Lets spend as much on ICT as Obama is spending on cash for clunkers

Yesterday Tom Jenkins wrote an op-ed in the Globe lamenting a lack of any ICT strategy for Canada (agree) and once more echoing the concern of all who repeat the mantra the Canada is falling behind in our broadband leadership. The problem is that I do not buy the thesis (not to say we dont have huge investment challenges) . I sometimes think that with all the cutbacks in the newsrooms of the Country that what now passes for fact is often what was once rumour online but subsequently repeated often enough to attract a patina of dogma. I have ranted on this before but let me try again.

A lot of the concern on our broadband gap stems from a recent OECD report that showed Canada dropping in the global broadband ratings .That is concern indeed when once the Industry department under John Manley, Kevin Lynch and Michael Binder was able to brag that Canada was numer 2 or 3 in the world when it came to broadband penetration. Oh woe is Canada for now we have dropped fast and can no longer boast that we are world leaders. But wait according to the data we are still best in the G8 but who gives a toss about that eh?

One could argue that canada leading larger G8 economies is an accomplishment. But what about those irritating Danes who score above Canada. Will the insults never stop . First they steal our cod and then place nefarious land claims to rocks somewhere in the Artic. How can a country with a land mass the size of Denmark have rolled out more broadband than Canada. Shameful indeed.

Worst still we trail Luxemburg a country the size of Missassauga. What is Hazell McCallion to do about this insult to our sense of nation.

Ok so Tom has a point . ICT is critical and government should spend more time on that than propping up the old economy. But let's figure out a way to measure the "problem". I would submit that our measurements are unsophisticated and outdated. The OECD reflects the world of 2008 but even there its not clear what's measured is valid.

• Most cable modem service is not reflected in the OECD report even though cable has more broadband share than DSL (add in the real cable count and speed and penetration jump)
• By 2010 Canadians wil be able to access multiple HSPA networks delivering the fastest speeds in the world(HSPA will deliver broadband at speeds in excess of some landline speeds today
• In order to assess our ability as an economy to benefit from broadband we need better measures of the quality of our enterprise networks (total broadband penetration is great for bragging right but business access is a bigger driver of productivity)
• If we were to measure what our broadband penetration will be by 2010 in a way that includes cable penetration, new wireless broadband and our enterprise infrastructure then I bet we would still top the G8 (although the US would be at the top as well). We would still lag Korea or Japan for pure speed but that's a result of industrial strategy and intervention more than business investment.

So I can agree with Tom Jenkins that we need to focus on ICT in this country. And he and the ITAC community can count on support from TELUS on pushing an ICT agenda. I also believe we can accelerate investment with less regulation and fees and more improvements in capital cost allowances and tax credits for commercial development . That would sure help drive our efforts to increase investment in fiber to the home (which is a challenge) .But I am tired of the continued references by opinion makers to problems in broadband that dont exist or are overstated.

So step1 in Canada's new ICT strategy. How about our government working with the OECD to actually input reality into these global scorecards we so emotionally tie ourselves to? And bigger step 2 ,lets incent as much investment in broadband and IT as Obama is spending on cash for clunkers.