TORONTO – The fact that Industry Minister Tony Clement doesn’t see or believe in network congestion should be taken as a point of pride by Rogers, according to its SVP Access Networks, Dermot O’Carroll.
During the opening panel session Wednesday morning at the third annual SCTE Canadian Summit, moderator Leslie Ellis, asked O’Carroll asked what he thought of the usage-based billing fracas and about how the Industry Minister (the primary politician who oversees the telecom business in Canada) recently took to Twitter to say he doesn’t believe there is network congestion.
“That’s a big word of praise for us,” said O’Carroll. “It means we’re doing a hell of a good job” staying ahead of Rogers’s customers needs.
“Traffic is growing on the network at a compound rate of 53% per annum,” he continued, which means the company has to double network capacity every year or year and a half “just to keep up with growth.” (On the wireless side, Comcast CTO Tony Werner said later in the panel, that per year compound data growth rate is 92%, meaning Rogers and the other cable/telecom/wireless firms have to continue to spend big on all of their networks.)
“But if something happens where I have to stop, that’s a problem,” added O’Carroll.
– Greg O’Brien
