Foreword Stentors vision for Canadas communications and information infrastructure focuses on a Canadian information highway that can serve the national interest, economically, socially and culturally. The vision reflects our knowledge of current developments in Canada and abroad and is presented as a positive contribution to current discussion and decision making related to this most important strategic resource. We identify policy directions and actions which we believe will help to make this vision a reality and enable Canadians to take full advantage of the benefits of a true national information infrastructure. There is evidence of growing public awareness and understanding of the potential that this strategic resource has for social and economic development of our nation. Harnessing this potential should be given priority on Canada s national agenda. Stentor Telecom Policy Inc. Table of Contents Executive Summary Introduction The Stentor Vision  Imagine a Canada ... 6  The Information Highway What Is It? 6  The Importance of an Information Highway 7  Why Canada Must Act Now 8 The Reality  The Current Situation 10  A New Paradigm for the Future 10  The Costs and Challenges of Moving Ahead 12 Working Together to Pave the Way  Roles of Industry and Government 13  Guiding Principles 13  An Agenda for Action 14 Conclusion 16 Appendices: Applications 1. Health Care 17 2. Education and Training 18 3. Government Services 19 4. Electronic Commerce 20 5. CANARIE 21 In a world where knowledge is the key to improving quality of life and competitive economic advantage, telecommunications is a beacon lighting the way for an economically strong, socially secure and culturally vibrant Canada. As a world leader in telecommunications, Canada is well-positioned to harness the enormous potential of telecommunications and information technologies for the benefit of all Canadians. With visionary policies which encourage co-operation, mutual respect and innovation, we in Canada can build upon our already solid telecommunications foundation to strengthen our economy and protect and enhance our standard of living, even in the face of the stiffest global competition. We have talented and skilled people and technical and financial resources. With leadership from government and industry working together in a spirit of co-operation, these can be applied effectively to expand our telecommunications infrastructure into a true information highway with boundless beneficial implications for our economic, social and cultural well-being. Stentor envisages a national information highway that is capable of carrying voice, text, data, graphics and video services to and from all Canadians, and that provides universal access to basic and advanced communications and information services through a network of many networks, owned and operated by different service providers. For Canadians such infrastructure will mean that:  instant communication is available by voice, computer and video;  intellectual capabilities can be shared electronically for research, development and improved quality of life;  the best in education can be delivered equally to a city classroom or a remote residence;  a community doctor can have immediate and interactive access to the best medical minds in the nation; and  Canadians have a key to continued prosperity and leadership in a shrinking world and an important added means to build a vibrant economy that enables them to achieve their personal potential in independent, self-fulfilling ways. This electronic infrastructure will stimulate economic activity, generate employment opportunities and enable improved productivity to help Canadians deal with global competitive forces which, left unchallenged, can erode our present living standards. We as Canadians already have a world-class communications infrastructure and are fully capable of developing our own information highway, just as our global competitors are doing in Japan, in Europe, in the United States and elsewhere in the world. Canada s potential can be realized most fully when government and industry clearly demonstrate the will and the determination to act, boldly and immediately, in a spirit of co-operation. We need:  a policy, tax and regulatory environment which facilitates, encourages and supports the timely development of an information highway employing common technical standards;  private sector co-operation and leadership in financing, building, operating and maintaining a modern information highway;  fair and open access to this highway for all service providers, in a competitive environment;  affordable services;  streamlined regulation which protects the public interest while encouraging creativity and innovation and enabling flexibility to be responsive to customer needs and the market place;  protection of privacy and the principles of copyright;  promotion of Canadian culture; and  government leadership as a bold and creative user of the highway by making its own services electronically accessible. The investment required to create a truly national information infrastructure is substantial. This should be made by industry, whose willingness to do so is apparent from the fact that Stentor companies currently are investing some $4 billion a year in this direction. The scope of the task, however, requires broader co-operation and, to help move the process forward, the Stentor companies are prepared to lead in opening a dialogue with all industry players. Introduction We who sit on the roof of the world ought to see further these possibilities than others. A.M. Klein Canadians are worried. They are worried about the present the federal and provincial deficits, chronic and relentless unemployment, an entire Western world struggling in a recession and a global marketplace in which Canada is a bit player. And they are worried about the future which looks no better than the present. Their concern is not just for themselves but for the legacy they will leave to their children. It is against this challenging landscape that leaders must marshall their forces for change. Stentor s vision statement does not deny the realities underlying these worries but offers a plan for a way out of the economic and social doldrums. It suggests that we must move forward and move quickly to ensure that these anxieties do not become self-fulfilling. It talks of a future built on an infrastructure referred to as an information highway. It does that, to be sure, but more; it is a vision in which the flow of information becomes part of the fabric of society, the woof and warp supporting the national economy, the Canadian culture and individual well-being. As Canada approaches the 21st century, the major challenge is to instill hope in Canadians in the future growth and prosperity of the nation. This means creating new jobs and opportunities for Canadians. It will mean ensuring that technology s promise to make life easier will be kept, that it won t simply create greater pressures to do more with less and to do it faster. It will mean building an economic springboard for the future. It will mean improving efficiencies and reducing the costs of public services. It will mean putting Canadians in touch with other Canadians. It will mean recapturing the core values of the Canadian mosaic co-operation, mutual respect and pluralism. And it will mean doing all these things while recognizing that the power and potential of Canada today lie in the immense richness and diversity of its human and intellectual resources. Canada s major telecommunications companies believe that the information highway is the route to a brighter future. It is an opportunity that must be grasped quickly, with resolution and commitment. This paper describes what this highway should look like; it outlines the costs, the challenges, the policy issues and the necessity of accelerating its creation. Finally, it proposes guidelines for the development of the information highway, detailing an action plan for both government and business to work together in ensuring that Canada remains a dynamic and prosperous country in the Information Age. Imagine a Canada ...  Where all Canadians can have access to a total information and communications world as easily as switching on a light, picking up a phone or taking a trip across town.  Where children, no matter where they live in this vast country, can learn, can grow, can know each other and their country better through innovative distance education programs.  Where patients in even the remotest communities have access to the country s best doctors, clinics and hospitals.  Where voters and constituents can communicate directly and openly with their elected officials.  Where Canadians, at the touch of a button or the sound of the spoken word, can communicate with other Canadians by voice, computer or video.  