Archive for February, 2004
Internet access outside North America
Saturday, February 28th, 2004In North America, it's easy to take Internet access for granted. We're almost at the point - particularly in Canada - where dial-up access is almost considered ancient technology. This reality came home to roost during a recent vacation to Playa del Carmen, a small resort city in Mexico (www.playadelcarmen.com) where Internet cafes are [...]
Do-It-Yourself VOIP
Tuesday, February 10th, 2004All VOIP, all the time seems to be the mantra these days. What with Vonage raising another US$40 million, it's hard not to believe investors have got a bad case of VOIP fever. One of the biggest issues I have with consumer flavors of VOIP is that it's great if you're a young, tech-savvy person [...]
VOIP regulation
Sunday, February 8th, 2004Canada's telecommunications regulator appears to nearing a problematic fork in the road with the emergence of new VOIP services. CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen says the $10-billion local telephony industry will be regulated, regardless of the technology used to provide it. If this is the case, where does leave the CRTC's decision in 1999 to not [...]
BCE - Where's the Growth?
Thursday, February 5th, 2004Sure, there's some good news from BCE's fourth-quarter results - it scooped up a huge bunch of wireless subs, the high-speed Internet access business is rolling, and CTV's doing well due to the strange fascination among couch potatoes with American Idol. What you can't ignore, however, is that BCE's core business - selling telephony services to [...]
Bell Canada's Western Canada Waterloo
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004To no one's surprise, Manitoba Telecom exercised an option that forced Bell Canada to buy MTS's stake in Bell West for $650-million - give or take a few million bucks. MTS CEO Bill Fraser should give a large bonus and a pair of centre-ice tickets to the next Manitoba Moose hockey game to the person who [...]
TWU
Sunday, February 1st, 2004What's the Telecommunication Workers Union afraid of? That's an interesting question given that it appears president Rod Hiebert is reluctant to speak with the national media. Despite repeated efforts to inteview him, Mr. Hiebert has declined entreaties by the Financial Post to discuss the union's bargain position against Telus Corp. It is difficult to not [...]