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Longmont, Colorado, will move ahead with plans to offer fiber connectivity to the entire community. After presenting this business plan to the City Council, members voted unanimously on May 14th to support the measure. Scott Rochat from the Times-Call attended the meeting. Residents stepped forward to express their opinions and all but one urged the council to "get it done." From the Rochat article: "The plan projects a four-tier price structure. For residential rates, that's proposed to range from $39.95 a month for 10 megabit-per-second upload and download, to $99.95 for 100 mbps. "The study estimates that 35 percent of homes would choose to get their Internet service from the city, still leaving plenty of the field for the existing providers. "Competition is good," Councilman Alex Sammoury said. "Just because we're a government entity doesn't mean the free market doesn't apply to us. If someone can do it better, more power to them." "The plan proposes to have the city provide Internet directly and work with a private partner for phone service. "Video service would not be provided, Roiniotis and the Uptown consultants said, because Internet video has eroded the market for traditional television." Vince Jordan, LPC Manager, began the presentation and stressed economic development, education, and lifestyle. Click headline to read more and watch the video clip--
Hundreds of thousands of American jobs would be lost and billions of dollars in telecom industry investments will remain on the sidelines unless the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) updates competitive policy in the business broadband marketplace. This is one of the key findings of a new study by respected telecommunications research expert Susan Gately, called, “The Benefits of a Competitive Business Broadband Market,” released by The Broadband Coalition today. “The findings in this report confirm in stark terms the true impact we will see in this country if the FCC does not take action to update competitive policy in the wireline broadband market for businesses,” said former Congressman Chip Pickering, spokesman for the Broadband Coalition. “We know competitive providers drive innovation and this report details the incredible job growth and investments that are spurred as well. It is not only businesses who will suffer without competition in the market, it’s the economy as a whole.” Read Full Report - The Benefits of a Competitive Business Broadband Market - April 2013 For more information on the issues of importance to the coalition, go to www.thebroadbandcoalition.com and follow us on Twitter: @bbandcoalition. Click headline and scroll down to read more and access hot link to report--
The state of the telecom industry is strong. The economic explosion that was unleashed by the breakup of AT&T and the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is continuing to have positive effects on American competitiveness and growth. Gone are the days where innovation proceeded at a snail’s pace, replaced today with new products and services that come to market at breakneck speed. Just last year members of the Broadband Coalition took award-winning and market-leading positions in the industry. Innovations like burstable bandwidth (Dynamic Capacity), 100G network speeds coast to coast, and the launch of broadband over copper at 100 Mbps are the most recent examples, and all are evidence that to become relevant – or just maintain viability – you must innovate. It’s not just the products themselves that are innovative, but it’s how they’re delivered and packaged as well. Back before AT&T was broken up, consumers had difficulty attaching a device of their choice to the network; there was no incentive for efficiency or price competition because AT&T owned all the customers; and long distance calling was so expensive, people would start timers to not exceed their budget. Now, thanks to competitive entry after the breakup and the ’96 Act, long distance charges are an afterthought, people and businesses buy their services in bundles, and users churn through telecom devices at a pace that outstrips seasonal fashion turnover. And what we consume over broadband and the business we conduct is beyond the imagination of anyone that tried to predict what the 21st Century would look like from their insular monopoly surroundings of the early 1990’s. Thankfully, times do change and hopefully we’ve left those monopoly days in the past. What doesn’t change is the reality that competition produces innovation – regardless of industry. In fact, comparing the last 17 years of unprecedented telecom innovations and number of new companies to the staid century that preceded it is evidence of this innovation and the benefits that flow from it. It’s also evidence that the pro-competitive framework that was established in 1996 is worth preserving. It seems obvious, but as we celebrate the Act’s 17th anniversary, and take a measure of the state of the union of these United States, we must be watchful of the threats over the horizon by big telecom; one that is desirous of reassembling the monopoly it felt was wrongly ripped away. Only now instead of a chokehold on telephone calls and long distance, it will now control broadband, video and wireless services. In short, it would be a telecom juggernaut so massive as to dwarf the monopoly that was broken up nearly three decades ago, bringing back the bad old days of stranded innovation and lack of choice. Click headline to read more--