Where the norm for Canadians includes challenging and fulfilling jobs and a wealth of opportunities to improve their lives and the lives of their children.  Where universities share their expertise with elementary and high schools.  Where Canadian workers can continually upgrade their skills and knowledge through access to the latest training from their place of work, their community or their own homes.  Where communications and information services eliminate the barrier of distance to enable individuals and small business anywhere in Canada to compete in the global market.  Where individual Canadians enjoy easy access to entertainment, to Canadian cultural resources and to social and community events without regard to physical location.  Where Canadians with disabilities can achieve true independence through equal and easy access to communications and information services.  Where Canadians can capitalize fully on their collective intellectual and innovative capabilities to develop new products and services. Imagine a Canada where people control directly when, how, why and with whom they communicate; where they create and exchange information in whatever form they wish voice, text, data or video from wherever they wish home, school, office, factory, car, a mountain top or a cottage deck. Imagine a Canadian information highway where a variety of service providers brings to all Canadians a panoply of communications and information services at affordable prices and easy-to-use formats. Such a Canada is not here yet, but it s on its way. Most of the pieces are in place the technology, the people and the know-how. What s missing? The will and determination to act, and to act now to build Canada s information highway. The Information Highway What Is It? The information highway is a seamless high-speed network capable of carrying voice, text, data, graphics and video services to and from all Canadians. The image suggests a ribbon of road spanning the world, but it is much more than that. Picture a map with its web of highways, tracery that links every location no matter how small or remote. But the information highway links people as well as places. It is a system of interconnected electronic networks providing universal access to basic and advanced communications and information services. It is a network of many networks, owned and operated by different service providers offering connections to a variety of services, applications and content sources. The information highway will differ from the present system in two important respects. First, it will link the existing networks of cable, telecommunications, broadcast, wireless, satellite and computing into a vast fully interconnected and interoperable system. Second, its significantly greater power its bandwidth and speed will support much richer forms of communication and information exchange. Through such a powerful, interconnected system, all Canadians could take advantage of Canada s extensive resources in information, communication and computing technologies. The information highway will link institutions and resources, from schools and businesses to libraries and laboratories. It will bring together Canadians from all walks of life and unite communities of interest from all parts of the country. By connecting the disparate parts and people of our land, it will reinforce the community of Canada, encompassing the cultural diversities in a way that physical links never could. Right now, Canadians make telephone calls or turn on televisions without a thought about the technical infrastructure supporting these services. These activities have become a given in our society. The information highway will integrate information and computing resources into our daily lives in the same way, making them a part of the fabric of life for all Canadians in the 21st century just as our transportation, power and water systems are today. The main trunks and arteries of this integrated system of telecommunications, wireless, cable and remote (broadcast and satellite) networks will consist of fibre optics and radio technology; copper wire, coaxial cable, fibre optics and wireless systems will provide the access roads and bridge the last hundred yards to an individual s home or business. Common, non-proprietary standards will unite the various networks in such a way as to appear a seamless whole to users, making services easy to access and to use. Data bases and electronic libraries containing material in video, image and audio formats will all be accessible, with service directories and electronic white pages enabling users to find and retrieve information easily. The infrastructure as well as the providers of services on it will include cable, telephone, wireless, satellite, software and computer companies; information and service providers such as broadcasting and cultural organizations, filmmakers, educators and others not yet imagined, including the individual users themselves. The possibilities are endless. Customers will have a choice among services, prices and service providers. Customers will be in control. By providing universal access to all Canadians, as both consumers and producers, the information highway will be a truly empowering force of equality, revolutionizing Canadian commerce and society. It will enable us to work together, collaborate and have access to information without regard to physical location. It will be secure against unauthorized use, and privacy will be fully enforced. It will improve the way we educate our children, train and retrain our workers, earn a living, conduct research, manufacture products, deliver services and interact with family and friends. It will put individual Canadians in control. The Importance of an Information Highway The investments made by Canada over this century to develop our existing infrastructures (transportation, communications, water and energy distribution) and our social programs (e.g., health care and education) are the backbone of the highest standard of living in the world today. The investment Canadians make to develop the information highway will be equally important in the next century. Canada is already well into the Information Age. The resource industries, our traditional mainstays of growth and wealth such as fisheries, mining, forestry or agriculture, are declining in both employment and share of the Gross Domestic Product. The same is true of the manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, a whole new economy based on knowledge and information is on the rise: now over half the business activities in Canada are information and service oriented, and the manufacturing and resource sectors are becoming much more information intensive. Canada needs an advanced information infrastructure to support the whole economy the leaner resource-based and manufacturing sectors as well as the newer information, high-tech and service industries. Such a crucial foundation is too important, and the challenge too great, to be left in the hands of a single company or alliance of companies. An integrated information highway must be built if we are to remain prosperous and healthy into the next century. It will lay the basis for a surge in the new economy by providing equal and easy access for individual Canadians, communities, firms and other organizations to the vast intellectual resources that already exist both inside our country and out, resources which cannot be tapped easily or economically through the present communications systems. The information highway, like a road into a new land, will liberate the potential of Canada by allowing Canadians to choose to choose the information they want or need, to choose who provides that information, and to choose with whom to share it. Services that are available only to a few Canadians today will be easily accessible and affordable by all Canadians. For example, from their own homes, Canadians will be able to:  view school and community events, city and town council meetings, electronic museums and art galleries, and a vast selection of educational programs;  retrieve books, audio and video-reference material from electronic libraries;  shop for, or offer for sale, information-based goods and services in electronic malls where buyers and sellers meet without the overheads and congestion of today s shopping malls;  receive government services in real time and at a fraction of the cost;  select and download movies, concerts, broadcasts of live events to watch on computerized television from electronic video stores offering virtually unlimited choice;  form virtual communities for the creation and sharing of information and ideas in all walks of life;  use electronic mail, video conferencing