Wind Mobile founder Naguib Sawiris is in the news today for comments about his regret of investing in Canada and frustration with the government’s commitment to competition. Sawiris says “there’s no real political will here to introduce competition into this closed market” adding that he won’t bid on in the […]
Post Tagged with: "telecom"
Digital Issues Largely Missing From Ontario Election Campaign
The Liberal platform references the importance of jobs in the technology and media sectors, but offers little else on the digital economy. The Progressive Conservatives are the only party to make a commitment to open government – their platform follows developments in many other jurisdictions that pledge to make government data more readily available for public use – but other digital issues are ignored. The NDP makes no reference to digital policies at all.
The federal government tends to lead on digital policies, though its much-anticipated digital economy strategy is months overdue. Yet for constitutional reasons that grant the provinces jurisdiction over property and civil rights, many important issues fall to the provinces.
Telecom Giants Lure Ex-Cabinet Ministers to their Boardrooms
The political shift toward consumer-focused telecom concerns has unsurprisingly attracted the attention of the large incumbent telecom providers such as Bell and Telus, who have found their regulatory plans stymied by political intervention and the admission by some Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission commissioners that the current policy environment has failed to foster sufficient competition.
My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the incumbent telecom providers recently served notice that they are gearing up to fight back, with Bell adding former Industry Minister Jim Prentice to its board of directors and Telus doing the same with former Public Safety Minister and Treasury Board President Stockwell Day. The addition of two prominent, recently departed Conservative cabinet ministers makes it clear that Bell and Telus recognize the increasing politicization of telecom policy.
Telecom Giants Lure Ex-Cabinet Ministers to their Boardrooms
Appeared in the Toronto Star on August 14, 2011 as Telecoms Lure Ex-Ministers in Boardrooms Telecom policies, particularly Internet and wireless issues, have generated enormous public interest over the past year. Politicians have evidently taken note with all political parties expressing concern over Internet data caps, net neutrality, and the […]
Nowak on Seven Steps for Telecom Reform
Peter Nowak posts seven steps to Canadian telecom reform, noting that the issues are not left or right from a political perspective.






