Fact vs. Fiction: Five Myths About Net Neutrality (click to read document)

A coalition of consumer groups, educators, and online activists have called on Canadian public utilities and municipalities to explore the construction and implementation of fiber optic networks to combat Canada’s deteriorating position in broadband service.

Steve Anderson, writing for The Tyee, opined in a Mediawatch column that “big telecom’s monopolistic control over the net is threatening to leave Canada with a last generation Internet.”

In the 2009 Federal budget, the Conservative government pledged to commit $225 million over the next three years for broadband to unserved communities.  By contrast, Australia, which has a similar geographic breakdown to Canada, is reportedly committing AU$4.7 billion to a similar initiative. Not only is the Conservative’s commitment relatively weak, it also does little to get Canadians hooked up to next generation networks.

Anderson complains the current competitive lock on broadband is unlikely to be broken by commercial providers, unwilling to compete for access.  Instead, Anderson suggests municipalities, community-non profits, and public utilities should fill the gap and provoke competition.

University of Toronto professor of Information Studies Andrew Clement points out that municipalities “have many critical assets, including significant financial resources, control over rights of way, as well as experience in developing and operating other complex, capital-intensive infrastructures, such as roads, waterworks, and transportation systems.” In fact, many municipalities own high-speed fiber networks that they can utilize relatively easily for Internet service provision.

There are successful public, municipal owned broadband networks now providing service in some cities in Canada.  Fredericton, New Brunswick’s award winning fiber and wi-fi network is a partnership co-op with the city government.  Wi-fi service is provided free of charge to all citizens, one of the reasons the city was congratulated for being one of the “communities or regions with a documented strategy for creating a local prosperity and inclusion using broadband and information technology to attract leading-edge businesses, stimulate job creation, build skills, generate economic growth, and improve the delivery of government services.”

Anderson criticizes Canadian broadband for being usage capped and throttled, a victim of lack of Net Neutrality protections.

A public interest organization SaveOurNet.ca is sponsoring a series of Open Internet Town Halls in Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver to engage citizens in discussions about the future of the Internet. Through live video streaming, the town halls will be available to a national audience on theREALnews.com, rabble.ca, TheTyee, Beyond Robson, SaveOurNet.ca, and other participating websites.

People from across Canada are encouraged to watch and engage with the first Open Internet Town Hall meeting at 7:30pm on Monday June 8th. The Canadian equivalent of the FCC, the CRTC, will be holding hearings on Net Neutrality issues on July 6th.

StoptheCap! will provide additional coverage of the SaveOurNet event Monday.  Americans can and should pay attention.  Canada’s abusive provider practices may very well be forthcoming in the States soon enough.