or computer conferencing from their homes or offices to attend business meetings or simply stay in touch with friends and family; and  use interactive multi-media to unite far-flung groups into learning communities through shared experiences. Films, magazines, newspapers, catalogues, airline schedules, financial information all types of data bases will be available to Canadians anywhere, anytime. Doctors will be able to consult with specialists in any part of the country to diagnose patients more accurately, treat them faster and release them from the hospital sooner. Distance education and training applications will remove the geographic barriers to studying and training and enrich the resources that educators can use to teach our children and train workers. Software developers will be able to test and market their products, from their own garages if necessary. Canada s information and culture industries will be offered maximum opportunities to reach the consumer and be a more viable alternative to foreign programming. Opportunities will abound for enterprising Canadians to apply their abundant intellectual and creative powers toward the development of new products and services. The sheer learning that will occur in such an information-rich, technologically sophisticated but user-friendly system will ensure that Canada has the high-skill, value-added jobs needed for economic strength and prosperity in the next century. By freeing Canadians to create, share and receive information and knowledge, unencumbered by technical constraints, the information highway will guarantee Canada a leading role in the Information Age. Why Canada Must Act Now Canada must act now or get left behind. It is a simple question of survival in this fast-changing world. First, many of our trading partners are moving quickly and decisively to put in place advanced information infrastructures. Second, technology is changing at a breathtaking pace, calling into question the viability and utility of existing industry structures, regulations and policies. If we don t act quickly to make the information highway a reality, Canadian industry will fall steadily behind industries in other countries, Canadian employment will suffer and Canadians standard of living will fall. The information highway will accelerate the development of technologies and services critical to Canada s international competitiveness; it will stimulate huge investment from the private sector; and it will give Canada and Canadians a competitive edge in the international marketplace. Other countries are moving quickly to develop their own information infrastructures.  In 1990, Japan announced a plan to build a fibre-optic network capable of transmitting advanced communications services to every school, business and home in the country by the year 2015. This US$250 billion initiative resulted from a national policy to equip Japan s manufacturers to take advantage of the global broadband communications market.  The pan-European project COSINE (Cooperation for Open Systems Interconnection Networking in Europe) funded by 18 European countries, will provide high-speed services to the R&D community throughout Europe. European nations are positioning their industry now to take the lead in developing innovative research applications for high-speed networks.  In 1993, U.S. President Clinton and Vice-President Gore presented their vision of an advanced communication infrastructure, known as the National Information Infrastructure (NII). The NII was formally launched in September of this year with the release of a report entitled National Information Infrastructure: Agenda For Change. The plan includes provision for US$2 billion a year to support development of a gigabit-speed research and education network and to establish a task force to define and implement the policy for regulatory and tax changes needed to obtain the private sector investments to accelerate deployment of the NII. The report calls for communications laws and policies that foster competition and ensure access in all communications markets. Americans anticipate that this high-speed communication system will have the same impact on U.S. economic and social development as the interstate highway system had in the 1950s and 1960s.  In October 1993, in the U.S., Bell Atlantic Corporation and Telecommunications Inc. announced the biggest media merger in history, a US$33 billion deal that promises a blend of cable and telephone networks that will completely revolutionize the way we use television. The revolutionary tool will be a combination of a cable converter, telephone and personal computer. These nations all have a vision of improved competitiveness, economic growth and a better quality of life for their citizens through the creation of advanced information infrastructure. Compared to these nations, however, Canada can move even more quickly. Our telephone, cable and VCR penetration rates are among the highest in the world. Canadians have the largest volume of information supply per person in the world. The quality of our telecom networks in terms of fibre deployment and digitization is second to none. Most of our population is concentrated in a few urban areas. And finally, we have one major regulatory authority whereas countries such as the United States operate with several levels of regulation. As well, Canada leads the world in many areas of the digital revolution which has brought about the convergence of once separate technologies. Digital technology is blurring the boundaries between previously distinct sectors, spawning vast new product and service opportunities and creating whole new markets and industries. The digital revolution is also eroding traditional geographic boundaries both nationally and internationally. Technical breakthroughs are happening at a dizzying pace, and innovations not even imagined today are undoubtedly just over the horizon. While Canada must also look forward as a country, Canadians should not lose sight of the core goals and values that have helped achieve our country s eminence among the world s leading industrial democracies. We are a nation which takes pride in our harsh but diverse geography; in our cultural sovereignty; and in our rich abundance of assets those physical with which we are blessed, and those which we have forged into the social and economic fabric. Our fore-fathers took up the challenge of creating strong and enduring linkages to make our country one. Today, building the information highway is a similar challenge. We live in a time of vast change and enormous opportunity. To overcome the present lag between technology and policy and to ensure our leadership in the global economy, Canada must act now to develop strong government and industry commitment to the information highway. Failure to do so will seriously impede our competitive position as a country and jeopardize our chances of renewing Canada s prosperity in the Information Age. The Current Situation Canada, like most other countries, has a series of separate and distinct communication, information and entertainment networks. These include telephone, cable, broadcast, wireless and satellite systems, as well as publicly funded R&D networks that make up Canada s Internet. Each of these operates more or less independently, and many of them are governed by separate statutes, regulations and policies. In effect then, we have a countryside of different roads, streets and driveways, some of them large, but none of them linked to create a truly seamless information highway. In spite of this, more and more Canadians are recognizing that investing in computing, information and communications technology is the most effective way to ensure that Canada maintains its competitive edge, its quality of life and its value-added, high-wage economy. A few examples ...  