Accelerator Centre – Page 3

April 27, 2016

Kevin Hood: Behind The Scenes with the AC’s First Mentor

Think great ideas sell themselves? Think again!

On any given day, you’re likely to see Kevin Hood, the Accelerator Centre’s first and longest-serving mentor, holding court on the subject of sales and marketing at a corner table in the networking area.

After one just one meeting, many clients say that their time spent with Kevin was a game changer. They also say that learned more from him in one hour than they would have learned after months on their own.

In light of the AC’s upcoming 10 Year Anniversary, we asked Kevin if he’s seen any shift in the primary needs of clients. His answer: “No.”

“The fundamental problem is that many companies focus on product, but not market. You can have one of the most brilliant ideas in the world — but, if there’s no clear need or demand, who will you sell it to?” he explains.

When you sit down with Kevin, it’s not long before you hear the words “framework,” “processes” and the gold standard “market validation.” His passion for rigorous methodologies and research can be seen in the AC Pathfinder process that he helped to develop.

How did he become the first AC Mentor? It began with a series of well-received sales workshops he helped develop and present at Communitech. One thing led to another and he was asked to bring the workshop at the AC.

After the sessions, Accelerator Centre clients began telling the management team that they needed to sit down, one-on-one, with Kevin. Over time, a few hours a week became a few days a week, eventually evolving into the formalized team of in-house mentors that exists today.

But it’s not just the training tools he’s established that define his business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit. Fresh out of university, he shocked family and friends when he turned down a great marketing job at major beer manufacturer. His reason: He knew he didn’t want to work there before he had a chance to explore what the market had to offer.

Not long after he began a series of roles as assistant to a Member of Parliament, the Minister of Science and Technology, and Minister of the Environment. In these roles he worked with constituents and members of the business community to ensure great government relations.

When he left Parliament Hill, he headed to Toronto where he helped found a sports marketing firm with the goal of creating a second professional hockey league in Canada using retired high profile NHL players. Although the league was ultimately not meant to be, a series of fortunate introductions led him to become an expert in helping businesses identify top performers.

He established his own consulting firm, Market Access Corporation, and in conjunction with the Self-Management Group, he developed a psychometric online personality profile that helped individuals understand their entrepreneurial and sales traits. Seizing the new opportunity that the internet presented in the 90s, he was able to secure software profile licenses with several high profile clients, including a major international career management organization and one of the largest American insurance companies.

Today, in addition to managing his company and his mentorship role, he is also a lecturer in the Masters in Business Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) program at the Conrad Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology at the University of Waterloo.

What keeps him going? He loves what he does.

Why has he made the table right by the front door his unofficial office? “I sit at that table so that clients will have to see me. They have to walk right by me and be accountable for the marketing and sales goals and commitments they’ve set. And I will stare them down.” he says knowingly with a smile and without apology. “We have to focus on growing great businesses and that means we have to focus on revenue!”.

An AC mentor since 2008, he has logged more than 10,000 hours and assisted over 200 companies. Looking forward to helping many more, he quips, “That’s the thing about mentoring, you get better at it over time.”

The Rundown

Family: Married with two daughters ages 19 and 22

Sales experience: 30+ years

Business hero: His Uncle Owen – a very successful businessman

Person he’d like to have lunch with: Richard Branson

Things most people don’t know:

His father is legendary NHL referee Bruce Hood.
He once came very close to founding a second professional hockey league.
He still knows his way around a pair of hockey skates playing several times a week.

April 26, 2016

Former AC CEO Tim Jackson to lead prestigious national program SHAD

STEAM based summer youth program fosters youth innovation and entrepreneurship

WATERLOO, Ont. – As a technology entrepreneur in the late 1990’s, Tim Jackson was one of the leaders who put Waterloo on the map as it became known as Canada’s Silicon Valley.

More recently, he has been Executive Vice President at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, one of the world’s largest urban innovation hubs. At MaRS, through the Centre for Impact Investing, he encouraged foundations to invest millions of dollars in a novel way to tackle social problems aligned with their charitable objectives.

Now, Tim Jackson has his sights set on making more people in Canada familiar with four letters they may not know: SHAD.
He says it is crucial that exceptional youth are given the support they need to reach their full potential especially if Canada wants to be a leader when it comes to innovation and entrepreneurship.

