TORONTO—Although ISED Minister Navdeep Bains' call for lower wireless and broadband prices dominated the buzz at the Canadian Telecom Summit here last week, it was not the only hot subject on the agenda. Far from it, in fact.
During a panel discussion moderated by Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O'Brien, senior officials from Bell Canada, Rogers Communications, Telus, TekSavvy Solutions and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre scrimmaged over such other pressing subjects as software-based competition, low-income broadband subsidies, Wi-Fi-only services, unlimited broadband offerings, the future of the Broadcast and Telecom Acts and the legacy of departing CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais, among others.
In particular, the executives scrapped over whether Wi-Fi-only mobile services and unlimited data and streaming services would be good for the Canadian market. Despite the early popularity of such services down in the States, some panelists contended that they would do more harm than good up here.
For instance, John Lawford, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, dismissed the idea of permitting zero-rated unlimited streaming services like T-Mobile's Binge On from operating in Canada. He staunchly agreed with the recent CRTC decision blocking Vidéotron from offering an Unlimited Music streaming service to mobile subscribers because of the government's concerns about zero-rating and differential pricing.
"They're doing a lot of things in the U.S.," Lawford said, deriding such services as the "cable-ization of the Internet… We maybe don't want to jump off the cliff with them."
But executives representing the Big 3 – Bell Canada, Rogers and Telus – took issue with that argument. Ted Woodhead, SVP of federal government and regulatory affairs at Telus, said concerns about net neutrality shouldn't stop the government from allowing service providers to compete with innovative products and pricing models.
"You have to give the man his due. He has tackled the absolute hardest topics over the last five years." – David Watt, Rogers Communications
"They have every right to try to differentiate their offerings from others," said Woodhead, explaining why Telus supported the rival provider's position in the CRTC proceeding "I actually think it supports competition.”
Bram Abramson, chief legal and regulatory officer for TekSavvy Solutions, bickered with his Big 3 counterparts over whether Wi-Fi-only services should be allowed to take root in Canada. Abramson argued that upstarts like Republic Wireless and Google Fi have stoked competition and benefitted consumers in the States by offering rates as low as US$15 a month for unlimited talk, text and Wi-Fi data. In his keynote remarks at the Summit last week, ISED Minister Bains endorsed the concept as well, citing Republic Wireless as a prime example of what could work here too.
"Has it killed the U.S. market?" Abramson asked. "No. Consumers like having more choice."
However, Woodhead and Mirko Bibic, chief legal and regulatory officer at Bell Canada, countered that such a MVNO service would be doomed to fail in Canada because its limited network range and questionable service quality would turn off this country's demanding consumers. They noted that previous low-end entries like Public Mobile and Wind Mobile both failed to catch on here for similar reasons.
The executives also disagreed over whether and how the nation's Broadcast and Telecom Acts, which are both coming up for review, should be revamped. For instance, while Bibic called for a new Broadcast Act to treat broadcasting and OTT video services the same, Woodhead had no specific changes in mind to suggest.
"I think we can all see why the rewrite will probably take five years," quipped David Watt, SVP of regulatory for Rogers Communications, to audience laughter. "I wish us all well."
One topic on which the three of the five panelists largely agreed was the legacy of CRTC Chairman Blais, who is scheduled to step down from his post when his five-year term ends on Saturday. Whether they agreed with most of his moves and rulings or not, they generally praised him for confronting the biggest issues of the day head-on, no matter how thorny they proved to be.
"You have to give the man his due," Watt said. "He has tackled the absolute hardest topics over the last five years."
Despite prodding by the moderator, neither Bibic nor Woodhead offered any comment at all…
Photo by Duarte Antunes. From left are Greg O'Brien, John Lawford, Ted Woodhead, David Watt, Mirko Bibic and Bram Abramson.
