So riddle me this – what's BCE Inc.'s wireless broadband strategy?
First, BCE takes a stake Inukshuk Internet by recently buying a piece of Craig McCaw's NR Communications holding company – a move that pissed off Rogers Communications, which owns the other 50% of Inukshuk. Today, Telesat – which is wholly owned by BCE – signs a multi-year distribution deal with Barrett Xplore Inc. to deliver broadband service to rural and remote Canadians. The service will be carried on Telesat's Anik F2 satellite, which rides on the Ka-frequency and provides “cost-effective, two-way broadband services”. You get the feeling BCE is trying to cover all of its wireless broadband bases? I wonder how Ted Rogers feels now given BCE slid in through the back door on Inukshuk, and through the front door with Telesat. There has to be some happy lawyers looking at a lot of billable hours.

Nothing like a sweet acquisition – Yahoo's purchase of Flickr.com for about US$35-million last week – to bring the bees (VCs) to honey (photo bloggers). Fotolog, which bills itself as the “world's largest photo blogging community” has attracted US$2.4 million from BV Capital, whose investors include AOL Time-Warner, Stanford University and Mayfield Fund. To be honest, I haven't dabbled yet with photo blogging but it's not a phenomena I completely understand. I mean, it's one thing to share ideas (a.k.a. words/text) but photos of this and that? Is there anything compelling about photo blogs other than as personal diaries and artistic endeavors? I guess there must be otherwise the smart folks at BV Capital wouldn't have written a check. When the deal for Flickr.com was announced last week, I wondered why Yahoo decided to buy Flickr.com rather than Fotolog. Maybe it had to do with valuation or willingness by the founder-entrepreneurs to sell out. Any thoughts?

Looks like Vonage believes the future is still bright based on plans to move to a new corporate headquarters in Holmdel, N.J. Vonage spokesman Jamie Serino told the Asbury Park Press the new office building will have enough room to allow the company to double its workforce to 2,000 this year. The new office will accomodate Vonage's corporate offices, call center, network operations, research and operations and other functions. I guess having another $100 million in private equity will make it easy for Vonage to move to bigger digs. Of course, it may have to use some of the money to battle a lawsuit in Texas over access to 911, and continue its marketing campaign as the cablecos and carriers get more serious about the Internet telephony business. The big question is whether 2005 will be the year that Vonage gets snapped up? Based on reports about its new financing plans, Vonage is probably $1 billion to $1.5 billion depending on how much of a takeover premium you want to apply.

No matter what people say about surveys being statistically accurate, I have a difficult time taking them seriously – particularly when it comes to whether people follow the law. Take, for example, the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project survey on music downloading. It suggests current downloaders are now more likely to use online music services such as iTunes, and the percentage of people who have tried paid services rose to 43% from 24% in 2004.
So what do make of that? My take is the numbers are skewed by the fact in a survey more people are likely to insist they follow the law than if you asked them at a party. In theory, we're all law-abiding citizens and “stealing” music is regarded as bad even though the laws are kind of murky. While I think it's true more people have tried paid services, some or much of it has to be experimentation. Apple has made the iPod and iTunes so cool, you have to think many people were curious to check it out. For the most part, I think music downloading is very much alive. Some people may have have simplied lied about what they do, reverted to more creative tricks such as borrowing a friend's iPod and copying the music they like, or have gone underground. In Canada, downloading is “legal” and will remain so despite proposed amendments to copyright laws.

It is interesting to see the different regulatory approaches adopted in the U.S. and Canada over Naked DSL. In the U.S., the FCC has ruled states can't force carriers to offer Naked DSL – a decision that split the FCC and, not surprisingly, has drawn plenty of criticism as a blow against the freedom to use broadband access without having it tied to a phone line. In Canada, Naked DSL appears to be alive and well based on a recent story by Tyler Hamilton. Bell plans to meet a commitment to the CRTC by quietly offering Naked DSL soon.
Why the difference in approaches?
The biggest issue facing Naked DSL is figuring out how it fits into a competitive marketplace and regulatory mandates. In Canada, the CRTC wants to encourage competition so Naked DSL is another way to make it easier for consumers to use a rival local service while using high-speed service from an ILEC. The question is will there be a point where there is enough local competition to change the Naked DSL rules? And when will Naked DSL will be extended to cablecos.
Personally, I'm in favor of Naked DSL because I believe consumer choice is essential, particularly in a world where bundles are being aggressively promoted. Carriers shouldn't be afraid of Naked DSL but look at it as a marketing challenge. If the rest of their Web-based services are compelling, they have nothing to worry about.

It appears that Clearwire – the latest entrepreneurial offspring of billionaire Craig McCaw – has jumped on the Not On My Broadband System bandwagon amid reports its terms of service agreement prevents the use of high bandwidth applications such as VOIP and streaming audio and video. The heart of the service agreement is the following:
“You may not use the Service or take any action that will result in excessive consumption or utilization of Clearwire’s system or network resources, or which may weaken network performance, or which adversely affects the performance of the Services for other Clearwire customers, all as determined in Clearwire’s sole discretion.”
As a result, some Clearwire customers have discovered they are not able to use Vonage – another troublespot for a company in the midst of raising another US$100 million in private equity. Clearwire claims it's blocking third-party applications to maintain the reliability of the network but there is something far more sinister happening: packet favouritism where ISPs give lower priority to traffic piggybacking on their networks. If this anti-competition approach is adopted by more broadband ISPs, it would be a major setback to the Web-services business, which is quickly emerging as high-speed access become more widespread and ISPs look for revenue beyond connectivity. For a sign of things to potentially come, look at how Madison River Telephone Co. was fined $15,000 by the FCC after Vonage complained its service was being blocked. I suspect packet blocking is akin to steroids in sports – there is a lot of activity happening but few incidents get reported or publicized.
The real reasons behind Clearwire's usage policy may not be network reliability but an agreement it recently signed to tap Bell Canada for VOIP technology. Clearwire would obviously prefer its customers use its to-be-launched VOIP service rather than a rival such as Vonage. At some point the FCC and CRTC will have to step into the fray and decide whether ISPs can implement these policies. Until the rules are clear, NOMBS stands a good – and disturbing – chance of thriving.