TIMMINS – It became clear through the first day of the CRTC’s obligation to serve hearing that commissioners would like to set some sort of speed target for service providers to hit when it comes to providing broadband for rural Canadians.
Both chairman Konrad von Finckenstein and vice-chair telecom Len Katz repeatedly asked executives with Bell Aliant, Barrett Xplore and Northwestel if they would accept some sort of megabits per second speed target to come out of this proceeding.
All were reluctant.
While government and the industry has tended to define a base of 1.5 Mbps as “broadband”, most recognize that just isn’t going to cut it when urban centres like Montreal and Calgary can get up to 100 Mbps from their providers.
Von Finckenstein noted that just about every developed nation has set some kind of broadband goals, complete with deadline dates. “People are saying this what our economy needs,” the chairman told Bell Aliant.
He pointed at the 4 Mbps goal the Federal Communications Commission has promised to hit by 2020 as something Canada could adopt. “Should we not do that? As an aspirational goal to try and emulate?”
Henry did not want to talk numbers but did say that if any goal was an aspirational target only, he had no objection.
Barrett Xplore CEO John Maduri did object to a set number, however, saying such edicts from government can often chill capital markets, leading to skittish investors, a drying up of capital and less growth and broadband expansion – the reverse of which a Mbps goal would be trying to achieve.
For example, while the company (and the whole industry) awaited the Commission’s final decision on the deferral accounts and where hundreds of millions of dollars might flow to help rural consumers connect, “for a year, we couldn’t raise a nickel,” said Maduri.
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One of the groups presenting Wednesday is NEOnet, a not-for-profit information and communication technology (ICT) development organization based in Timmins that wants to see infrastructure in the region enhanced. It is led by former Bell Canada and Northern Telephone executive Dave McGirr.
It has put together an ingenious application using Google Earth and tomorrow it will show the Commission the many gaps in broadband service in Northeastern Ontario. Using Google Streetview, the application can show, right down to the house, who has, and doesn’t have, access to broadband in this region.
However, the technology in the Days Inn Hotel will prevent them from showing the app to the commissioners and hearing attendees, so it will have to use slides Wednesday. We saw it though and were pretty impressed.
McGirr also told us NEOnet and others will press the Commission for something the telcos don’t want – those speed targets – and not just the paltry 4 Mbps the FCC has promised.
– Greg O’Brien