Pay TV had a really bad first quarter this year, with cable companies losing an estimated 263,735 subscribers from New Year’s Day to the end of March, according to the Leichtman Research Group. Satellite TV providers and phone companies with a TV business gained some subscribers during the same time period, but fewer than in previous first quarters, and one of the culprits seems to be cord cutting. A bad first quarter is notable for the industry because that’s when it is usually the strongest. The industry added an estimated 445,000 subscribers in Q1 of 2012, and 470,000 in Q1 of 2011. But even with additions from satellite and phone companies, this year’s first quarter was only up around 194,000 – not enough to make up for previous-quarter losses. From April 2012 to March 2013, the industry lost a total of 80,000 subscribers, according to Leichtman Research. That’s the first time the research company has ever seen subscriber losses over a 12-month-period, leading president Bruce Leichtman to this assessment: Click headline to read more--
Just released this morning is the U.S. Supreme Court decision that, on a 6-3 vote, upholds the FCC Shot Clock. The decision is linked below. “SCALIA, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which THOMAS, GINSBURG, SOTOMAYOR, and KAGAN, JJ., joined. BREYER, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. ROBERTS, C. J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which KENNEDY and ALITO, JJ., joined.” Many will offer their view of the decision, which is essentially a reaffirmation of the Chevron Deference rule. For now, I’ll leave it to you, the readers, to reach your own conclusions. What we know, now, is that the FCC Shot Clock is here to stay. What we expect now is that the FCC will move to a rulemaking or declaratory ruling regarding Section 6409(a) [47 U.S.C 1455(a)]
From Gigabit Cities to National Broadband Networks, innovators continue to move the needle towards new broadband technologies. But has the discussion moved away from the long awaited voluntary incentive auctions of spectrum and more towards cutting edge technologies that one day could make our communications systems move faster than the speed of light? Click headline to access website to watch the multi-part documentary--
On Thursday, Democratic Representatives Henry Waxman, Anna Eshoo, and Doris Matsui of California, plus Edward Markey of Massachusetts, Diana DeGette of Colorado, and Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania issued a letter to outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, responding to Republican members of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Republicans on the committee had previously expressed concerns that the incentive auctions provided for in the spectrum provisions of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 would promote anti-competitive practices. In the letter, Democrats counter that Republicans have neglected key parts of the legislation. The authors of the letter note that the tax relief act added a new paragraph 17 to section 309(j) of the Communications Act. This paragraph contained two provisions that can be used to prevent any single bidder from acquiring an excessive number of licenses through these incentive auctions. Subparagraph 17(A) allows all companies that meet certain requirements to bid in these auctions, although they can still be prohibited from bidding on every single block of licenses. Additionally, subparagraph 17(B) maintains the FCC’s ability to limit spectrum aggregation to promote competition. In neglecting these paragraphs, the Democrats assert, the Republicans are mischaracterizing the legislative history of the provisions that, they contend, properly prevent single bidder from acquiring a large number of license blocks. Click headline to read more--
Vodafone Ireland will today inaugurate its fibre broadband services in the Republic, offering customers a range of bundled voice telephony and broadband products, or standalone high speed internet access. Commenting on the launch, Vodafone Ireland director Marcel de Groot, said: ‘Customers can now choose from a range of new fibre-powered broadband packages. You only pay for what you need and most packages come with unlimited broadband usage. Keeping the plans simple allows the customer to be in control, choosing a plan that fits their needs without compromising on quality or speed’.
As you may recall, we've recently written about the MPAA's protests against a treaty for the blind, as well as a similar protest from the Intellectual Property Owners Association (on that front, we heard that many members of that group never saw that letter before it was sent out, and were not happy about it). Now there's another group sending a letter, and it's equally as ridiculous. Business Europe, which appears to have a lot of non-European companies as members (interesting, that), has written a ridiculous letter with little basis in fact, arguing that this treaty for the blind would be "casting aside" the "international copyright infrastructure."
Of course, it does no such thing. All it does is provide extremely limited situations in which copyright restrictions would be limited for the sake of making it easier for vision-impaired people to access works. They also claim that it relies on "hasty conclusions" which is flat out laughable, since the treaty has been under discussion for almost three decades, but has been regularly blocked by organizations like those mentioned above. Business Europe's real complaint seems to be that it just doesn't like the people who like this treaty. ... it is strongly supported by the same group of NGOs and advanced emerging economy countries that pursue a general IPR-weakening agenda at WIPO and other international forums.
