I was extremely excited when Sean Van Koughnett, director of Velocity, selected me as one of the 7 Velocity residents (and past residents) to attend the 3-day Canadian Telecom Summit.
The conference has a whopping $2,250 ticket price, so I was extremely pleased that we only had to pay $100 dollars + hotel fees. Thank you Sean for giving us the rare opportunity to attend such a high caliber conference!
Last year, the conference attracted the likes of the President & CEO of Ericsson Canada, President & CEO of Rogers Communications and even the University of Waterloo president, David Johnston himself! This year was equally as impressive! Check out the line of speakers:
During the conference, I took some notes on my HTC Tilt (♥ the keyboard). Here they are for your viewing pleasure (note that the notes were quickly taken):
Palm Pre Demo:
Really nice UI, but what do productivity users, such as all business users think of it?
They have an IM app that links all messaging protocols together, but why don’t they just thread all of them together? If you’re talking to someone using MSN on your mobile and the other side disconnects. Why not continue the conversation using SMS?
CRTC Presentation:
Began presentation with the important topic of net neutrality, throttling and network shaping.
CRTC agress with Bell’s position on the need for traffic throttling to preserve the integrity of their service, but realizes afterwards that it is a bigger issue than they had previously realized. No shit. If they’d like to “preserve the integrity of their service” they should stop it with the false advertising (ahem, ‘unlimited downloading’?).
CRTC sees a need to increase Canadian content on the web. Subsidy scheme beign considered, but will discuss in the near future. Political answer for a political issue. How quaint 
“The web revolution right now will influence our society as much as it did with the industrial revolution.” Cool – if our school systems were built on the basis of industrial design (students students go in, smarter students come out) then the web revolution will teach society that a linear learning path is not the ideal way for human beings to learn. I want that to happen right now! I see so many grade ‘A’ students who lack important characteristics – such as open-mindedness/free-thinking.
MTS Allstream Presentation:
“Businesses with an increase broadband capability also enjoy an increase in growth and overall employee satisfaction.” I wonder what these employees do with their faster internet 
What Customers Want:
- Big companies to feel smaller, more nimble.
- Small companies to feel bigger, have the capability of large firms
Industry challenges – Canada lagging in telecom investment – outdated competitive framework. How honest, and that coming from a service provider too!
Competition must be placed on networks, not between them.
Customers tend to buy services as a package from providers. If you are a service provider and you don’t offer television then you are losing on potential profit!
CWTA Presentation:
16 to 21 percent increase in mobile web usages. Random business idea: SMS usage is still growing rapidly. How do you use SMS to make money? An email to SMS service?
Internet drives innovation wherever it is embraced – so young users dictate how the web will be developed. More reasons to start a web-based company.
CBC Presentation:
Very very surprising presentation. Talks about the fact that CBC has always been at the forefront of using innovative mediums for distributing media. First to use Twitter, first to provide full-streaming, first to use podcasts in Canada.
Interesting fact: Streaming video does not cannibalize television viewership for Olympics 2008. Not a solid fact to prove streaming video doesn’t actually cannibalize television viewerships in general. Older age groups watch the Olympics, those who would watch it would watch it in any medium. Those who normally wouldn’t watch it on TV might watch it on the web due to convenience.
Awesomeness Panel Discussion:
You know something is awesome if it’s named so. This discussion was absolutely amazing. It was the most memorable discussion I’ve ever seen. It involved 4 top lawyers in the country that represent some of Canada’s biggest companies. These are the titans, and man were they fierce. Insults were thrown around, not of the personal kind but well-formulated low-blows relating to their positions on the market (ownerships of varying companies) and ‘hidden’ self-interests that became not so hidden (anymore). As intense as it was, everyone (including the panel themselves) found it hilarious. Well, except for that one guy that was steaming at the end.
Government is not stimulating digital but rather promoting the analog industry. Taxes service providers and puts the money earned into the failing auto industry. This one made me laugh and then made me think hard. Then, laughed again. Talk about over-simplification.
So why should service providers open access to smaller players? We’re the ones spending billions in developing infrastructure.
Government data involing internet speeds in Canada and how it’s so low is garbage. It doesn’t take into account of Shaw’s (and other’s) latest offerings, such as 50 – 100 mbps connections.
We can create a pipe dedicated to P2P for our customers, but that’s not what our customers want. I BEG TO DIFFER! Obviously, Rogers publishing subdisiary doesn’t enjoy people sharing their content with each other.
Internet is successful today because it is built and mainted by engineers. If we regulate service providers, then all will fail.
Note to self: Look into Dec 8 CRTC Forced Access – many service providers want this removed.
75% of revenues are from wireless services, not wireline.
The government is forcing service providers to make a decision through regulatory means on whether or not to build infrastructure in small towns. Do we really need to go? Give us the freedom to decide. It’s healthy! – No way. Corporations always follow the money. There is little to be made in small towns. Government should step in to avoid abandoning small towns and force them to live in the past.
Clear to me that titan telco’s do not believe int he role of the government. Why should they? They are self sufficient and sustainable! Very dangerous as corporations get bigger and bigger.