In British Columbia, the Greater Victoria Hospital Society is using BC TEL s Ubiquity Service for the movement of pathology slides and for voice and video consultation between health centres, allowing for instant access to specialists at diverse sites. (See Appendix 1)  MT&T, in partnership with the government of Nova Scotia, has implemented the Distance Education Service for Knowledge (DESK), delivering educational materials across the province through fully interactive audio, graphics and video options, linking remote learning sites through network capabilities. (See Appendix 2)  In New Brunswick, the provincial government with the participation of NBTel is carrying out pilot programs designed to provide one-stop shopping for all citizens looking for any provincial service, from day-care information to road conditions, from employment opportunities to pension plan changes. (See Appendix 3)  Real estate companies such as Royal Lepage, working with MPR Teltech and BC TEL, are pioneering electronic information networks which enable clients to match their needs more precisely with residential markets. At the same time, the networks provide a range of services in mortgage management and insurance from a variety of locations. (See Appendix 4)  The Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education (CANARIE), developed out of partnership among the research, business and government communities, will provide high-speed communications for a range of R&D and educational users across the public and private sectors, promoting Canadian competitiveness in networking capability. (See Appendix 5) Clearly, Canadians from all walks of life are beginning to see the value and importance of using advanced communications and information technology to improve the quality of their lives, to make their operations more cost effective and to maintain their standard of living. The challenge is to leverage these technological initiatives into a more universally available and accessible system, a system that is ubiquitous, easy to use, cost effective and shared a true communications and information infrastructure, a real information highway. Achieving this will require vision and commitment from business and government on a truly national basis. A New Paradigm for the Future Open architecture and open standards promote competition, quicker innovation, healthier industries, and more diverse technology. Mitchell Kapor, Founder Lotus Development Corporation Fundamental to the success of the information highway is the choice of system and the values represented by it. That choice is up to us. Canada s current communications environment is one of mainly closed and proprietary systems. Cable and telecommunications networks, for example, do not connect nor do they work in tandem with each other. Furthermore, existing systems vary immensely in their degree of openness. The Internet, for example, is entirely open in architecture, content and use. The public telecommunications networks are open in access, use and content but closed in their architecture. Canada s full-service telecommunications providers are ready to change this and make their systems fully open. Cable systems remain closed in terms of their architecture, content and use. This lack of cohesion and interconnection may have made sense in the past, when each of these elements had distinct technologies and in some cases distinct markets. But today, this is no longer the case, and other countries, such as the U.K., Japan and the U.S., are moving rapidly to integrate the service environment of their cable, wireless, computing and telecommunications systems. If Canada doesn t move quickly, how will we take advantage of the explosion in opportunities to develop our own full range of advanced communications services? How will we maximize our information technology base so that Canadians won t be limited in future service choices? How will Canada ensure its place in the global market for communications services a market that is expected to triple and be worth over $1 trillion by the end of this decade? An open environment is inevitable: it will offer to customers the ability to choose when, where and with whom they exchange information. An open environment provides new and, particularly for Canada, important opportunities.  An open environment, characterized by an open architecture based on open standards and open use, allows for efficient use of limited resources. It also allows for different service providers to compete on the same terms in all aspects of developing and delivering services. For example, in an open, fully interconnected environment, cable companies could deliver voice services, and telephone networks could deliver interactive multi-media and video services. Open systems put customers in control.  As Lotus Development Corporation founder Mitchell Kapor has pointed out, open systems also foster critical thinking, activism, democracy and quality while closed systems seem to breed consumerism, passivity, crassness and mediocrity. ( Where is the Digital Highway Really Heading, WIRED, July/August 1993.)  An open architecture with common, non-proprietary standards promotes competition, and competition leads to quicker innovation in the marketplace, improved business efficiencies, increased consumer choice and more business opportunities for all players. This translates into more jobs, lower prices and wider availability of advanced communications services for all Canadians.  An open system will strengthen Canada s cultural and information industries: Canadian films, TV programs and music will be available to much wider audiences in Canada and abroad. Royalties and revenues from this increased distribution will stimulate production throughout Canada s cultural and information industries and lead to the opening up of new international market opportunities. The cost of distributing programs will fall, resulting in lower prices for on-demand information, culture and entertainment services. An open system will improve the ability of Canadian cultural and information service providers to offer Canadian products because all providers will have equal access to the consumer.  An open system will strengthen Canada s software industry which, according to recent Industry and Science Canada sectoral studies, presently suffers from domestic distribution and marketing problems and is obliged in many cases to seek offshore markets to survive.  An open environment will provide a variety of opportunities for individual Canadians to communicate with each other. An information highway, accessible to all Canadians, will help bridge both the geographic and psychological barriers that separate Canadians and help link the cultural diversity that is the essence of Canada. The choice is clear. The Costs and Challenges of Moving Ahead Deployment of advanced communications networks on a mass scale requires massive investments. The cable television industry, for example, expects to spend over $6 billion upgrading its networks with digital video compression (DVC) technology to provide 200+ television channels to homes. The telephone companies expect to spend even more to provide broadband digital transmission capabilities to homes. Governments are considering smaller but still significant investments to upgrade their national and regional R&D networks. Alternative distribution technologies to homes, such as direct broadcast satellites, multi-point distribution systems and personal communications technologies, will also require substantial investment. Without change, investment required to upgrade the various elements of the existing system would be potentially prohibitive, but significant savings could also be realized by a fully interconnected system. At the national level, collaborative projects such as CANARIE are important to build test networks and stimulate R&D and advanced applications. But that is only one part of the solution. The bigger challenge is to develop capabilities at the local access level that will allow users to take advantage of all the benefits offered by the national information highway. This is where the bulk of the upgrading costs lie. Investment in local development will further stimulate the innovative use of the Canadian public telephone network, which is already one of the most advanced in the world. Given the fiscal state of the country, these costs should not and will not be covered or subsidized by government. The investments should be borne by industry. However, for that to happen, a fair and open market is required. Industry will need assurances that it will be able to recover its capital based on its market skills and the value it delivers to customers. These assurances include greater regulatory clarity, a more coherent government policy and a co-ordinated government effort to allow the marketplace to function in such a way as to protect the public interest. In other words, the government must take the lead in rationalizing and streamlining policy and regulation. In turn, industry will make the necessary investments while respecting public policy in support of Canadian culture and other at risk industries and communities of interests. Working Together to Pave the Way Roles of Industry and Government To ensure a successful information highway, consensus is needed on principles to guide the major players industry, government and users. Partnership between business and government is crucial, both generally as well as in selective collaborative relationships. The roles for both must be clearly defined:  Implementation by Industry Industry s role, in a market-driven environment, will be to plan, design, implement and develop the networks, services and applications that will constitute the information highway.  