fund available to
non-for-profit regional and community providers. We are calling for the
establishment of the Northern Infrastructure and Services Fund to support
the construction and operation of the networks that the community need and
desire. The Deferral Fund has millions of dollars available to the
incumbent telecom providers to use to construct infrastructure to reach
unserved communities. The telcos are too busy competing in the rich urban
centre to put any resources into the north. So instead of spending this
money on the northern connections, the telcos supported reimbursing the
consumers a few dollars each a few years back when PIAC pushed for access
to those dollars. It actually made the telcos look good to the masses who
received those cheques and the CRTC were made to look weak. And the folks
in the north remained unserved and underserved.

I would invite TC to consider signing onto this FMCC effort to support our
intervention with the CRTC. We can use all the help we can get to make
sure the CRTC hears and respects the voices of the folks who are
struggling to get connected Š

Brian

On 2016-04-18, 9:37 PM, "Garth Graham" <garth.graham at telus.net> wrote:

>"..... the chairman of Canada¹s telecom regulator called on governments
>as well as the telecom industry itself to contribute to the development
>of a ³coherent national broadband strategy.²
>
>There will never be a coherent strategy as long as that's the expectation
>about the composition of major players. How can we make a dint in that
>expectation?
>
>GG
>
>> On Apr 18, 2016, at 4:50 PM, Marita Moll <mmoll at ca.inter.net> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> With the CRTC chair calling for a national strategy in a speech during
>>the basic service hearings, I imagine we might see some renewed interest
>>in this on the part of the federal government.  See article below
>> 
>> 
>>http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/crtc-chair-makes-strong
>>-call-for-national-broadband-strategy/article29671174/
>> 
>> Marita
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