OTTAWA – Last week Will Amos, the Liberal MP for Pontiac, Que. submitted a Private Member’s Bill asking the House of Commons to recognize the importance of reliable and accessible digital infrastructure to the economic development of rural regions and to the health and safety of Canadians.
He also asked the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology be instructed to undertake a comprehensive study on rural wireless infrastructure, focusing particularly on:
the underlying causes of, and prospective solutions to the gaps in wireless infrastructure deployment in rural Canada
the regulatory role of the CRTC
the fiscal and regulatory approaches to incentivize more…
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CRTC CHAIRMAN IAN SCOTT is most assuredly correct in his request for more power over the placement of electronic equipment, in the light of the approach of 5G technologies.
It is reassuring to see the Canadian regulator is showing signs of active engagement with how Canada will need to adapt to the requirements of 5G. It is also instructive to read how far in advance the European Union appears to be relative to us in comprehending what needs to be done.
5G is one of those annoying terms of technobabble which obfuscate their own significance….
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OTTAWA – The final segment of the 16th Annual Conference of the International Institute of Communications, held in Ottawa on October 31st and November 1st, was unusually staged with the chair of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel (BTLR), Janet Yale, at a lectern on the right-hand side of the stage and moderator Lawson Hunter, senior counsel, Stikeman Elliott and a legend in the regulatory realm on the left lectern.
The remaining six members of the expert panel, Hank Intven, Monique Simard, Monica Song and Pierre Trudel, Marina Pavlović and Peter Grant were seated on high chairs between these…
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OTTAWA – Smart phones and social media have changed the way we communicate and connect with each other. Artificial intelligence will change the way we function.
By 2030, the world will be almost fully digitized, according to Carole Piovesan, the in-house AI expert at international law firm, McCarthy Tétrault. It will be a world “steeped in predictive analytics, in super-computing power and machine-learning algorithms that underpin the majority of human decisions, and in some cases, even replaces it,’ she said at a panel discussion on AI in Ottawa on Thursday as part of the annual conference of the Canadian chapter…
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OTTAWA – As a coincidence, the Senate Committee on Transport and Communications heard as witnesses on Wednesday evening Janet Yale, head of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review expert panel and Monique Simard, one of its members.
Of course, both were attending the International Institute of Communications (IIC) Conference the same day and heard of the challenges the industry is facing but as Yale said in her opening remarks to the Senators: “Our mandate is very much based on generating recommendations in aid of legislative change. For that reason, we intend to push stakeholders to be as specific as possible…
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When U.S. studios go direct to consumer, will anything be left of the Canadian TV industry?
I HAVE A Plan A, and a Plan B.
Plan A is a solid, workable, and absolutely necessary approach. One I and others have been advocating for almost 20 years.
Unfortunately, I am very much afraid that it is now too late. By the time the Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review (BTLR) Panel presents its interim report (due June 2019), and then we have an election, and then the Final Report is delivered at the end of January 2020, and then assessed by a new government,…
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OTTAWA – With ad dollars and attention moving away from traditional media outlets to the subjects everyone knows and frets about (Google, Facebook, et al) and with those same platforms being used to spread lies and hate and disinformation, it’s time to put away the brickbats directed at the CBC and instead pull together, said the public broadcaster’s CEO Catherine Tait.
“Canadian media companies are struggling. Advertisers are increasingly moving their ad dollars to Google and Facebook. Newspapers are folding and broadcasters have had to reduce local news operations,” she said in her Wednesday keynote address to the International Institute…
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OTTAWA – At the International Institute of Communications (IIC), 16th annual Canadian conference Wednesday morning, we quickly got into the heart of the matter with two panel discussions to tackle the Review of Canada’s Broadcasting and Telecommunications Acts.
Two bi-lingual panels of four people each got to have their kicks at the can for almost three hours to offer their points of view, perspectives on how the two Acts needs to change.
To structure the debate, the moderators (Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien and University du Québec à Montréal professor Catalina Briceño) suggested that participants outline what they would definitely…
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From Right Hand Man: How Phil Lind Guided the Genius of Ted Rogers
By Phil Lind with Robert Brehl
IN 2013, HALFWAY THROUGH its mandate, Stephen Harper’s government was looking tired and bereft of captivating political ideas for the next election. It was then that the Conservative PM wrapped himself in his “Captain Consumer” cape and launched an assault upon Canada’s big three wireless phone companies: Rogers, Bell, and Telus.
He and his government were going to lower monthly wireless bills for consumers by cracking the cartel. Harper painted us as Russian-style oligopolists who feared increased competition, which was unfair and…
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OTTAWA – While the main governmental expert panel reviewing the Telecom, Broadcasting and Radiocommunication Acts is only now getting under way, some of the most interesting conversations on the matter are happening now in front of the Senate (who knew?!).
While CRTC chairman Ian Scott appeared today (October 30) in front of the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications, to talk about the Regulator’s needs, last week Canadian Communications Systems Alliance CEO Jay Thomson told the senators about his members’ (115 independent carriers who serve more than 1,200 communities – lots rural – with broadband,…
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