Facilitation by Government Government s role will be to create a more favourable policy, tax and regulatory environment; to promote policies that foster competition and open access; to provide seed funding for demonstration projects; and to support the information highway by using its services. Guiding Principles Fair and Open Access Fair and open access must be promoted by public policy and supported through government regulation. To ensure that all service providers have equal and open access to the information highway, the government must modify the regulatory process to ensure that:  it is flexible and responsive to the needs of consumers and the Canadian marketplace;  no undue competitive advantage is conferred on any player or technology, i.e., that the market and consumers are empowered to choose;  all Canadians, including service providers, can participate in the supply of content-based services in a fair, competitive marketplace;  competition and co-operation among players are encouraged where appropriate for the benefit of all Canadians; and  all service providers support Canadian cultural objectives and institutions to maintain and enhance Canada s distinct and diverse culture. Government policy must also allow network operators to integrate elements of their infrastructures on a cost-effective basis where appropriate. In particular, it must recognize the inherent differences between urban and rural areas and must allow those network operators most affected by current restrictions to develop strategies for rural markets. Affordable Services The information highway must be widely available and affordable; both government and industry have a responsibility to make this happen. Competition among multiple service providers will help by driving prices down and by providing a range of services. If government subsidies are necessary for public policy reasons, they should be provided to end users directly or through special tariffs as opposed to offsetting the cost of networks or distribution of services themselves. Common Standards for Interconnectivity and Interoperability Common standards for interconnection and interoperability for all components of the information highway are essential to the success of this network of networks. These include technical standards for equipment, networks, services, applications and interfaces, as well as standards for common formats for business transactions. Government should support and sanction such standards, and industry should actively pursue them. It is the only way to ensure that the needs of users are met, and that the public interest is served. Private and Secure Information It is the responsibility of both government and the industry to ensure that the rights to privacy and freedom of expression are ensured for users of services on the information highway. Electronically available information must be protected against unauthorized access or misuse, and copyright law must apply just as it does to other media. Incentives for Increased Research and Development To accelerate the development of the information highway, both government and industry must give highest priority to relevant research and development. Promotion of Canadian Culture Government incentives to promote and strengthen Canada s cultural identity and cultural industries should be applied to all service providers no matter what technology they use. All service providers should support Canadian culture and institutions on an equitable basis by providing full and effective access to and for Canada s information and culture industries. An Agenda for Action The Stentor companies believe that their vision of an information highway presents Canada with a major opportunity to meet some of our more pressing national challenges to bring the country closer together; to make our unique information and cultural products more readily available to each other and to the world; to strengthen the economy and create rewarding and fulfilling jobs; to use our scarce resources more efficiently and effectively; to strengthen young people s faith in their future; and to compete successfully in the international marketplace. Through innovative programs such as CANARIE, the government has shown leadership in investing in advanced networking applications. Many other initiatives at the provincial and local levels and within industry, including the Stentor companies, are also under way. But opportunities don t last forever and we must act now and we must act together if we wish to reap the rewards before other bigger and better organized nations occupy the field. For this we need a co- ordinated, national program of action that includes clear roles and responsibilities for government and industry. In the spirit of contributing to public discussion and encouraging the early adoption of a national program, the Stentor companies recommend the following practical agenda for action: 1. Industry Action a) Continue to Invest in the Information Infrastructure At present, the Stentor companies invest approximately $4 billion a year in upgrading their networks and in related research and development. With greater regulatory freedom and a more open and competitive market to provide better assurances of a fair return, these investments would be increased significantly. b) Explore Co-operative Interconnection Agreements No one company or network by itself can build a true national information infrastructure, but Stentor is prepared to lead the way to a national information highway by opening the dialogue with all industry players. Since the benefits can best be realized by working together, Stentor will actively explore interconnection agreements, partnerships and other innovative forms of co-operation with any and all participants who support an open-architecture, competitive environment. c) Develop Innovative Applications Stentor will work closely with users, regulators and other members of the information technology industry to develop innovative applications that are flexibly priced to allow users of all types to explore the benefits of the information highway. d) Promote the Benefits of the Information Highway Stentor will work with consumer groups and business associations to identify their needs and to help develop a consensus on ways of ensuring universal access to advanced services. e) Participate in Information Highway Initiatives The Stentor companies are actively involved in several federal and provincial information highway initiatives, such as CANARIE, and will continue to participate in others identified by governments. Stentor will also reach out to other companies and industries likely to benefit from these projects and encourage them to participate in the effort to achieve a national information highway. 2. Government Action a) Develop a Coherent Policy Environment Following the recent cable and the upcoming telecom structural hearings of the CRTC, a comprehensive interdepartmental review of all policies related to the building of a national information highway should be undertaken. This review should include such areas as telecom pricing, convergence, electronic authorization, intellectual property, privacy and security, working from home and access to government information. It should be undertaken without delay, and recommendations should be issued within 12 months. b) Reform and Streamline Regulation As the catalyst for stimulating the development of the information highway, the government must play a leadership role by establishing a fair and open regulatory environment that will encourage private sector investment and implementation. Notwithstanding the substantive issues under consideration in the 1993 regulatory framework hearing, government through its regulatory authority should:  lead a rapid transition to a truly competitive telecommunication market where prices are determined by market forces;  open the local service market so that all service providers, including cable television operators, wireless providers, interexchange carriers and telephone companies, are allowed to interconnect, compete and carry anything for any customer anywhere;  encourage interconnection of all systems and ensure that standards for interconnectivity and interoperability are adopted where future modifications or enhancements to networks will form part of the information highway; and  remove incentives to the deployment of proprietary or closed systems which prevent competitive access to the consumer. c) Make Government Information Electronically Accessible The Department of Government Services should assess all federal information collection and dissemination policies and practices to eliminate impediments to electronic access. It should develop a plan for