This can't happen because it is illegal for telecommunications providers to be foreign owned. The correct first step would be to lobby our "free market" prime minister to let the free market operate.
I work for a telco in Canada and the CRTC has just passed a ruling to allow competition into the market for the first time ever in this operating area.
I'm not 100% certain, but I think at least one of the new competitiors coming in is foreign owned. They'll be offering wireless, wireline and internet services.
(This applies as long as the total annual telecommunications revenues of the new telco represent less than 10% of total Canadian telecommunications revenues, so it basically applies to every newcomer, which is what we have in our operating area)
Yeah I'd sign this if it had even a snowballs chance in hell of making a difference. Telecom in Canada is such a racket right now I just see no real hope. My biggest hope for change right now is that Wind actually gets the government to agree to let them compete fairly.
But ISP business is low margin, labour intensive, which is not quite congruent with Google's high margin media sales model.
Like the 4 billion dollar bidding for wireless spectrum, I suspect Google's main motivation in launching Google Fibre is merely a warning shot to ISPs to shape up... and like Verizon did by outbidding Google in the wireless spectrum but still running the network according to Google requirements, the ISPs around the world will probably make sure Google has no need to enter their market, by ensuring seamless service to Google services.
So... if things work out right, Google Fibre will never stretch beyond Kansas City.
I'm not American, and US broadband rates are eye-popping, so I agree the business is high margin as it is. But once there is serious competition, by the implied entry of Google Fibre, then the margin will shrink quite a bit.
Canadian ISPs have effectively a monopoly. Competition is nearly nonexistant.[1]
The CRTC, which fills the "job of regulating and supervising the broadcasting and telecommunications systems in Canada". The execs of ISPs retire and join the CRTC[2], which allows monopoly (and corruption) to grow. [3]
As an example, the CRTC limits international competition (Wind Mobile [4]), under the guise of "promote Canadian ownership and control of the industry" [4] There's a reason that Orange mobile (and the other european brands) haven't come to Canada, and it's the CRTC.
In reality, Canadian Telecom is a farce that would not hold up to competition against other international telecoms.
I would have to imagine there is still some challenge to 'bringing' Google Fiber to the remaining 48 US states. Sprint's presence in Kansas City was a large determining factor in its selection for the initial fiber deployment. Besides, there are still plenty of service providers (and attendant lobbyists) in this county who would prefer that fiber remain priced well above $70/month.
For sure, I expect that Google Fiber will be available throughout most of the US before the service comes to Canada, but prepending their arrival here the CRTC will have to restructure some of the laws that are currently in place. I feel it is best for Google to know that there is demand here sooner so that they can start having these kinds of discussions with Canadian lawmakers.
It's not as important to get Google to pay attention as it is to get the CRTC to pay attention. There are laws in place preventing foreign competition in the Canadian marketplace, which in conjunction with other laws have essentially created a non-competition environment for Canadian ISPs. This petition is more about generating awareness for Canadians and and to trying and formulate a discussion around change.
And yet I have cheaper, faster broadband in Vancouver than I did in Milwaukee, set up with far less hassle and without continual talk about capping usage or filtering torrent traffic. Having lived both countries, I feel far better served as a consumer of Internet services here than I did in the U.S.
And yet when I lived in Seattle around 2000 I had significantly cheaper and faster DSL than I got when I came back home to Toronto a couple years later.
Having compared two specific locations in both countries I feel as though my experience is anecdotal at best.
Well, it's certainly not hurting and gives visibility to the issue in general. The more people are aware that the ISP situation could be much better in Canada, the better.