Got that? Those who argue that providing more rights to the public support this very minor place where more rights would be provided to the vision-impaired public, and we can't have that. No, no. Click headline to read more--
Last week I got to spend a couple of days in Lac qui Parle County. LqP is home to a ARRA-funded fiber to the home network. It’s also home to a couple of businesses who are making good use of Facebook and other social media channels. I thought it might be fun to hear from two businesses (The Cellar Door and Crazy About Purses) about how and why Facebook has been working for them: Click headline to watch the two video interviews--
Yahoo may have acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion, but Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer stressed in an investor call Monday morning that Tumblr will continue to operate as a separate business — aided by Yahoo infrastructure but not hindered by the larger company. The stock market’s reaction to the deal has, so far, been tepid, with Yahoo shares settling to where they started after a brief surge at the opening bell. “Part of our strategy here is to let Tumblr be Tumblr,” Mayer said. In fact, Tumblr CEO David Karp wasn’t on the morning’s call: He was at an all-team meeting. (“Instead of calling his all-company meetings ‘all-hands,’ he calls them ‘all-team,’”Mayer noted. “I think in the future we’ll call meetings at Yahoo ‘all-team’ meetings.”) “When you look at the best and most-successful billion-dollar acquisitions in the tech space — eBay and Paypal, Google and YouTube — there’s a meme that emerges,” Mayer said. “The best acquisitions…allow the two brands and the two products and services to evolve somewhat separately.” Yahoo has “well over” 700 million users, Mayer said, while Tumblr has 300 million — but these audiences overlap so little that the companies can count their combined user base at over a billion. Click headline to read more--
U.S. authorities have seized two accounts linked to a major operator in the booming Bitcoin digital currency market, Tokyo-based exchange Mt. Gox. The move may prevent the firm from facilitating the purchase and sale of Bitcoins in U.S. dollars at a time when use of the currency and its value has mushroomed. Bitcoin, which unlike conventional money is bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network independent of any central authority, has grown popular among users who lack faith in the established banking system. The price of the volatile currency ballooned in March as a result of the Cyprus bank crisis. Authorities worry that a lack of regulation has left the currency vulnerable to money launderers and other criminals. A seizure warrant obtained Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security froze an account that an Iowa-based online payment processor, Dwolla Inc, held at Veridian Credit Union in the name of Mutum Sigillum LLC. An affidavit filed by an agent with the department's investigations unit states that Mutum Sigillum, a Mt. Gox subsidiary incorporated in Delaware, was operating as an unlicensed money transmitter, in violation of federal law. Treasury's anti-money laundering unit, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), in March issued guidance that dubbed digital currency exchanges money transmitters, a finding that obliged such businesses to register with FinCEN and obtain any mandated state licenses. A search of FinCEN's online registration database Friday morning suggested that neither Mt. Gox nor Mutum Sigillum had registered. The affidavit cited Mutum Sigillum's failure to register with FinCEN as sufficient grounds to seize its accounts. Both Mutum Sigillum and Mt. Gox, which says it handles 80 percent of Bitcoin trading, are owned by Mark Karpeles, the affidavit states. It adds that Karpeles opened an account in Mutum Sigillum's name at Wells Fargo in May 2011, and that when doing so completed a form in which he said it was not a money transmitter. Click headline to read more--
In part one and part two of our three-part series, we discussed attempts to regulate the Internet both nationally and globally. Though the future of internet governance is unknown, as regulatory agencies and governments clamp down, cooperation between Internet advoacy groups and regulatory agencies could help avoid increased Internet censorship or possible balkanization. If the Internet were a movie, it would fall into the genre of films following the general plot of King Kong. What begins as a gentle giant, peaceful and safe in its natural habitat, eventually gets scared, terrorizes the public with a destructive rampage, and ends up shot with a tranquilizer dart and made to perform in the circus, or similar. Sometimes the movie ends at this point, the protagonist misunderstood and with no real chance of redemption, and the ending is sad (The Elephant Man). In other stories, the monster is rescued or even redeemed in the eyes of the once-angry public (The Iron Giant). The Internet is just one cyber-9/11 away from being shackled, upsetting the Web’s so-far rosy childhood that the public has enjoyed so much. Even barring an emergency, with federal lawmakers and restrictive foreign nations pushing for increased regulation, it’s possible that the Internet could become less free, less open and less useful than it is today, making for quite the sad ending. Click headline to read more--
