Post Tagged with: "Wireless"

A Digital Economy Blueprint For the New Industry Minister

Jim Prentice, Canada's new Industry Minister, has been on the job for less than a week, yet his appointment has already sent a buzz through the business community.  With a member of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's inner circle now at the helm, promoting Canada's global economic competitiveness promises to become a core priority on the government's fall agenda. While some political commentators maintain that the issue rarely translates into voter support, my weekly Law Bytes column (Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version) argues that the good news for Prentice is that reforms focusing on digital issues represent both good policy and smart politics.  By prioritizing three issues – communication, copyright, and consumer confidence – he has the opportunity to establish a forward-looking framework that can serve as a model for other countries and provide a payoff at the ballot box.

On the communication front, analysts are divided on whether recent deregulation will result in reduced prices for consumers; however, there is near-universal agreement that deregulation alone is not enough. 

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August 21, 2007 2 comments Columns

A Digital Economy Blueprint For the New Industry Minister

Jim Prentice, Canada's new Industry Minister, has been on the job for less than a week, yet his appointment has already sent a buzz through the business community.  With a member of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's inner circle now at the helm, promoting Canada's global economic competitiveness promises to become a core priority on the government's fall agenda. While some political commentators maintain that the issue rarely translates into voter support, my weekly Law Bytes column (Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version) argues that the good news for Prentice is that reforms focusing on digital issues represent both good policy and smart politics.  By prioritizing three issues – communication, copyright, and consumer confidence – he has the opportunity to establish a forward-looking framework that can serve as a model for other countries and provide a payoff at the ballot box.

On the communication front, analysts are divided on whether recent deregulation will result in reduced prices for consumers; however, there is near-universal agreement that deregulation alone is not enough. 

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August 21, 2007 Comments are Disabled Neutrality

Nowak Argues for Delaying Spectrum Auction

The National Post's Peter Nowak with an interesting post on the merits of delaying the Canadian spectrum auction in order to follow the U.S. move toward greater openness.

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August 7, 2007 4 comments News

NY Times on Wireless Spectrum

The NY Times adds its voice to the wireless spectrum issue (obviously the U.S. spectrum allocation), expressing concern about the current ologopolistic behaviour of U.S. carriers and the damaging effect of closed networks.

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August 7, 2007 1 comment News

Goldberg vs. Saunders, Round Two

Mark Goldberg and Alec Saunders renew their debate on the wireless market in Canada as Goldberg responds to the Ottawa Citizen editorial on the issue.  Much of the discussion surrounds the Citizen's concern about the ability to attract and retain communications companies in Canada.  I believe that the Citizen was […]

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August 1, 2007 2 comments News