implementation in the next fiscal year, to ensure that public information is accessible using information highway services on an open and competitive basis, subject to appropriate privacy safeguards. d) Develop an Agenda for Information Highway Research The federal government, in consultation with industry, users and other governments, should define the priorities for research and establish a comprehensive, co-ordinated program consistent with those priorities. Focusing its support on areas where the broadest possible societal benefits will be achieved, the government should implement a program that supports:  research into applications and services in educational and health care communities as well as in industries critical to Canada s competitiveness in the global marketplace;  the development of technologies, applications and other mechanisms to promote the widespread use of the information highway by all members of society;  research and educational communities in using operational and test networks to ensure Canadian leadership in the future; and  funding for demonstration projects. e) Develop a Public Education Program The government, in consultation with industry and other governments, should develop a public awareness program to help educate the public about the benefits of the information highway and the impact it will have on their lives. 3. Joint Government-Industry Action a) Issue the Challenge and Set a Clear Goal The Prime Minister should make the building of the information highway a national priority and articulate a clear and simple goal to ensure that the most advanced services reach the broadest possible user group in the shortest possible time. Industry should actively and openly support the Prime Minister s statement. b) Establish a Process to Implement the Vision A high-level intergovernmental and interdepartmental task force working under the aegis of Industry and Science Canada should be formed to formulate government s role in the development of the infrastructure: the task force would establish consensus, set objectives and milestones, finalize a set of guiding principles such as those outlined in this document and oversee the development of coherent policies. A panel of private sector individuals and citizens should be appointed by the Prime Minister to advise the task force on such issues as the impact of regulations, security and privacy. The panel should also advise on the definition of public and private sector roles. The Information Age is upon us. Policies to guide the country through these times, the infrastructure and the contribution it makes to the Canadian standard of living are all issues that demand immediate and thoughtful attention. Stentor welcomes the challenge of being a full participant in building Canada s information highway, the backbone of this Information Age. Stentor stands ready to support Canadians demand for unfettered access to information of all types, for freedom of choice, for open competition and for control of their own destiny. The full-service telephone companies in Canada are prepared to invest heavily in an information highway, and they call on others for a similar commitment:  From government, to build consensus on a vision of the information highway that can be embraced by all Canadians and to establish focused and coherent policies that promote competition and open access;  From industry, to overcome territorial and proprietorial hurdles so that Canadians, regardless of their location or status, have full, fair and economical access to all elements of the information highway; and  From Canadians, to embrace the vision of an information highway which will help instill hope, generate jobs, restore economic growth and prosperity, and capture the core values of the Canadian mosaic. In building the information highway, the links needed to ensure Canada s prosperity can be strengthened. A combination of talent, imagination and commitment has served Canada well throughout its history. These traits must be harnessed again. Appendix 1. Health Care Canadians have one of the finest health care systems in the world. However, soaring costs are triggering concern about whether we can afford to maintain such high standards of health care in this country. It has been estimated that using the information highway for health care applications could eventually reduce costs by some $6 billion while substantially increasing the quality of care available to all Canadians, no matter where they live. The Stentor companies are already demonstrating several advanced communications applications that will help protect those standards while reducing costs of health care.  In Manitoba, Manitoba Telephone System and its partners are developing a broadband system which will link all 74 of the province s hospitals, enabling the rapid exchange of radiological imaging and other diagnostic data, thereby improving the overall cost-effectiveness of that province s health care delivery system.  In British Columbia, hospitals are engaged in two-way advanced communications applications using a new high-speed telecommunications service linking Victoria, Vancouver, Kamloops, Kelowna and Prince George. The service includes such applications as high-resolution video conferencing for training seminars, and video imaging and transmission of microscopic tissue slides for simultaneous observation and discussion. In shared departments such as radiology and pathology, medical staff no longer have to waste travel time between hospitals. Instead, they are using interactive voice, video and data combinations to bring people and information together.  In Alberta, a Remote Consultative Network is being used on a trial basis to provide consultation services between rural health care providers and specialists at the University of Calgary. The network enables physicians, technicians, nurses and residents to use audio, video, imaging and data transmission services to respond to queries.  In New Brunswick, a patient care network links eight hospitals around the province with a centralized data base of patient records, financial information, lab schedules and results, admissions and discharge records and material management records. In addition, a health care distance education program is using advanced communications applications to train ambulance drivers and other health care professionals.  In Ontario, a patient health care information network is being developed so that physicians and hospitals can use advanced multimedia technology to provide rapid access to diagnostic imaging, laboratory results and patient data.  Also in Ontario, Stentor and its partners are implementing Mentor, an interactive multimedia application for medical students at the University of Toronto. Users can choose from 250 modules representing patient care scenarios from emergency surgery to childbirth. The interactive nature of the application allows choices to be made on diagnostics and procedures, and allows for more cost-efficient medical decisions.  Medical practitioners across the country are joining forces with government and health care agencies to implement electronic claims processing systems for physicians, dentists and pharmacies. These are some of the early experiments using information highway-type services to improve health care delivery. With a more supportive policy environment and greater co-operation among service providers, even greater benefits could be realized.  The information highway will give professionals full access to a range of health care applications, including instantaneous imaging, data bases of patient histories, pharmaceutical data and coast-to-coast diagnostics.  Canadians will be able to dial up medical voice/video information lines at any time of the day to get the most up-to-date assistance. Such applications will allow people to carry out the first level of medical care at home and help determine the necessity of a trip to a medical facility.  Health care providers, from orthopedic surgeons to physiotherapists, will have access to all ADT (Admission, Discharge and Transfer) information which will allow them to schedule admission time, surgical space, after-care procedures and related logistics for their patients. Such practices will go a long way to improving efficiencies in admissions processing.  The information highway will enable health care consumers to get immediate access to lab and test results, drug interactions and other diagnostic procedures, at work or in their homes, and to follow up with specialists on further care if required.  As the Canadian population ages and people live longer, health care needs for seniors will increase. Medical applications of the information highway, from video information on drug side effects to large-print screen formats detailing nutritional information, will enable seniors to live more independent lives in their own homes for longer periods of time.  