I received an email last night that was sent to a number of “Undisclosed Recipients”. A colleague of mine tells me that he received 3 copies. The subject line of the email was “We Must Hasten Change – CRTC , Telecom Oligopoly Can’t Survive it. Delaying Inevitable will just Handicap Canada.”
Let me share the entire manifesto with you.
Court case reveals feud among CRTC’s upper ranks – The Globe and Mail
Those of you who follow the Internal Conflict at the CRTC should do what you can to hasten the inevitable.
It’s time to bring down this old institution so that a new shiny one, that understands the game, can take its place.
The World has changed and neither the CRTC or Canada’s Telecom Oligopoly will survive the change.
For the Good of Canada we Must Hasten it if we can.This is the Foot In the Door We have been Waiting For
It’s a story that Invites Follow-Up Coverage.
A piece that does Short Bios on All Commissioners.
And Asks If The Atlantic Region Commissioner’s Seat is Still Empty?
And How much time Each Commissioner spends With A Telecom Lobbyist?We follow your twitter feed and many others, and wish that news of the need for a dramatic change in Canada could spread over the twitter wires. We feel there is a dire need for the CRTC and the Canadian Telecom Oligopoly to cease to exist as they do today. And the sooner, the better. Because the longer they try to hold on in their current form – the further behind our nation falls.
Our opinion of the internal problem at the CRTC is this: It is probably symptomatic of something more than just the harassment issue. We suspect that the heat on the Commissioners from the Telecom Lobbyists is probably higher than ever before because of the changing times. The world as the Telecom Industry once knew it is changing forever. To the degree that they may not even be part of the new world. What happens to an entity (Canada’s Telecom Oligopoly) when its very existence is threatened? Panic. Upheaval. Irrational Behaviour. Bully Tactics. You name it. And so at the CRTC interaction between Commissioners and CRTC staff is tense. Because as we all know the Commissioners are the ones that do the bidding for the Telecom Lobbyists. They might just spend more time with a Telecom Lobbyist than anyone else in their lives. Obviously the Telco Lobby is turning up the heat these days as a matter of survival. So the pressure on the Commissioners is at an all-time high. Tempers flair. Ego gets in the way. Which Leads to interpersonal conflict. It goes public. But this is a by-product of the bigger picture. The changing world. Put it to you this way. If regulators and legislators had gotten their way back when Henry Ford was becoming enlightened. They would have just gotten faster horses. Canada’s Telecoms are in a corner. And there is no way out. Remember, in the end Ford made buggy whips go away.
That is not to say that Blais is squeaky clean. His way of thinking is out dated as well. There are no winners in this. But each side will try to fight to the death. Those of you who follow this should do what you can to hasten the inevitable. Talk about it. Analyze it. Twitter it, if Twitter doesn’t close down. Because the best thing for Canada, would be for the CRTC and the Lobby that runs it, to cease to exist in the form that they are today. All you who write about this industry should be tickled at what you are about to witness. Doesn’t happen very often. It has. Industrial evolution has existed since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. But never has the rate of acceleration of that evolution been like this. You’re all aware of Moore’s Law. The law has never failed. But it will. And you know why. Because at this point no scientist is predicting that we can build a semi conductor where the circuit track is narrower than one atomic width. And if Moore’s Law continues, that is where it will take us in about 10 years or so. Do you think telecoms as they exist today will be in that world?
The Digital Revolution is now moving faster than a stodgy old Telecom Bureaucracy can keep pace. And likewise, faster than the mind set of an old school regulator such as the CRTC.
So don’t get in the way of this. Hasten it if you can. Canada must keep up with the times in order to compete. And if the Telecoms and the CRTC were to have it their way, they would just as soon see things move a little slower. But that would be just handicapping the entire nation.
The United States is on the march to build Gigabyte Networks everywhere. Many Asian countries are already there. Europe and the UK are on their way there as well. There is a Digital Nation just on the other side of our borders that is getting in the Global Game. Canada’s Political System is tone deaf to it right now. Because of the Lobby. The CRTC is a casualty of it. Too preoccupied with the noise of the Lobby pressure on one side and the Political pressure on the other, to be able to see clearly what is happening in the rest of the world.
You have a responsibility and the tools to herald the news. Why wait? It’s time to bring down this old institution so that a new shiny one that understands the game can take its place. Otherwise, not only will Rural Canadians continue to be at a Digital Disadvantage with the rest of Canada. But Canada will be at a Digital Disadvantage with the rest of the world.
Lets get on with it.
Thank you,
Brooke DeCosta Young
Citizens For Rural Wire-Line Broadband Internet
Advocating For ALL Canadians
Deer Island, NB
The Quoddy Tides newspaper reported on the group getting started last November, seeking improved internet service for their community.
There is a palpable frustration with the internet services available to many rural and remote communities. The Quoddy Tides quoted Grand Manan’s Chief Administrative Officer saying “The problem is with local businesses and how important high Internet speed is to our lobster fisheries and others who have to deal with the Internet.” Providing wire-line services to an island is especially challenging because of the sensitivity of the fishery to the placement of an undersea cable.
But that is just one of the issues the CRTC will have to consider in its “Review of basic telecommunications services” proceeding. First submissions are due in two months and the oral hearing is a year away, starting April 11, 2016.