The 2015 Global Innovation Index report ranked Canada 16th in terms of global innovation.
That’s why Jackson is joining SHAD as its new CEO and President starting in July.

“SHAD is like walking into a room and turning on a giant light for the whole country. By transforming these youth through the SHAD program, it makes Canada’s future brighter.”

“Tim is the perfect leader to take us forward from the strong position we currently have,” says David Hay, Chair of SHAD’s Board of Directors.
Hay adds, “Tim’s great passion for entrepreneurship combined with his belief that Canada’s youth are well positioned to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems will ensure that we take SHAD to a new level, making it a household name across Canada.”

SHAD is a unique not for profit organization that serves as an incubator for innovation and entrepreneurship for Canada’s best and brightest students while they are still in high school. Its focus is to empower youth to become change makers and global leaders.

The list of SHAD Fellows include a serial entrepreneur and Dragon on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, a NASA researcher trying to help humans get to Mars, a world leading stem cell researcher, a top NHL executive, an international best-selling author and many other leaders.

“Despite an amazing 35 year track record, SHAD has been one of Canada’s best kept secrets,” Jackson says.

He notes with Canada now focused on youth innovation and entrepreneurship to help fuel the new economy, SHAD is where it all begins.

Top students from around the country apply for coveted positions to take part in SHAD which is hosted at 12 different university campuses. The students are immersed in an intense one month enrichment program in July focused on STEAM subjects: science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

In one of the more unique elements at SHAD, students are presented with a theme or global challenge every summer. They collaborate in small groups using their different skills and expertise to devise an original product or service that addresses this real world, complex issue. In the process, they are taught how to build a business plan, marketing plan and a working prototype under tight deadlines and facing difficult odds.

SHAD Fellows build connections for life and become part of the SHAD network which includes 30 Rhodes Scholars, and leaders in many fields.
“We are putting our top youth at risk if we don’t invest in them with programs such as SHAD,” Jackson says. He adds, “You look at our athletes. We invest in them early and give them a support network so they can be world beaters. We have to do the same for our best and brightest young minds.”

Jackson takes over as President of SHAD at a good time. SHAD has had a record number of applications for the past two years. Barry Bisson helped SHAD become one of Canada’s premier programs fostering youth innovation and entrepreneurship and is retiring after 11 years as President.

“We thank Barry for his amazing commitment to SHAD for more than 30 years,” SHAD Chair David Hay says.
He adds, “Barry became a big believer in SHAD ever since he started the program at the University of New Brunswick in 1985 and saw the impact it had on youth first hand.”

Jackson was one of the senior executives of PixStream, a leading Waterloo technology company in the late 1990’s which helped spur on the careers of many other entrepreneurs in the Waterloo region. Following that, Jackson co-founded a venture capital firm that invested in numerous startup companies. He later served as CEO of the Accelerator Centre, a startup incubator in Waterloo. He has served as a mentor for many individuals and companies because of his understanding of the obstacles, and the failures involved in creating successful ventures. He also spent several years in executive roles with the University of Waterloo.

April 21, 2016

Clearpath To Provide GE Healthcare Repair Center With Self-Driving Vehicles

A fleet of OTTO self-driving vehicles will automate just-in-time parts delivery within Milwaukee facility

(Kitchener, ON, Canada – April 21, 2016) Clearpath, the developer of OTTO – a self-driving vehicle designed exclusively for material transport – has been selected to automate just-in-time parts delivery in a GE Healthcare repair facility being expanded near Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“The OTTO fleet will optimize GE Healthcare’s just-in-time manufacturing process to help enable repair cells operate at full capacity,” said Matt Rendall, chief executive officer at Clearpath Robotics.

This GE Healthcare facility is a Repair Operations Center (ROC) that repairs medical equipment, tests functionality, recycles retired equipment, manages warranty service programs, and ships qualified high quality parts to field services to maintain a high level of customer fulfillment at locations in the United States and around the world. The fleet of OTTO self-driving vehicles will be used to load and deliver parts to work cells for repair. Once restored, OTTO will dispatch materials to shipping for return to customers.

“Clearpath’s OTTO self-driving vehicle and intelligent technology will help us serve our customers with speed, flexibility and accuracy, and gives us the ability to scale our operations going forward,” said Patricio Espinosa, director of Repair Operations for the Americas at GE Healthcare.

