Archive for October 9th, 2009

ISP Funded Report Finds Canadian Broadband Isn’t Awful

Consultants Mark Goldberg and Giganomics released a new report this week on the state of Canada's broadband infrastructure.  Commissioned by Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, Cogeco, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, and Telus, it states as its purpose to "confirm or disprove whether Canada faces a real problem in terms of broadband infrastructure."  Given the sources, there is never much doubt that it will conclude that Canada is doing well and that studies that reach a different conclusion must surely be flawed.  Indeed, the report claims that "we are a broadband leader, scoring in the top ten or better for most international broadband rankings or measures, despite facing greater geographic challenges than most others." 

Yet reading the report, you are hard pressed to find anything resembling a leader.  For example, on broadband speed (download only, the report does not address upload speed), it points to reports from ITIF (10th), Akamai (14th), and OECD (25th).  On price per Mbps, it cites reports from the OECD (which it argues is flawed, 28th) and ITIF (21st).  On broader e-readiness, it points to reports from LECG/NSN (7th), the Economist/IBM (9th), and the ITU (19th).  There may be varying definitions of leadership, but I'm pretty sure none would qualify Canada as a leader based on these reports.

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October 9, 2009 20 comments News

CRTC Calls For Expanded Copying For Private Use

The Government is still in the midst of posting copyright consultation submissions. Yesterday it posted a notable response from the CRTC yesterday.  While it was somewhat surprising for the Commission to participate in the consultation, it used the opportunity to focus on three issues – tariff setting for radio, streamlining […]

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October 9, 2009 7 comments News

Canwest on Watering Down C-27

Canwest covers the fight over C-27, the anti-spam bill, as the Conservatives argue the proposed changes are clarifications, while the Liberals and Bloc don't respond at all.

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October 9, 2009 2 comments News

The Cable Song

United Breaks Guitars singer Dave Carroll joins the fight for fee-for-carriage in a video posted on YouTube.  Not sure if the "LocalTVMatters" supporters recognize the irony.

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October 9, 2009 5 comments News

Globe Confirms Kindle Delay Due to Carrier Issues

The Globe reports that the delayed availability of the Amazon Kindle in Canada is due to ongoing negotiations between Amazon and the three wireless providers.

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October 9, 2009 1 comment News