Reply Comments by QUEBECOR MEDIA INC. June 27, 2007
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Reply Comments by QUEBECOR MEDIA INC. To Industry Canada As part of the Consultation Canada Gazette Notice DGTP-002-07, "Consultation on a Framework to Auction Spectrum in the 2 GHz Range including Advanced Wireless Services" June 27, 2007 Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary..................................................................................................... 4 2. The upcoming spectrum auction: a call for action from Canada’s government to ensure entry by new mobile carriers.......................................................................... 11 2.1 The need for special measures and a set aside............................................... 17 2.2 If no set aside for new entrants, hoarding spectrum by incumbent mobilecarriers will become a major pastime ................................................. 19 2.3 The future of Canada’s competitiveness in mobile is at stake, not the past! . 22 2.4 The presence of MVNOs and resellers does not make the Canadian market competitive; the actual level of success (or lack thereof) achieved does matter ........................................................................................................................ 23 2.5 The last chance for facilities based entry but not for incumbent mobile carriers............................................................................................................ 26 2.6 The critical requirements for the spectrum auctions to be a success for all Canadians....................................................................................................... 29 3. Lies, damned lies and statistics: The Myth promoted by the Big 3 Canadian incumbents that there are only 4 mobile players in the US ....................................... 31 4. Prices in Canada are much higher than in the US: A situation that should not be tolerated. .................................................................................................................... 35 5. Level of innovation and new technology deployment in Canada vs the US: we have fallen behind and fast action is required to catch up.................................................. 40 5.1 3G network technology deployment.............................................................. 40 5.2 The penetration of Blackberrys® in Canada vs the US ................................. 42 5.3 Concluding remarks on the question of new wireless technology development in Canada........................................................................................................ 45 6. Mandated Seamless Digital Roaming........................................................................ 46 7. AWS Band plan ......................................................................................................... 51 8. AWS Service Areas................................................................................................... 52 9. Licence terms and conditions .................................................................................... 54 10. Appendix A – Leveling the Playing Field: Efficiency and Revenue Arguments for License Set Asides..................................................................................................... 56 11. Appendix B - DGTP-002-07 AWS – QMI Reply Comments June 27, 2007 – Licence Conditions in Other Countries ................................................................................... 70 12. Appendix C – Position Papers ................................................................................... 73 12.1 Analysis of the status of competition in wireless by Professor Abraham Hollander, Université de Montréal................................................................. 74 12.2 Analysis of the status of competition in wireless by Professor Yves Rabeau, Université du Québec à Montreal .................................................................. 82 12.3 Analysis of the status of competition in wireless by Mr. Réal Gauthier, Consultant ...................................................................................................... 94 13. Appendix D - Letters of support for new mobile carriers in Canada ........................ 98 i 14. Appendix E - Letter from Bell Mobility highlighting the productivity gains with Blackberry® service ................................................................................................ 103 15. Appendix F - Robert Dépatie, President and CEO of Vidéotron Ltd, Speech, Telecom Summit, Toronto June 13, 2007................................................................ 105 16. Appendix G - Pierre Karl Péladeau, President and CEO of Quebecor Inc., Speech April 17 2007, Canadian Club of Ottawa ................................................................ 110 17. Appendix H - Selected diaporamas from Third generation mobile telecommunications services –A need for Vidéotron, an opportunity for Canada, by Pierre Karl Péladeau , President and CEO of Quebecor Inc. .................................. 116 18. Appendix I - Selected diaporamas from Reflections, by Robert Dépatie, President and CEO of Videotron Ltd, Telecom Summit, Toronto, June 13, 2007 ................. 124 19. Appendix J - The admissions: Selected recent articles............................................ 132 ii About Quebecor. Quebecor Inc. (TSX: QBR.A, QBR.B) is a communications company with operations in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Quebecor Inc. has operations in 18 countries. It has two operating subsidiaries, Quebecor World Inc. and Quebecor Media Inc. Quebecor World is one of the largest commercial print media services companies in the world. Quebecor Media inc. (QMI) owns operating companies in numerous media related businesses: Videotron Ltd., the largest cable operator in Québec and a major Internet Service Provider and provider of telephone and business telecommunications services; Sun Media Corporation, Canada's largest national chain of tabloids and community newspapers; TVA Group Inc., operator of the largest French-language over-the-air television network in Québec, a number of specialty channels, and the English-language over-the-air station Sun TV; Canoe Inc., operator of a network of English- and French- language Internet properties in Canada; Nurun Inc., a major interactive technologies and communications agency with offices in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia; companies engaged in book publishing and magazine publishing; and companies engaged in the production, distribution and retailing of cultural products, namely Archambault Group Inc., the largest chain of music stores in eastern Canada, TVA Films, and Le SuperClub Vidéotron Ltd., a chain of video and video game rental and retail stores. Videotron Ltd is the largest cable television network in Quebec with close to 1.6 million cable TV subscribers. Videotron is also the largest High-Speed Internet service provider in Quebec and a leading provider of VoIP services in Canada, with more than 450,000 VoIP customers in early 2007. Vidéotron has achieved more than 25% penetration of its customer base with telephony in approximately 2 years, a significant success when compared to any of its peers. Vidéotron is a renowned technology leader and innovator among Canadian and North American cablecos. Other examples of Videotron’s technology and service innovation leadership among Canadian telecommunications carriers are: • Videotron was the first cableco to implement bi-directionality on its local network to 97% of its subscribers; 2 Canada Gazette Notice DGTP 002-07 Quebecor Media Inc. - Reply Comments - June 27, 2007 • Vidéotron offers the fastest high speed Internet service to its residential customers in Canada. In July 2006, Vidéotron upgraded its Extreme Plus Internet Service from 16 Mbps to 20 Mbps, without changing the price of the service. Vidéotron offers this service across its entire addressable market of 2.4 Million homes passed in Quebec. No other cableco or telco in Canada offers such high-speed Internet service to its entire subscriber base. • Videotron launched High Definition Video on Demand in March 20071, another first in Canada. • Videotron is conducting technology trials with Cisco to bring up to 100 Mb/s of bandwidth to its subscriber base, a first in North America. In February 2007, Videotron announced positive results of the trials started in December 2006 and potential launch of the new service in 20072. Videotron has been a participant in the Canadian mobile communications market since launching its mobile service in August 2006, first in Quebec City and then to other cities including Montreal later in the year. This service is being offered via an agreement with Rogers Wireless. As per the latest quarterly results released, Videotron had captured more than 20, 000 wireless subscribers among its addressable market. QMI perceives mobile as a natural extension of its existing service offering to the consumer market and as an important competitive tool in the rapidly evolving Canadian telecommunications services industry. QMI vies to become a mobile broadband operator, leveraging its fixed network as well as future mobile operations. QMI also views mobile telecommunications as a critical tool to foster the development and distribution of Canadian and Quebec content on this rapidly emerging media platform. 1 Un dimanche à Kigali en HD sur Illico sur demande, March 14, 2007, Press release of Videotron Ltee. 2 A first in North America, Cisco Wideband Technology provides capacity to handle explosive