OTTO enables customers to improve throughput, reduce costs, and to stay flexible with the changing needs of their material flow process. The solution provides infrastructure free navigation, obstacle avoidance, human-safe collaboration, and a payload capacity of 3000 lbs. Customers using OTTO self-driving vehicles typically experience a return on investment in 18-24 months. For more information about OTTO, visit www.ottomotors.com.

April 19, 2016

The AC Turns 10!

Join us as we celebrate a decade of building incredible businesses

We invite you to celebrate this milestone with us at a special open house event with His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, who was founding patron of the Accelerator Centre when he was president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo.

REGISTER

Over the past ten years the Accelerator Centre has supported more than 200 companies, worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and graduated 51 of Waterloo Region’s most innovative and successful technology companies. It’s a legacy we’re extremely proud of, and we’re just getting started.

Join us as we celebrate 10 years of success and look ahead to theNEXT10!

April 18, 2016

AC proud to support green initiatives recognized by Sustainable Waterloo

Waterloo, Ontario, April 14^th, 2016 – The David Johnston Research + Technology Park (R+T Park) University of Waterloo and tenants have come together and committed to a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reduction target through Sustainable Waterloo Region’s (SWR) Regional Carbon Initiative Program (RCI). Using 2014 numbers as our baseline, a 10 year and 40% reduction goal was set by the R+T Park building owners and tenants. Through all the hard work and commitment towards this initiative, the R+T Park and its tenants have been nominated for the ‘Rookie of the Year’ award.

The Accelerator Centre is proud to have had staff members Laura Mason and Emily Jackson involved in making this happen.

The Rookie of the Year award is designed to recognize the most active, committed and ambitious member of the Regional Carbon Initiative. Some criteria for this award included: attending events run by Sustainable Waterloo, sharing information with other members and measuring your progress and reducing GHG emissions. The R+T Park’s Green Team has exceeded all of these criteria, making them an excellent recipient for the ‘Rookie of the Year’ award.

The park is leading by example. Striving to be both a leader in the community and impactful in future building practices, the R+T Park Green team sets examples by not only raising awareness on the emission of greenhouse gasses but implementing strategic practices that can be implemented in day to day operations.

The R+T Park Green Team is comprised of representatives from the companies, building owners and building management. Companies such as Cora Group, Marsland Centre, DREAM Office REIT, University of Waterloo, AGFA, SAP, Open Text, Stantec, TextNow, Navtech, Accelerator Centre, and more… today 70+ companies and approx. 3,100 knowledge workers call the park home. “As a new tenant of the R+T Park, being a part of a broader Green Team has helped us clarify our own sustainability objectives and aligns with our core values at Stantec.” Explains Gizem Gunal-Akgol, Atmospheric Engineer at Stantec. “We are grateful to be recognized for doing what’s right for the environment.”

The R+T Park is extremely proud to receive this recognition for our efforts and each Green Team member will be sharing this with their colleagues and internal sustainability groups.

April 18, 2016

TextNow’s prospects soar south of border

by Terry Pender

Waterloo maker of low-cost smartphones saw revenues almost double in 2015, but Canadian carriers aren’t interested

Derek Ting will be spending more time in San Francisco as his seven-year-old startup prepares for a marketing campaign to push the low-cost provider of smartphones way past $20 million US in annual revenues.

Ting, co-founder and chief executive officer of TextNow, recently opened the San Francisco office for data mining and analytics to drive marketing and sales. The vice-president of growth, director of business intelligence and director of data science will work there.

A few years ago, TextNow employed 30 people in its Waterloo office. Today, it employs 77 people in the David Johnston Research and Technology Park, three in San Francisco and two in Los Angeles.

Revenues in 2014 totalled $11.2 million US. Last year the company earned more than $20 million US.

“We increased our revenue 75 per cent year-over-year,” Ting said. “And we are trying to meet, or beat, that growth rate this year.”

TextNow was founded in 2009. In 2011, it raised its only round of venture capital — $1.5 million led by Silicon Valley’s David Samuel. Today the company has no red ink, and it has not needed any more outside financing. All of the growth since 2011 was organic.

“We are very, very proud of that,” Ting said.

TextNow has an active user base of between six million and seven million people a month in the U.S. A year ago, it was selling about 1,000 smartphones equipped with its software each month. By December, its monthly shipment was 7,000 smartphones.