Bedside terminals in health care facilities will provide interactive linkages for patients and medical professionals, providing medical staff with immediate access to patient histories, consumers with access to video servers for information on surgical procedures, and instant contact with patient support networks. For example, a parent in hospital could play video games with a child at home.  Health professionals will have access to the latest medical and pharmaceutical research at the touch of a button, a major step in keeping the Canadian health community on the leading edge of providing superior care. The potential value of the information highway to medical services in Canada is enormous: it will improve the quality of care and at the same time it will drive down costs. All Canadians will benefit. Appendix 2. Education and Training In the high-salaried, high-skilled, information-based economy of the future, Canadians must develop new and better ways to tap into information and intellectual resources from all parts of the country and indeed the world. To succeed in the work force of the future the very near future people will need to learn new skills to help adapt to the rapidly changing job environment. They will need instant access to information the foundation of the new era to support innovative and quick decision making. Educators are just beginning to appreciate the potential of computers, learning resource software, multimedia and electronic communications. Various applications are burgeoning across the country.  Video conferencing has been in use in Saskatchewan s Eston-Elrose School Division since 1991, enabling teachers to conduct a single class for students in two separate communities.  Educational institutions and researchers are linked with their counterparts across Canada and abroad through CA*net, a national electronic mail and data communications network. The recently announced SchoolNet initiative, funded in part by Stentor, will extend this networking capability to more than 400 secondary schools this year and eventually to more than 16,000 schools in Canada.  The Justice Institute of British Columbia and the Greater Victoria Hospital Society are using BC TEL s Ubiquity Premium Video Conferencing service to deliver training on an interactive basis to multiple locations throughout British Columbia.  BC TEL s Ubiquity service also includes a distance learning application, with interactive video capability, extending from the heart of the B.C. interior to Vancouver Island, enabling teleconferencing, remote access to seminars and lectures, and professional consultation among educators across a range of curricula.  Interactive television is being used in Manitoba s Evergreen School Division to deliver courses to rural schools. Previously, students had to travel at least an hour to larger urban schools to take these courses.  Newfoundland Telephone, partnering with Memorial University, has primed the implementation of a highly sophisticated distance education network, operating within over 200 sites, including schools, hospitals and government offices, linking 120 remote communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. High-resolution, compressed video, audio and graphics support the interactive exchange of educational materials ranging from art to drama to software development. These are the pioneers of a new way to educate. The information highway will stimulate the development of an enormous range of education, training and lifelong learning applications that will give everyone access to courses, libraries, museums, specialized data bases and other people, regardless of location.  Interactive, multimedia, digital libraries will be available on job sites to provide workers with information on how to improve work performance, upgrade skills and find new employment opportunities.  Students will have access to virtual libraries, in school and at home, that will find and integrate all information on a given subject, and which will provide interactive media to guide them on projects, such as the research of artistic techniques of a certain period, the re-enactments of historical events, or the modeling of chemical reactions.  Through virtual laboratories, students will be able to perform science experiments using equipment located in other parts of the country. Also, they will be able to take field trips to museums, observatories, science exhibits and research centres without ever leaving the classroom.  Educators will be able to link up instantly with colleagues in government, social services and private industry, no matter how remote, to keep in the forefront of educational innovation.  Home terminals linked to the information highway will make lifelong learning easy, opening up the education system not just to students, but to entire families, through interactive applications in a range of media.  Students on co-op work terms or in apprenticeships will be able to combine study with on-the-job experience through work site applications, courseware and interactive learning instruments. Through the information highway, employers and educators will be able to offer significant benefits to the Canadian economy through stronger co-ordination of learning and work processes.  For all Canadians, the information highway will be an affordable and efficient route to skill improvement and renewal. People of all ages will be able to study for a law degree at home, become a veterinary assistant using virtual surgical applications, learn to run a business and then run it using the very same technologies that enabled them to learn how. Economic and social renewal will to a large extent depend on the redefinition of our education system, its mission and related strategies. To achieve such a goal we must unleash our collective imagination and be willing as a society to leap forward, using a fully linked, fully accessible electronic system as a springboard into the future where lifelong learning is the norm. Appendix 3. Government Services The information highway will revolutionize the way in which government serves Canadians. From information about intellectual property and taxation to the democratic electoral process itself, the Canadian public can anticipate easy access to services offered by all levels of government. This access will be from the home, from the workplace, from the remotest corner of Canada, or even from the other side of the world.  Reference Canada, a centralized information point for the federal government and all the provinces, fields toll-free calls from all over Canada. The public can obtain information on programs and services or have their requests referred to the appropriate authority in government.  In Qu_bec, Communications-Qu_bec is providing one-stop shopping for information on provincial and federal services. It processes approximately 1,230,000 transactions per year.  The federal government is also actively embracing Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to lower cost and shorten cycle time of accounts payable and receivable.  In Ontario, citizens can renew their motor vehicle licences at electronic kiosks throughout the province, a process that saves time for applicants, establishes a data base of registrants and significantly reduces the need for clerical processing.  British Columbia has established electronic information storage and retrieval services to reduce or eliminate various time-intensive processes. Information banks include data on provincial transportation projects, policy documents and other information resources.  In Nova Scotia and British Columbia, MT&T and BC TEL have successfully completed several Tele-Vote trials in provincial party leadership elections, saving these provinces thousands of dollars in leadership convention expenses.  A family in British Columbia will be able to plan a vacation to Prince Edward Island by dialing up all relevant tourism information from its destination, complete with consumer-controlled audio-visual tours of provincial landmarks and interactive applications tailoring vacations precisely to the family s needs. These are just a few examples of government services which will be available through the information highway. As governments reorganize and redefine their missions, the information highway will be an invaluable asset to serve the public more effectively and at less cost to taxpayers.  Canadians will be able to complete and file tax returns and obtain forms and all other necessary taxation documents electronically from their homes or businesses.  