Cisco Presentation:
“Transformation of service providers to experience providers.”
Cisco trying to have the first mover advantage.
Lots and lots of mention on the ‘Connected Life’. First phase involves the home (information), followed by the media enabled home (entertainment), then visual networking (more effective communication). Isn’t this what Microsoft is doing with MediaCenter?
If Web 2.0 could be summarized as interaction then web 3.0 would be about recommendations and customization. Aren’t we there already? I really wish people would stop versioning the web. There are no clear definitions of web 1.0, web 2.0 and so on. If you’re going to version the web, at least set a standard for definition. Isn’t web 3.0 about the marriage between hardware and the internet?
CTV Presentation:
Mostly on the Winder Olympics.
CTV will be offering 14 different camera views for viewers to choose from. Hooray for customization!
Will be similar to the Obama inaugauration in that it will have live chat, Facebook connectivity, use of Twitter etc…
Twitter for athletes = not a good idea when they are in the midst of their sport. Actually, illegal (bylaw) for an athlete to be acting as a journalist. So, when XXX the skier broker his legs and blogged about it, he got into trouble and was almost suspended.
Broadcasters to aggregrate athletes’ websites, accounts (Twitter, Facebook) etc..
Drop in viewership in 1996 because kids used to watch the Olympics with their parents.
Talks of Twitter makes me realize it’s purpose on the web. Because it is still alive, there must be an underlying reason. More about that in the next blog post entitled, “Facebook’s Twin Brother – Maybe Twitter Isn’t Dead.”
Net Neutrality Panel Discussion:
Man was this boring. Nothing like the panel discussion above. Everyone all agree that DPI is required and traffic shaping is required.
CEO of Sandvine hints that in the future, users may be able to decide which app gets more priority over bandwidth.
Mike Lee is a bit of a jerk. (Chief Strategy Officer – Rogers Communications)
Comverse:
Interesting how everyone at this conference talks about their strategies on selling to the “@ Generation“ which is supposedly us. They should turn around
She is clearly very nervous! Poor woman.
“Crisis is a terrible thing to waste”
Haha, quote of the day: “Back in the days, people used to mate to communicate…I meant meet…Back in the days people used to only MEET to communicate”
Really truthful slide deck picture, where there’s this girl smiling and hugging a wall of information (represented by 0 and 1′s). The wall is also hugging the girl and has a human form (kind of like wrapping a sheet over someone’s face) – shows our emotional attachment to the web.
People are worn out…too much ads and too much data, which causes ad blindness. That’s why relevance is the key to marketers. Contextual displays significantly reduces information overload.
People do not take BS on their mobile as opposed to desktops and laptops - my rationale: smaller screen, limit of processing resources and the personal nature of mobile will put more emphasis on UI for all existing computer/web apps even if they aren’t exclusively for mobile consumption.
Rogers Presentation:
The Senior VP of Business Markets presented. He was older than others but I think he was one of the better presenters. The other presenters were well-composed, but he was absolutely cool and calm. No ‘uh’ or ‘um’ or any awkward pauses at all. His presentation was absolutely flawless, and yet it didn’t appear rehearsed.
“If you’re ever in a meeting with a bunch of lawyers and they won’t shut up. Just mention the term ‘conscientious parallelism’ “
Huawei Dinner:
William Gibson – a re-known Canadian sci-fi writer that predicted the internet and other pervasive technologies existing today.
Operators own user’s granular location, and can pinpoint location and time to deliver contextual content. It’s not donen right now, but Huawei urges this to happen to bring the culture of the web to mobile and really bring out the full potential of mobiles.
Last Day Panel Discussion:
Canada has the highest penetration rate of broadband, followed closely by the US.
There are mostly two models: subscription or ad driven.
Oirtability of the TV will be the future – Microsoft’s Mediaroom will provide the ‘connected TV experience’. There are already over 3 million subscribers for Mediaroom, which I think is still in beta mode for Canadians – as always.
Windows 7 will act as the glue to the experiences possible for all the devices in a home.
Future will involve:
- bringing the web culture to mobile
- ex. When calling someone the operator will announce the receiver of the call’s status, such as whether he/she is driving right now, and gives the option to leave a voicemail or forward the call.
Summary and Lessons Learned
- The leaders of Canada’s biggest organizations have a few things in common: They are as bold as they are aggressive. And though aggressive, they are very well-composed and speaks in a manner that draws you in. It’s clear that these people aren’t super-heroes with some divine given power. They are people who understand uncertainty but does not act because of potential risks, but rather act on potential benefits and awards.
- The content presented at the conference are things that I would have (or in most cases, already have read about) on the web. However, it was am incredible learning experience just to observe how world leader’s interact with each other. Although, it was awkward speaking with someone twice your age who’s there for different reasons than you are, the panel discussion involving the lawyers was well worth the costs of the conference.
- I did notice that all the speakers talked about the future and how it might look like. However, there was little discussion on how to reach there, or what kind of infrastructure is required. I guess the purpose of these summits is for each company to show off their own vision of the future, similar to that of concept car shows. Whatever is in the works is top secret.
- Peter Kao
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