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

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CRTC chair Charles Dalfen recently gave a speech at the 2006 Telecommunications Invitational Forum, explaining the commission’s response to some of the recommendations of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel. He also talked about criticism of the CRTC’s forbearance ruling. The following is an edited excerpt of his April 30 speech.

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The BC Innovation Council has appointed seven new directors to its board, two of which have experience in the communications industry. Greg Aasen is the chief strategy officer at PMC-Sierra, a company he helped found. Over 27 years, he held a number of positions at the company, including VP and GM of the communications products division and COO and CTO. In 1986, Aasen joined MPR Teltech, and later established the Pacific Microelectronic Centre (PMC) business division, which was ultimately spun out and became PMC-Sierra.

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Cabinet sends VoIP decision back to CRTC
The federal Cabinet has done what incumbent telephone companies wanted it to do: tell the CRTC to take another look at its controversial May 12 ruling on Voice over IP services. The commission has 120 days to reconsider the decision. "After careful study of the CRTC decision, and the subsequent appeals, the government believes it is in the public interest for the CRTC to reconsider its decision," Industry Canada minister Maxime Bernier said in a news release. "This will give the CRTC the opportunity to take into account the increase in demand for VoIP services and changes to the overall regulatory environment since the original decision was announced last year."

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Bell Canada and Telus Corp. are implementing a number of measures to reduce lost revenue from local landline erosion. Both companies indicate that growth areas such as video, Internet and wireless will help offset losses in their traditional legacy telephony business.

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Businesses of all sizes will get a boost from the tax breaks outlined in the Conservative Party of Canada’s May 2 federal budget, but whether these tax savings improves the productivity of Canada’s small businesses is a yet-to-be-answered question.

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The issue of exemptions to a national Do-Not-Call (DNC) telemarketing registry was raised during CRTC hearings into the matter on May 2 to 4.

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The head of Comwave Telecom Inc. says Rogers Telecom Inc. is breaking CRTC rules by cherry picking customers for which it will provide local number portability. But more importantly, Rogers refuses outright to transfer its own customers to Comwave, even if the client requests a move, says Yuval Barzakay, Comwave’s president and CEO.

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