Emerging and New Issues in
Broadband Delivery
Michael Koch
Goodmans LLP
Funding Broadband
• Government funding
– Strong recognition of broadband as economic
enabler even in developed economies
– US/Canada - public works projects as part of
economic stimulus arising from 2009 financial
crisis
– Digital divide - geographic (underserved areas) or
economic (disenfranchisement)
Regulatory Structures
• Universal access
– Canadian modest “expectation” of 5 Mbps
downstream, 1 Mbps upstream, reliance on
market forces and public funding for ppp
– Access to and acceleration of greater spectrum
resources for broadband, e.g.
• Canada - 700 MHz and 2500 MHz being released
• US re-purposing of Mobile Satellite Spectrum in 2 GHz
band
Competition
• In countries where dual infrastructure of
telcos and cable such as North America, this
became a “natural duopoly”; more recognition
of unbundling in UK and on the continent
• Debate whether network sharing with
additional providers creates incentives for
innovation and investment or a chill for
greater investment needed for broadband
Competition (cont’d)
• In US, tendency not to require sharing or
unbundling of next generation assets, e.g.
fibre-to-the-home projects
• In Canada, a more pragmatic approach:
– recognizes competition drives investment and
innovation
– looks at effects in downstream market of
unbundling or not
– however, recognition of increased investment in
fibre
• however very small uptake ~ 6% (very vocal
group, though)
Net Neutrality and UBB
• Obvious early attempts at throttling competing
Internet applications addressed by regulators
(e.g. Comcast and P2P)
• Still an emerging issue in UK (more
competition?)
• Legal issue in US (surprise!)
• In Canada, recognition that carriers must
have the ability to address capacity issues
• Internet Traffic Management Practices: “good”
ITMPS - economic measures; “bad” ITMPS technological measures
UBB
• Increased focus on use of Internet traffic
management practices and their impact on
competition
• In Canada, firestorm ensued when Bell
Canada tried to apply UBB to competitors’
customers
– Would have required competitors to charge same
usage-based caps
– Bell argued broadband a utility like water
– Proceeding focused on drivers of capacity
Convergence with
broadcasting
• IPTV on telcos’ platforms providing
robust competition to cablecos
• “over the top”, I.e., programming
delivered independently of network
operators challenging regulatory
paradigm of support for national
broadcasting policy, just as VoIP did for
telecoms
“Consumer” issues
• While not an issue in broadband delivery per
se, consumer issues such as privacy,
copyright and security are taking over from
economic regulation issues
• As more and more services are delivered
over broadband, regulators find themselves
under increased public and political pressure
to address these issues