Almost all of the company’s business is in the U.S. because no carrier in Canada will partner with the low-cost upstart. TextNow can be used in Canada only on Wi-Fi, so Canadians are a minuscule part of the company’s business.

After graduating form the University of Waterloo in 2009 with degrees in computer engineering, Ting and Jon Lerner wrote an app that enabled text messaging and phone calls on the iPod Touch using Wi-Fi. It was downloaded 13 million times from the Apple app store.

TextNow now was founded. It quickly evolved into the world’s first cloud-based smartphone carrier.

It partnered with Sprint in the U.S. and provides smartphones and monthly plans at a tiny fraction the prices of its big competitors. Its most popular smartphone these days is the Moto E that it sells for $5 US. Plans start at $19.99 US per month and there is no contract.

And now it is preparing to use 21{+s}t-century analytics to increase sales.

“We want to be able to take some of the money we have and reinvest it in into marketing, but we want to do it in a smart way,” Ting said. “We don’t want to spray and pray.”

The data scientist working out of San Francisco, along with the director of growth and director of business intelligence, will lead the way on marketing. They will work at the intersection of marketing, business and engineering. The office was located in San Francisco because the skill sets and talent for that work are readily available there.

“There are a lot of consumer companies there that get their growth this way,” Ting said. “We are a consumer company and we need that knowledge to grow.”

The San Francisco team will develop software that crunches data, provides constant feedback and uses predictive analytics to drive marketing.

“Building the capability to measure if things are working or not working is huge for us,” Ting said.

The startup began with the name EnFlick, but changed it to TextNow. It wanted the same name for the company as its flagship product.

It recently expanded to 15,000-square-feet inside 375 Hagey Blvd. There is a customer care centre that receives an average of 3,300 calls a week. There is another room for software developers and user-experience designers. There is cafeteria for catered lunches that has craft beers on tap and snacks. A company gym opened earlier this year, and on the main floor is the customer fulfilment centre.

TextNow has several suppliers of used, and sometimes new smartphones, from the U.S. It has one supplier in China. Most of the devices are less than two months old. After the smartphones are equipped with TextNow’s firmware, new SIM cards are installed. The devices are put in new boxes with the TextNow logo on the cover. New manuals and accessories are packed into the box.

Every work day a UPS truck picks up a palette of devices around 4 p.m. TextNow promises delivery to anywhere in the U.S., including Puerto Rico and Hawaii, in two business days.

Ting walks into a storage room where the shelves are packed with smartphones in new boxes, waiting to be shipped. He takes a box of the shelf and opens it.

“So this is our cheapest phone that we sell right now, the Moto E. This is actually the brand new version. The brand new version is $20, and the refurbished version is $5 US, no contract,” Ting said.

TextNow has several makes and models ready for shipping.

“There is a Galaxy S3. I think this is $40 US on our website,” Ting said. “And you get the brand new version for $50.”

The Galaxy S4 sells for $130 US, the S5 costs $200 US and the high end S6 for $300 U.S.

“We’ve got a lot of great connections,” Ting said. “It is not from one supplier, we have a bunch of suppliers. That is part of our secret sauce, being able to find supply.”

April 18, 2016

APrivacy provides ubiquitous, invisible security protection

Fintech startup APrivacy is set to scale its data encryption and tracking technology business from Hong Kong

Established in Canada in 2010, APrivacy is a fintech expert in data security that caters for the financial services industry, with a primary focus on banks. Its security solutions protect confidential information on any devices, digital documents, emails and even messaging and cloud storage. This is through restricting copying, saving, printing, or forwarding documents and emails; or pull back any document or email message at any time, even after being sent or downloaded.

“It is like an invisible security layer on top of existing applications, so you can use whatever application you want and we make it secure with seamless user experience,” Dr Cédric Jeannot, CEO, APrivacy, explained the uniqueness behind the technology.

Fintech Acceleration Programme

After completing the three-month Accenture FinTech Innovation Lab Asia Pacific Programme in 2014, Dr Jeannot, and Michael Basler, COO and CFO, realised the market opportunity and decided to set up in Hong Kong.

“The programme allows us to have a better sense of the city and the lifestyle, and there is a good balance between culture and business. It offers an ideal platform where fintech startups meet the banks and understand the trends and their needs,” Dr Jeannot said.