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In an article penned by Steve Forbes on April 11, 2013 and posted on Foxnews.com, Forbes posits, “Traditional copper networks are no longer applicable to the needs and benefits of today’s technologies.” Well, we would respectfully submit that he hasn’t done his due diligence on this topic. Today – apparently unbeknownst to Mr. Forbes – copper connects millions of businesses in America to the advanced IP services that he so glowingly describes in his column. That’s right, the IP revolution isn’t coming in some far-off future where America has to rewire its infrastructure, but it’s here today thanks to American ingenuity. But don’t take our word for it, just look at those that are using the copper to provide advanced IP-based broadband services today. In fact, today’s copper network is capable of broadband connections at up to 220 Megabits per second (Mbps), which last we checked was enough speed for the vast majority of users to consume the IP services they need. This is thanks to innovative technology that was pioneered in America. As one who studies markets, Mr. Forbes should understand the benefit of fully utilizing assets, and the benefits of the existing copper networks in America can be leveraged for the foreseeable future. That’s just the opposite of Mr. Forbes’ claim that it doesn’t make any “economic sense” to continue using this medium. Last time we checked, increased speeds at lower costs fit right into the definition of market efficiencies that make plenty of economic sense to justify the use of copper. And regarding his argument that it’s inefficient to use copper, well, we would invite him to visit any telecom central office today to see just how deeply ingrained copper is in our networks, and just how efficient it is to deploy broadband over copper. Mr. Forbes likes to describe copper as yesterday’s technology, but the reality is that the telecommunications networks of America are all a combination of copper, fiber and wireless. Just like we can read Forbes Magazine in print, online, or watch Forbes on Fox, we can consume that content on a variety of platforms. That’s just like IP, it too is platform agnostic and its benefits can be enjoyed over multiple, differing connections. In fact, copper, wireless and fiber probably play a significant role in our consumption of all but the printed version of Mr. Forbes’ magazine. Click headline to read more--
The following is a media statement by The Broadband Coalition (www.thebroadbandcoalition.com) on today’s FCC announcement: “The FCC’s Public Notice represents the considered judgment of the FCC’s Technology Transitions Policy Task Force staff, which has been studying the issues that are suitable for technology transition trials. While we maintain that trials are not necessary, we believe the Task Force has appropriately focused its attention on identifying obstacles to the interconnection of networks for the exchange of voice in IP format, challenges associated with deploying next generation 911 and threats to consumer welfare associated with telephone company proposals to abandon their wireline networks in certain areas. The focus on interconnection is especially important to competition and to the competitive carrier members of the Broadband Coalition. Competitors cannot compete unless they can interconnect and exchange voice traffic with other providers—including the big legacy telephone companies. But to date, the legacy telephone companies have refused to establish IP interconnection with competitors. The Public Notice correctly observes that carriers around the world are interconnecting in IP for the exchange of voice traffic, but that IP interconnection in the United States has been “delayed.” It is time for the legacy telephone companies to stop delaying. The Broadband Coalition members look forward to working with the FCC on IP voice interconnection trials to establish a framework for compelling the legacy telephone companies to join the rest of the interconnected IP voice world.”
