CITA 2009: Small companies, big challenges

MARKHAM – The 39 member companies of the Canadian Independent Telecommunications Association (those stubborn, often innovative, mostly rural, holdout telcos who never ever sold to Bell or Telus or another bigger outfit) are gathering this week in Markham for their annual general meeting and showcase and seminar program. Some members have launched IPTV, all offer Internet service, some have wireless, some are big into business services – and all face similar challenges as compared to the big traditional telcos. A number of member companies are city-owned or are co-operatives. Seminar topics on Monday covered bandwidth requirements, whether fibre to the...