In September 2015, they set up an office at Smart Space, the co-work space at Cyberport, and another one in downtown Central. To meet its business needs, APrivacy plans to hire up to 20 staff for sales and marketing, customer support, project management and technical deployment by end of 2016.

Massive Market, Sophisticated Customers

Hong Kong has more opportunities for fintech startups than New York, according to Dr Jeannot. “I think local customers are more sophisticated when compared to those in North America. For example, Chinese customers may request the bank staff to use instant messaging apps to communicate with them. If the bank is unable to provide such services, the Chinese customers can easily switch to another bank. Hence, there is an increasing demand for compliance and data centric security solutions,” he explained.

“In terms of market demand of our services, Hong Kong is 10 times larger than the US. And from entrepreneurship point of view, Hong Kong has all the ingredients for startups to flourish – excellent connectivity, strategic location and an increasing number of incubators and accelerators,” he added.

APrivacy was assisted by InvestHK’s Toronto office and the Information and Communications Technology team from the very beginning. Dr Jeannot is very impressed with the efficiency and ease of setting up in Hong Kong. “It is super easy to set up a company in Hong Kong. It is so business-friendly that companies do not need to reinvent the wheel. InvestHK is a one-stop shop for startups and the government services here are very efficient,” he said.

April 1, 2016

AC Grad blueRover partners with Rogers to offer IoT as a service

Rogers first Canadian carrier to introduce Internet of Things ‘as a service’ for Canadian businesses

Mar 31, 2016

Businesses can connect, manage devices and the flow of data from IoT solutions in one place

TORONTO, March 31, 2016 /CNW/ – Rogers Communications announced today it is the first Canadian carrier to offer Internet of Things (IoT) ‘as a service’ to simplify the process of managing complex IoT solutions. Two of the first solutions being offered as a service include Farm & Food Monitoring and Level Monitoring, and Rogers will deliver these exclusively with blueRover, a Canadian-based provider. The solutions will be supported end-to-end by Rogers, including the management of devices, applications and connectivity for customers.

“Connectivity is now table stakes today when it comes to supporting the Internet of Things – for Canadian businesses to drive real productivity with this technology, they need solutions that are simple to deploy and manage,” said Charlie Wade, SVP, Products and Solutions, Enterprise Business Unit. “With blueRover, we’re bringing connectivity, monitoring and management of IoT solutions in-house so our customers can focus on running their business while we take care of managing the day-to-day.”

blueRover, a Canadian leader in the Internet of Things, provides IoT solutions across many industries. These solutions allow businesses to securely track and monitor assets in real-time, and also automate manual business processes using sensor technology and secure data pathways. A Rogers-dedicated IoT Support team will additionally monitor these solutions to ensure the customer’s service is always on.

Rogers Enterprise customers will have access to the following IoT services:

End-to-End Incident Management – Today, many businesses troubleshoot and manage their own IoT device and network issues, with multiple suppliers. IoT as a Service will be fully managed by Rogers, including connectivity monitoring and management of IoT endpoints. Rogers IoT Support Teams will immediately action solutions for customers when issues arise.
Farm & Food Monitoring: Sensor technology that securely monitors, tracks and automates devices and machines that are used in farming and food services industries such as refrigerators, freezers, deep fryers and ovens. These solutions further help business customers to comply with food safety regulations and to reduce food wastage overall.
Level Monitoring: A solution for businesses that require tools to measure and monitor levels of liquids, including grain, oil, water and waste matter. The solution has the ability to monitor liquid levels in order to eliminate the labour intensive processes required by many businesses today to manually refill or empty tanks, bins, and containers prior to capacity. This automated process has potential to reduce the use of emergency deliveries and services, which in turn saves businesses time and money.

“Today just over 45% of Canadian organizations are deploying Internet of Things solutions and we predict the IoT market in Canada to reach a value of $13.5 billion by 2019,” said Nigel Wallis, Research Director, IDC Canada. “By offering IoT solutions as a Service, Rogers, together with blueRover, have the potential to drive adoption of IoT solutions by removing the burden of managing these complex solutions for Canadian businesses.”

The solutions announced today are the first in a series of IoT ‘as a Service’ solutions that Rogers will introduce to the market to remove the complexity for Canadian businesses. Additional solutions being offered as a service today include Cold Chain Management and Food Safety Monitoring for restaurants and food kitchens.

