Toronto Hydro Telecom president takes shot at Bell and Telus

As traditional wireless service providers tout their deep and meaningful relationships with Canada's cities and towns, the ever-outspoken head of Toronto's utility telecom (utelco) argues that Bell Canada and Telus Corp. have failed municipalities.Trends in the mobile services space paint "a truly bleak picture for municipalities that don't look after themselves," said David Dobbin, president of Toronto Hydro Telecom Inc., during his presentation at the Canadian Municipal Wireless Applications Conference and Exhibition in Toronto on May 29.Dobbin accused the likes of Bell and Telus of putting urbanites in a tough spot. On one hand, he said, the carriers charge exorbitant fees for voice and data access. At the same time, Canada's wireless penetration rate is among the lowest in the world.Municipalities might have to build their own networks to improve the situation, he said, arguing that "metro" Wi-Fi systems such as the one Toronto Hydro Telecom has built - and is charging people to use - is one of the best ways forward.Dobbin made his comments after Jim Senko presented his viewpoint at the conference. The VP of mobility solutions at Telus described the ways in which his firm is helping municipalities meet their communication needs. The carrier has identified an adoption-value gap in disaster recovery and emergency responder technologies. Cities see the value, but the adoption rate is low, Senko said. Telus plans to target governments with push-to-talk and location-based services to address this, he said.Philippe Jetté, VP of wireless data solutions at Bell, said his company has helped police forces with video streaming systems that zip pictures of crime scenes back to headquarters. As well, Bell has helped governments reduce wireless-asset costs via network convergence, and the carrier investigated technologies to bridge the digital divide, to help small municipalities get broadband access."The fact is, wireless is delivering for municipalities today," Jetté said.But Dobbin said traditional service providers are hardly necessary. "You don't need the carriers," he told the audience, as he held a Wi-Fi phone that he argued serves just as well as a cellphone in Toronto Hydro Telecom's service area, without the expensive airtime charges.But although his company's service may be less expensive than Bell's or Telus' services, it isn't free. Toronto Hydro Telecom charges $30 per month. Dobbin explained that charging users for access is the fairest way to ensure business viability. Other utelcos offer free access, but that's borne by taxpayers, some of whom don't use the service; making them pay is unfair, he said.Still other utelcos seek advertisements to bolster their pocketbooks, but Dobbin said he isn't convinced that works.Toronto Hydro Telecom started charging for access in April. Prior to that, users could access the network for free. Dobbin wouldn't detail just how many non-paying users have converted into paying subscribers. He said the company is pleased with the conversion rate.A solid financial foundation is important, said Michael Martin, senior managing consultant in the communications sector of IBM Canada's global business services division. He noted that some of the municipal Wi-Fi networks erected to serve as social infrastructure are struggling to survive, while commercial endeavours do well.But finances aren't the only hurdles, he said. As IBM worked with London ON and California's Silicon Valley to help those locations build municipal wireless networks, Big Blue learned a thing or two.From London, the company discovered that it's important to distinguish the forest from the trees. Known as the forest city, London is thick with all sorts of maples. They present a mutable problem: "In May, the trees are full of moisture, and they're like brick walls," Martin said. The trunks block wireless network signals. In autumn, they're no trouble. Engineering the radio frequencies to deal with the situation is a challenge, he said.Silicon Valley comprises 42 towns and cities; getting them to see eye-to-eye on how to deploy and manage a single wireless infrastructure isn't easy. "This is going to be political," Martin said.He noted that Silicon Valley and London also differ for the technologies they chose. Silicon Valley is using Wi-Fi. London wanted WiMAX.Network diversity was one of the conference themes. Telus' Senko, like Jetté from Bell, posited a "network of networks" business plan, whereby the carrier would offer not only Wi-Fi hotspot service, but also EvDO for quick data downloads, WiMAX, and fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) systems that let users jump from one network to another while maintaining their application sessions.

Toronto Hydro Telecom president takes shot at Bell and Telus

News | 05/29/2007 8:52 pm EDT

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