Broadcast distribution industry well represented on broadband task force

The biggest challenge facing the new National Broadband Task Force won’t be coming up with a formula to ensure all Canadians have high-speed Internet access by 2004, it will be reaching a consensus among competing groups, according to one task force member. "It’s a question of whether or not you can get everyone to agree. It could work, but you’ve got many parties defending their space and everybody is in a kind of guarded position," Brendan Paddick told CCR prior to the task force’s first meeting last Thursday. Paddick, president of Regional Cablesystems Inc, is among the 35 people appointed last week to the new task force, which includes representatives from telcos, cablecos, fibre companies, equipment manufacturers, banks, universities, libraries, public interest groups, educators, consumer groups, aboriginal groups and a film production/distribution company. Other broadcast industry representatives include Cogeco Cable Inc CEO Louis Audet, Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc chair and CEO Michael MacMillan, Shaw Communications Inc CEO Jim Shaw, and Rogers Cable Inc president/CEO John Tory. Tory says, "I think that one reason that you have people around the task force table that represent every business and every discipline that is involved with communicating with people is because you have to think outside the box." Industry Canada first announced the National Broadband Task Force last October, giving it a March 31 deadline in which to present its recommendations to government (CCR, Oct. 26/00). But a Cabinet shuffle and election call put that on hold. The group’s new deadline is May 31. Its mandate remains the same: to identify the type of communities that likely won’t have broadband access by 2004, and what role the government should play in ensuring all communities are connected by that date. Paddick says the solution is to use technology, or a combination of technologies, that are best suited for each community. "What’s going to work is someone using the networks that are already in place to provide the service," he says. He notes that homes in rural areas could link to a cableco’s coaxial network which could interconnect to the telco’s fibre backbone network, while wireless links could be used to fill in the gaps. Four subgroups created The task force has been divided into four working groups: infrastructure, social benefits and challenges, economic benefits and challenges, and barriers and deployment models. Tory will deal with barriers, Shaw with infrastructure, Baddick with economic benefits and challenges, and Audet with social benefits and challenges. The biggest barrier in Tory’s view is the cost of serving areas with relatively small populations. He supports tax incentives to encourage private companies to build in areas where it may not otherwise be financially viable. He also suggests that fixed wireless or satellite may be more cost-effective for some remote areas. Shaw notes rates for getting Internet access could rise to ensure service to smaller communities, where the demand to be connected is greater because people are more isolated. "It’s no different than when we wanted long-distance telephone competition in Canada. The rates actually had to come up a little bit to let the competition start. We’re saying the same thing – if you want mass deployment of digital and or the Internet, there just needs to be more money there," says Shaw. He adds that ongoing maintenance costs of servicing to rural areas would likely be subscriber financed. Industry minister Brian Tobin would not commit the government to any specific monetary amount to reach the 2004 objective until after the task force presents its report. According to the minister, the government’s financial contribution will be "substantial," and he envisions both private and public sector participation.

Broadcast distribution industry well represented on broadband task force

News | 01/17/2001 5:00 am EST

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