Opposition has emerged to an Industry Canada provisional policy proposal regarding the allocation of the 220-222 MHz band to fixed and mobile services.

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Despite engineering issues and an unproven business model, fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) will play an important role in the emerging "digital home" sector, according to a Motorola Inc. executive.

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Canada’s three national wireless operators spent more money on acquiring and retaining customers in 2005, meaning the battle for the all-important customer appears to be getting more difficult.

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The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.

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Intelligent Transportation Sys-tems Society of Canada (ITS Canada) has taken issue with a recent Part VII asking the CRTC to consider assigning the 511 three-digit code for purposes other than transportation. The group has fired back at the regulatory agency that it has not respected the procedures regarding these situations.

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Dennis Brown has been named executive vice president, strategic business development for Nortel Government Solutions, based in Fairfax VA. The role will include strategic planning, marketing and business development, partner relations, marketing communications and product and service offering integration. Brown spent nearly 30 years in the US Air Force and has extensive experience working with government contractors, federal agencies and the military. He also served three years as director of the Center for Information Management for the Defense Information Systems Agency. He most recently held the position of senior VP, department of homeland security, at Robbins-Gioia. Nortel Government Solutions delivers services, systems and communications that aid the government in ensuring the well being of its citizens.

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Secure Network Access Switch unveiled by Nortel
Nortel Networks Corp. released its new secure network access (SNA) switch, which will allow the company’s Secure Network Access (SNA) solution to be applied to the enterprise LAN as well as the remote VPN applications that it already serves. The SNA solution provides endpoint security by requiring devices trying to access the network to comply with a common set of security policies. "Many security risks to today’s enterprise networks come from internal users unknowingly introducing malicious viruses to the network due to a lack of updated security measures," said Nortel’s general manager of enterprise data networks, Atul Bhatnagar, in a news release. "Enforcing endpoint security within the enterprise LAN is just as important as ensuring secure access with remote VPN users." The switch acts as a security gateway that coordinates a single security policy across the network, working with VPN routers and gateways and Ethernet routing switches.

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Vancouver-based Uniserve Com-munications Corp., one of Western Canada’s largest independent communications companies, has further extended its reach across the country by acquiring Inter.net Canada Ltd. of Montreal, only a year after it acquired Alberta’s Interbaun Communications.

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An application from a variety of groups to use 511 for crisis prevention has upped the ante in the battle for Canada’s last available three-digit code. The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP), which is part of the Canadian Distress Line Network, and the Canadian Mental Health Association submitted the application on February 15.

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Bell Canada and Primus Telecom-munications Canada Inc. have been unable to settle a dispute over customer slamming during a CRTC-mediated investigation, and Bell is preparing to ask the commission to restart the formal process, Network Letter has learned.

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