Canadians will be able to browse electronically through such federal institutions as the Library of Parliament and other government resources, to gather information ranging from Statistics Canada data to sophisticated weather graphics. Regulatory information, patents, trademarks, copyrights and even pending government bills will be at our fingertips.  All Canadians will benefit from more direct access to the political process through the information highway. For example, they will be able to appear at public hearings or Royal Commissions from remote locations, file electronic interventions and receive more rapid replies; Canadians throughout the country will truly be able to take part in the parliamentary process. Canadians everywhere will have access to interactive consultation with government officials and political representatives. Governments will be able to streamline services into voice, video and data options for the public, eliminating the layers of bureaucracy which blanket many government services today. The information highway will support and facilitate fundamental restructuring and rethinking of what government is all about. The interactive capacity of voice, video and data options will enable more efficient inter- and intra-government operations. Businesses will be able to get the latest GST information instantly from a work terminal; students will have government documents and statistics at a keystroke; new Canadians will have enormous resources on hand to guide them in adjusting to their new home. Appendix 4. Electronic Commerce The information highway will change the way Canadians shop, bank and communicate with each other. They will be able to take advantage of expanded business services; they will be able to develop personalized electronic portfolios; they will be able to do their banking; and they will be able to go shopping, all from their own homes. The information highway will enable Canadian businesses, large and small, to redesign their daily operations, redefine their customer base and expand to new markets, while bringing a new level of cost efficiency to their endeavours.  Consumers will have a wide variety of commercial services at their fingertips: for example, interactive video home shopping will allow selection, price negotiation, styling and transaction processing at the touch of a button.  Electronic residential and commercial real estate listings, mortgage data bases, even global markets, will be accessible in homes and workplaces, as will all related financial services, forms and consultations.  Thousands of businesses and their customers, from The Toronto Star to Toys R Us, are benefiting from 1-800 access and computer-driven voice response systems to handle enquiries and capture important market information at the same time.  Banking, insurance and other financial services are moving to paperless electronic formats to serve their customers better by increasing speed and accuracy of transactions. Many banks have recognized the need for easy-to-use services of various formats for the growing number of elderly or disabled clients.  Large retailers such as Sears, Levi-Strauss and also the federal government, are implementing Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to establish efficient linkages with suppliers, electronically communicating with purchase orders (some 21 million per year in North America for Sears), shipping notices, invoices, messaging and other operations. The outcome? Reduction of clerical errors, faster filling of orders and improved document processing, resulting in greater productivity and profitability. The information highway will bring the future to Canadians doorsteps: it will expand electronic commerce to give Canadian consumers a far greater degree of control over time and finances as they take advantage of the broad array of product and service applications. Businesses from global enterprises to Mom and Pop stores will benefit from precise market identification, greater speed and accuracy in transactions and significant opportunities to improve both productivity and revenues.  Electronic applications will keep businesses abreast of product and service development, will bring in-house education and training to employees, will provide interactive video demonstrations of new products, and enable businesses to take part in advanced video conferencing.  As private enterprise assumes greater responsibility for services once housed in the public sector, the information highway will prove invaluable for storing and accessing libraries of information. Texts, musical recordings, stock market trends, transportation schedules and countless other data bases can be maintained easily, cheaply and accessibly. The result will be greater savings for government and taxpayers, and an expansion of commercial opportunities for Canadian business.  The potential of the information highway will include numerous business opportunities for the compiling of product information, commercial transportation, news media and other services: for example, that family from British Columbia heading to P.E.I. can not only book accommodations and car rentals from home, it can use automobile terminals to determine routes and rest stops while listening to the latest classical or dramatic literary recording. And the kids can play the latest interactive audio-visual games from coast to coast. The possibilities for electronic commerce represented by a fully accessible information highway demonstrate an endless array of partnerships involving consumers, private industry, government and all our social systems as we strive toward the economic and social renewal of Canada. Appendix 5. CANARIE The Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education One of the most exciting developments toward bringing the information highway into being is the Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education (CANARIE). Developed out of partnership among the research, business and government communities, it will provide high-speed communications for a range of R&D and educational users across the public and private sectors. A national non-profit initiative, CANARIE hopes to stimulate the creation, by the year 2000, of an electronic communications infrastructure for all Canadians that is second to none in the world. It will facilitate the exchange of ideas, ease the development of new products and services, and ensure that Canada remains at the forefront of international developments in telecommunications. Canada needs a national R&D and educational communications capability comparable to or better than that of our major competitors. Our vast geography increases the urgency; it also enhances the benefits. For four years, more than 200 people from 56 organizations representing Canada s research, business and government communities have developed the concept and business plan for CANARIE. Total commitments to the initiative during Phase 1 amount to $100 million. Commitments during phases 2 and 3 are provisionally estimated at $390 million and $400 million, respectively. Costs are to be shared by the federal government, the Canadian business community and users in the public and private sectors. It is estimated that CANARIE will stimulate over $400 million in sales in the Canadian economy from the purchase of goods and services over the next 10 years. In addition, the R&D assistance it provides will facilitate the development and introduction of high-speed networking technologies, products, applications, software and services that could generate over $9 billion in revenue for Canadian industry during the same time. The net value of the socio-economic benefits from implementing the CANARIE business plan is projected to exceed $675 million. CANARIE purchases will create approximately 1,800 person-years of employment over the next 10 years. The CANARIE investment in high-speed networking technologies, products, applications, software and services, and the resulting sales, could generate approximately 22,000 person-years of additional employment during the same period. Spurred by CANARIE, several other similar high-speed, broad-band initiatives are now being undertaken at the regional and local levels. One of these is the OCRInet project which, by early 1994, will make available an all-fibre, ATM-based network for industry, university and government R&D centres in the National Capital Region. Phase I of OCRInet will connect 12 sites and cost upwards of $4 million. Funding will be shared equally by the federal and provincial governments and industry. As a founding member, Stentor is committed to the successful implementation of CANARIE. Stentor is equally committed to the ongoing development of other initiatives like OCRInet and also to the policy reforms outlined in this paper that will be necessary to integrate those initiatives into Canada s information highway.