Critics question Berkeley broadband report funded by incumbents

Critics are questioning the timing of a new report from the Berkeley Research Group about Canada’s broadband performance commissioned by Bell Canada and Telus Corp. The report, dated Oct. 11, is called “Canada’s Broadband Performance: Relevant Considerations for a ‘Digital Economy’ Strategy,” and was written by Leonard Waverman, dean of the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary and Kalyan Dasgupta, principal with the Berkeley Research Group. The report argues that Canada’s broadband speeds and pricing are competitive compared with other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and that the focus on network infrastructure is distracting from more pressing issues like technology adoption. “Unfortunately, the heat and noise about broadband and wireless has actually distracted from the larger, and much more complex, debate about Canada’s performance in innovation and in adoption and usage of all forms of Information and Communications Technology ,” the report says. “The heat and noise about telecoms performance is fuelled by somewhat doubtful international comparisons, many of which inaccurately compare pricing and adoption across very different countries.” John Lawford, counsel with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), questioned the timing of the report, which was released the same month as the CRTC’s hearings to examine the incumbents’ obligation to serve rural areas with broadband Internet service. Hearings are scheduled to begin Tuesday. “This drops the day before our proceeding and it attacks all the stuff which I think is more independently produced,” Lawford said. “I think it’s garbage.” He said in an interview that the report appears to take aim at a study by the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society released earlier this year. “It’s a flat-out attack on the Berkman Center report, saying that Canada does have expensive broadband and it does have crappy availability and low speeds,” he said. “The Berkman Centre has a reputation for being pro-consumer, but they didn’t have their report commissioned by anybody.” The Berkman Center study ranked Canada 25 out of 30 OECD countries on their advertised broadband Internet speeds and ranked Canada in 26 in 3G wireless penetration. Tom Copeland, chair of the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP) and president of Internet service provider (ISP) Eagle.ca, said he is skeptical about the results of a study commissioned by Canada’s incumbent Internet service providers. “I would question the results of a report that is commissioned by the incumbent carriers who own the very networks that the report is saying are hunky dory,” Copeland said in an interview. But both Bell and Telus said the report’s findings were arrived at independently. “Professor Len Waverman's credentials and integrity are beyond reproach,” Mirko Bibic, Bell’s senior vice-president of regulatory and government affairs, wrote in an email to The Wire Report. “The paper clearly says that the opinions are solely those of the researchers. For anyone to suggest otherwise is irresponsible.” Michael Hennessy, Telus’ senior vice-president of regulatory affairs, said the study provided contrast to other points of view. “A study that is critical of enterprises is always considered to be wonderful by John and a lot of other people in this country,” Hennessy said. “Any time you go out and you fund something that is responsive to that , it’s always considered suspect.” PIAC argues that the CRTC’s obligation to provide rural and remote customers with basic telephone services should be extended to broadband Internet. Bell, Telus and other incumbents argue that market forces are sufficient to provide universal access to broadband Internet across the country. “Yes, it addresses some of the same issues that we have addressed head on in the obligation to serve proceeding, but we’ve already addressed those issues head on,” Hennessy said. “I don’t need the Waverman study to make the case for us that in 12 months time or so there’s going to be satellite capacity delivering broadband speeds of 10 Mbps to every single unserved household in the country.” Hennessy said the report was commissioned to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the digital economy. Mark Goldberg, head of telecom consultancy Mark H. Goldberg & Associates Inc., said in an interview that he agrees with the Berkeley study’s argument that the government’s digital economy plan should go well beyond infrastructure. “We need businesses investing in a better web presence and we need government to invest in having an improved web experience,” Goldberg said. “I think there has been too much attention by some folks on infrastructure, because frankly, it’s easier.” Bernard Courtois, president of the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC), said the government should focus on Canada’s productivity gap with the U.S. and that the issues go beyond networks. “The movement from dial-up to broadband makes a big difference,” Courtois said. “In the movement from broadband to super fast broadband, there is no evidence that it produces as much of a gain.” But David Ellis, a technology consultant and instructor at York University’s communication studies department, said in an interview that if Canada starts to lag internationally with its broadband Internet infrastructure, it could lead to less innovation. jmigneault@thewirereport.ca

Critics question Berkeley broadband report funded by incumbents

News | 10/25/2010 10:05 pm EDT

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