The Attack of the Triffids.
For starters, try the Offal News take on the recent fibreoptic deal cut by the provincial government with Persona and Rogers that gets the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador into the telecom business.
this is a written version of the comments Simon Lono has been making within the past couple of days on local talk radio. So effective is the Lono criticism - compared to other comments out there - that the Premier's Pitcher Plants started to attack Lono and his character.
One planted caller referred to Lono has having worked for every political party around, supposedly attesting to his lack of morals or lack of firm convictions. Another planted caller claimed Lono was opposed to everything good for the province and would undoubtedly sell us all out as politicians have done in the past.
So much for sophisticated reasoning.
The ad hominem attack is the last refuge of the scoundrel and well, it was a frank admission that the Pitcher plants didn't have a concise rebuttal. Purists will remind me that the original quote from Samuel Johnson is that patriotism is the last refuge. Well, let's just remind everyone - while we are at it - that the typical argument of the Pitcher Plants is that everything the Premier does is automatically a matter of patriotism. Anyone who questions or criticizes this particular administration is not being a good Newfoundland.
The problem with serial connections.
When Trevor Taylor announced the $15 million GRAP deal he made all sorts of claims about its benefits to the province. One of the benefits was that the unsolicited proposal from Persona, Allstream and Rogers was that it "fully embraced governmentÂ’s vision as outlined in the Blueprint."
ok.
Here's the Blueprint vision, such as it is: "Advancing the use of computing and high-speed digital networks in every region of the Province" or "Enhancing connectivity through upgrading of broadband infrastructure and other means, such as innovative combinations of satellite and wireless communications."
That's a pretty bland pair of statements given that both the provincial and federal governments have been investing in broadband infrastructure since 2002.
In November, 2005, InTRD minister Kathy Dunderdale issued a news release announcing a national request for proposals to find "a consultant who will recommend an advanced network model that meets government'’s existing and anticipated future technology needs."
Interestingly enough, Dunderdale said at the time that "[i]n terms of its current network capabilities and capacity, Newfoundland and Labrador is falling behind the rest of the country and the world."
There are a couple of things to observe about this release from about one year ago:
1. Apparently, there has been no public discussion of this consultant and his or her efforts over the past year. This was supposed to lead to a strategy that would drive future projects. What we have with GRAP is a commitment to spending without a strategy.
2. The GRAP deal came out of what Dunderdale's replacement described as an "unsolicited proposal" apparently aimed primarily at lowering costs to consumers. A bunch of things were mentioned in the news release but the first mention was a commercial competitive issue: price.
3. Trevor Taylor hasn't mentioned yet that the current network capabilities and capacity are falling behind the rest of the country, let alone the world. To the contrary, the GRAP deal has been justified on the basis of things like avoiding interruptions in service. Others have pointed out that the existing fibreoptic network is not operating at its existing capacity. Basically, the infrastructure can't be falling behind in capacity and not using existing capacity at the same time.
4. A "Big Backgrounder" issued jointly by the federal and provincial government in February 2005 makes it clear that the issue is not one of cost but of making broadband accessible to the largest number of communities. Some of those interviewed in order to prepare the backgrounder mentioned costs, but giving maximum access - most number of communities and greatest number of people - is where the document puts itemphasisis.
5. The broadband shortfall in Newfoundland and Labrador is in connectivity, not capacity. Initiatives continued under the Williams administration from its predecessor would give broadband access to 80% of the population but only 40% of communities. That situation won't be corrected by the GRAP deal since it merely duplicates the lines across the island portion of the province and adds a line on the seabed off the south coast.
6. The GRAP initiative reinforces the surplus capacity in the major population centres in its land route. In the sea route, the line connects up a handful of coastal communities with considerably more capacity than is required. There are other ways - possibly cheaper ways - of extending capacity to more communities.
7. Up to February 2005, the federal and provincial governments, as well as the telecom industry committed a total of $23 million to expanding broadband access throughout the province under the BRAND program. The federal government committed a total of $14.2 million. The provincial government tossed in $544,000. The balance came from industry contributions.
8. Put another way, the Williams administration just committed 27 times more money to three private sector companies than it committed up to February 2005 to expanding broadband throughout the province. The supposedly evil federal government tossed in as much money up to February 2005 to widen access - increase connectivity - than Danny Williams' administration just committed to developing surplus capacity on already-served routes.
9. All of that is separate from a $15 million initiative to connect schools to the Internet using broadband. The deal was originally singed in June 2003 and then-education minister John Ottenheimer announced it again in June 2004. That project involved $5.0 million of provincial money, or one third of the commitment just made to GRAP.