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 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