For more information about IoT solutions from Rogers, visit rogers.com/DiscoverIoT

March 22, 2016

Excited to Partner with Bereskin & Parr for New Business and IP Initiative

The Accelerator Centre is pleased to announce it has entered into a new partnership with Bereskin & Parr, a leading Canadian intellectual property law firm. The AC is dedicated to commercializing research and developing globally competitive businesses. The partnership aims to provide businesses with strategic intellectual property (“IP”) information and legal services required to grow their companies in Canada and abroad.

“We are very excited to be involved with the Accelerator Centre,” says Jason Hynes, partner with Bereskin & Parr. “We are looking forward to working with companies at an earlier stage and helping to develop the necessary IP foundation to assist them long-term.”

Bereskin & Parr works extensively with current Accelerator Centre Clients and Graduates. The firm plans to expand these relationships and assist clients to develop their business by providing IP education and one-on-one consultations.

“The Accelerator Centre has some of the most innovative and promising companies in the country,” says Jim Hinton, associate with Bereskin & Parr. “This new initiative allows us to be at the forefront of Waterloo’s technology scene while helping innovators strategically use their IP as they commercialize and grow.”

“We’re excited about this partnership and the opportunity it presents for our Clients,” says Paul Salvini, the Accelerator Centre’s CEO. “Helping the companies we work with to develop and protect intellectual property is a core part of our program and a critical component in their business success.”

Bereskin & Parr is proud to partner with a dedicated business resource in its ongoing mission to provide world-leading IP law services and expertise to build strong relationships with clients, firms, researchers and educators.

March 17, 2016

AC Grad TextNow Wants to Fix Canada's Broken Wireless Industry – But the Big Three Won't Let Them

By Jacob Serebrin

TextNow is a Canadian company, but its low-cost cellphone plans are only available in the United States.

That’s not because TextNow doesn’t want to offer them here, but because it can’t.

“We have a team of almost 80 people here in Waterloo, Ontario,” says Derek Ting, TextNow’s CEO. “One of the biggest conversations, that comes up every day, is ‘when are we going to bring our service to Canada so we all can use it’ and, so far, it has not been encouraging news.”

TextNow is a mobile virtual network operator. It buys access to wireless networks at wholesale prices, and then re-sells that access to its customers. In the U.S., TextNow buys access from Sprint, the country’s fourth-largest wireless carrier, but in Canada, it can’t find a wireless carrier willing to sell it access.

“We’ve kind of hit a brick wall with that,” says Ting. “We tried diligently. We went through a 12-month process with Rogers and at the end they said no.”

Ting says he thinks that Canada’s big three wireless carriers are “kind of in a pact to keep the market sealed from guys like us.”

It’s a different story in the U.S., where every major cell phone provider sells mobile network access on the wholesale market.

“The reason they do it is because of the competition, they truly compete with each other. They’re not in some pact to close the market off,” Ting says.

And that means incumbents win and consumers lose, he says.

“The Canadian consumer is the one who gets screwed in the end,” Ting says.

TextNow uses software to switch everything a phone sends and receives – including calls and texts – to WiFi whenever it’s available, allowing it to cut down on the amount of network time it uses and charge lower prices than incumbent providers.

While Ting says he’d like there to a market-based solution to the problem, he thinks any changes in the market will have to come from the federal government.

“Other countries either have perfect competition, like in the U.S., or when they don’t have perfect competition, the regulators mandate some sort of allocation of spectrum to smaller players,” he says. “We don’t, and as a result, we have the most unaffordable market.”

There is a precedent in Canada, incumbent cable and phone companies are already required to sell wholesale access to their wired networks.

But last month, the CRTC, rejected an appeal by a group of MNVOs to expand that regulation to cover wireless networks on the grounds that it would disincentivize incumbent carriers from making investments in their networks.

Ting doesn’t buy it, he says similar regulations have been implemented in countries like Germany with no impact on network quality.

“Long-term, the ideal situation, is the CRTC stops siding with Telus, Bell and Rogers and starts thinking about regulation that benefits Canadians as a whole, not just the interests of the big three,” he says.

That change, though, will likely have to come from politicians, instead of regulators and there’s no sign that will be coming any time soon.