Why aren’t they looking in Minnesota? Here’s the news… "Target Corp. has opened an office in San Francisco, where it plans to scout for tech talent to build its e-commerce and mobile technology efforts." "Reuters reports that Target had hired David Newman to run its Technology Innovation Center, which will seek out other tech companies that can help Target’s tech ventures, like speeding up its website or improve the shopping experience for smartphone-wielding customers already in its stores." A good friend and definite tech talent moved to San Francisco a couple of years ago. So I know why. He’s had more opportunities there – with established and startup companies. He moved there because he knew he’d learn more, earn more and have greater opportunities. (I’m not sure he realized that earning more might be offset by such a rising cost of living!) At the end of the day, he is a tech talent from Minnesota and he was drawn West. And his migration is part of why it makes sense that a company wanting to tap into such talent would look West. It’s where the talent goes. Click headline to read more--
Apple's investments in television and movie content don't match up with the popularity of its services. For example, iTunes and iCloud came out on top in a recent study of digital lockers performed by Strategy Analytics. For a company that prizes its ability to make "whole products," Apple hasn't made a "whole product" for Internet TV as Google has with software, devices, and fiber to the home, says Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova in the following video. Broadband service is a key piece of the puzzle. What to do? Expand beyond the Airport router, Tim says. Enhance the A4 chip to accept ultra-fast wireless broadband signals and upgrade wireless gear to broadcast at gigabit speeds. Or even go so far as to partner with the likes of American Tower to blanket major metropolitan areas with fast wireless signals. Google Fiber is a peek into the future, and Apple needs an alternative. Do you agree? Please watch the video to get Tim's full take, and then let us know if you would subscribe to a gigabit wireless service if Apple were to offer one. Click headline to read more and watch the video--
Surging interest in Bitcoin, the crypto-currency that is mined and distributed without a central bank, has brought a fresh wave of speculation about its pseudonymous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. The latest theory comes from IT pioneer Ted Nelson, who offers a three-part hypothesis – based on the Bitcoin inventor’s intelligence, publishing methods and interests — to show that Satoshi can be none other than Japanese math professor Shinichi Mochizuki. Nelson’s “deduction” (which Forbes and others have portrayed as more crackpot than convincing) comes weeks after programmer Sergio Lerner published a blog post that claims to show Satoshi has mined a fortune worth of Bitcoins, and that he has spent only a small fraction of it. A related report by The Verge endorses Lerner’s account and says the financial trail provides new clues to help establish Satoshi’s identity. This “who made Bitcoin?” buzz is a fun parlor game, especially at a time when everyone from serious investors to Homeland Security are clamoring to get a piece of the new currency. But, while many of the guesses are as silly as saying Lewis Carroll is Jack the Ripper, the process also raises the question of whether Satoshi is entitled to be left in peace. Last week, someone who has corresponded with Satoshi told me he believes the Bitcoin inventor is one person, not three as some suggest, and that he is not Japanese (this is consistent with the Forbes writer’s theory that the pseudonym is a tribute to 1980′s Tokyo cyber-punk culture). I asked him why Satoshi has decided to remain anonymous in the first source. According to the source, who is a Bitcoin developer and did not want to be named for this story, Satoshi’s motives are not rooted in myth-making or anything sinister. Instead, they reflect a simple desire for privacy and are consistent with the ethos of open-source coders who work on a project out of altruism or interest and then pass it on to others when they want to move on. Click headline to read more--
America is lagging behind a number of foreign countries in terms of broadband penetration, according to a Telecommunications Industry Association documentary entitled “Broadband Capacity: Are We Ready?” According to the video, America’s deficiency is due to the fact that America pioneered the system and therefore has a more antiquated infrastructure, whereas many other countries established networks later, taking advantage of newer technology. As broadband modernized, certain areas, primarily rural and low-income, have been left behind. While government funds have been made available to help expand coverage to these areas – particularly through the Universal Service Fund — many carriers have rejected the funding in order to avoid compliance with certain requirements. Other strategies should be used to establish broadband coverage, said the video. While rural areas struggle to keep up, even the most advanced systems have problems, said the video. It focused on a school district that has adopted a high-speed broadband system and has struggled to meet the high cost of securing the network. Although the spectrum crunch was expected to mark the end of broadband expansion, the documentary discusses how the industry has adapted to survive. Incentive auctions are held to sell off under-utilized spectrum space. While this process will take some time, significant innovations have been made in the meantime to maximize efficient use of the spectrum.
Sprint Nextel has confirmed that it has closed its USD480 million acquisition of a number of markets from regional carrier US Cellular. The deal included operations in Chicago, St Louis and a handful of markets in the Midwest, as well as spectrum assets in the 1.9GHz band. The deal was originally slated to include approximately 585,000 customers when announced last November, but at close Sprint Nextel said the deal included around 420,000 subscribers.
T-Mobile US plans to significantly expand the operational footprint of its newly-acquired MetroPCS brand over the next six quarters. Fierce Wireless quotes T-Mobile CFO Braxton Carter, who formerly held the same position at MetroPCS, as saying that the combined company’s focus is now on a ‘more aggressive expansion’ of the latter’s national footprint. Carter said that MetroPCS will be ‘expanding to 15 additional major metropolitan areas very quickly’, stopping short of naming them. However, previously MetroPCS executives have indicated that the company intended to expand into areas such as Houston, New Orleans, San Diego, Seattle, Washington DC and Baltimore. Carter said the expansion will accelerate in the third quarter and through to early 2014. Further, the CFO noted that the ‘back office integration’ between T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS is now essentially complete and said that T-Mobile is ‘weeks away’ from seeding HSPA+ and LTE smartphones into MetroPCS distribution channels.
Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt hopes this week’s acquisition of tier 2 cable company NewWave Communications by investment firm GTCR will be “the first of many.” Telecompetitor spoke this week with Hundt, who headed up the FCC during the Clinton administration and is now an advisor to GTCR. “We believe cable is the universal American communications medium,” said Hundt. “Cable is the essential connection for everyone, especially in rural America.” Wireless is important but can’t carry as much information as cable – and telephone line loop lengths in rural America are very long, all of which means “cable is the answer,” Hundt said. NewWave is the nation’s 22nd largest cable company, passing 250,000 homes in rural Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Arkansas. GTCR made its acquisition through its partnership with Rural Broadband Investments, which is headed up by Phil Spencer, who previously was CEO of at least two smaller cable systems – Windjammer Communications and Everest Communications. Hundt referred to Spencer as a “rising star” in “Cable 3.0.” Cable 1.0 was the phase when paid TV emerged, with focus on a few superstations, Hundt said. Cable 1.0 stars, he said, included pioneers such as John Malone and Amos Hostetter. Cable 2.0, Hundt said, brought broadband into the cable service mix – and rising stars of that phase included people such as Glen Britt and Brian Roberts. In Cable 3.0, cable will become “the common network for everyone in the country to communicate with everyone in the country.” He pointed to on-line education as an example of the sort of application that will be supported by cable infrastructure moving forward. According to Hundt, GTCR has enlisted Spencer to find rural cable companies in which to invest because Hundt and others were impressed by what Spencer accomplished in his previous career. Click headline to read more--
Smarter Cape Cod’s objective is to create a vibrant Cape Cod community for the 21st century—one that supports the evolution of our economy from service-based to knowledge-based, and uses our recently-built, fast, reliable and robust technology infrastructure to improve our quality of life by making the way we do things “smarter”. Click headline to access the new website--
BTOpenreach has this week dispatched one of its survey teams to begin preliminary work on their previously announced £3.7m project to divert two unused submarine fibre optic cables to the Isles of Scilly (here), which will support the rollout of superfast broadband (FTTC and FTTP) ISP products on the islands. At present the islands 2,200 residents have to suffer a slow and inadequate Microwave radio line that connects to south west England via Lands End. By comparison the new network would cut two undersea fibre optic cables (previously used to connect the UK with Ireland and Spain) and move them to link the islands via different points on St Mary’s. Both cables link back to separate parts of Cornwall, which is good for redundancy. The effort is part of the wider £132m Superfast Cornwall scheme, which is supported by £78.5 million from BT and up to £53.5 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It primarily aims to make superfast internet connectivity available to 95% of Cornwall’s local homes and businesses by the end of 2014. Click headline to read more--
Canada’s Competition Bureau is gearing up to launch a formal inquiry into the business practices of Google Inc.’s Canadian operations. Google was recently notified by the Competition Bureau of the watchdog organization’s intentions to investigate the Silicon Valley giant’s business in Canada. The agency has so far informed Google of its plans to open a formal inquiry, but has not asked for specific information or documents from Google Canada. “We will work co-operatively with the Competition Bureau to answer any questions they may have,” Leslie Church, Google Canada’s head of communications and public affairs, told the Financial Post on Friday. The full scope of the investigation remains unknown. But Google’s search and advertising practices have faced investigations from competition watchdogs in other countries in the past. For many businesses, ranking high in Google’s search engine is vital to success, since appearing higher increases a site’s chances of being visited by a user, which improves traffic and revenue potential. While Google has maintained that its search query algorithms are neutral, some businesses contend that Google prioritizes its own services — such as Google Maps or restaurant reviews — over those of its competitors. A spokesperson for the Competition Bureau declined to comment on the scope of any inquiry. “By law, the bureau is obliged to conduct its investigations confidentially,” Alexa Keating, senior communications advisor for the Competition Bureau, said in an email. Click headline to read more--
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