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Canadian Election May Boost Tech Issues
Election night in Canada last week revealed few surprises, as Jean Chretien garnered another term as prime minister. But while there were no major upsets, the technology industry is celebrating the changeover of a few seats in Parliament, a development that gives the tech-friendly liberal party a solid majority in Canada's legislative body.
Chretien's re-election also means that John Manley, the former head of Industry Canada, the country's top regulatory body, will remain in his post as foreign minister. Manley was appointed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in October.
"We don't expect John Manley to change posts. He will continue as foreign minister, and we are happy about that," said Gayle Duncan, president of the Information Technology Association of Canada. "We are happy that it's a [liberal party] majority [in Parliament]."
As foreign minister, Manley has welcomed input from the technology industry. Industry observers said that will help boost top tech issues to the international table even more now that a clear majority of liberals are running Parliament. Issues from cyber crime and Internet security to some of the cross-border immigration troubles that have inhibited technology companies from easily transporting workers will find more support, Duncan said.
Duncan said customs officials in each country often hassle workers attempting to cross the U.S.-Canadian border for work-related purposes. "Rules under NAFTA don't refer to our sector," he said.
Chretien is eager to shed Canada's old-economy reputation for high taxes and intrusive regulations. In a meeting with officials from companies such as IBM, Cisco Systems and Lucent Technologies, he plugged his administration's aims of cutting corporate taxes and creating a favorable climate for business.
"In the election itself, Chretien, in virtually every photo was pictured at a high-tech company," Duncan said. "So it's clear we've got their attention — a situation that is good because industry [in Canada] works with government much closer than in the U.S.," he added.
Official Vows Openness If WTO Accepts China
As talks began Tuesday on China's bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), a top Chinese government official discussed changes to the country's telecommunication sector that he said would open competition.
During the International Telecommunication Union's Asian Conference on Monday, Xinhua News reported that Chinese Minister of Information Industries (MII) Wu Jichan told the audience that his ministry aims to act in a "supervisory" role to aid competition and further open the telecommunications market.
"We will, in a more opening-up gesture, actively take part in international competition and join hands with other countries in pushing ahead the development of the info-communication industry, and embrace the arrival of the information era of the 21st century," Wu said.
He further announced that China would stipulate clear regulations on foreign investment in Chinese telecommunications companies by the time the country formally joins the WTO. There already is evidence of such investment.
AT&T announced this week that it had received the go-ahead from Beijing to invest a 25-percent stake in Shanghai Symphony Telecom, valued at nearly $25 million, China Daily reported. The remaining shares will be held by the state-owned China Telecom and by Shanghai Information Investment, which is managed the Shanghai municipal government. Earlier this week, China granted another operating license to China Telecom — a spin-off of the country's Ministry of Railways — making it the sixth competitor to enter the country's telecom market.
But cold reaction to a new regulation governing pricing structure for mobile phone service prompted Wu to offer differing views on how billing actually would work for cellular phone service in China. He said there are no immediate plans to implement MII's controversial proposal for a one-way pricing structure for mobile phones, whereby the cost of calls would fall to callers instead of splitting them between caller and receiver. But he denied any changes to the structure of phone pricing in China during a press conference Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.
Japan Moves To Deregulate E-Commerce
The Japanese Parliament last week passed its comprehensive bill that promotes deregulation and aims to help the country embrace information technology. The measure is part of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's effort to boost the country's lagging economy by focusing on the growth of the high-tech sector.
The legislation, which takes effect in January, will commit the government to promoting the use of highly advanced information and communications networks like the Internet, to easing regulations in an effort to boost e-commerce, and to working toward paperless "electronic central and local governments." It also will establish a top-level post for addressing technology issues.
Mori has reassembled his Cabinet after many officials resigned late last month. Japan Times noted this week that Mori will keep Takeo Hiranuma as minister of international trade and industry. He already had decided to retain Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa.
The reshuffle also will lay the groundwork for a major regrouping of national ministries. Mori plans to appoint Toranosuke Katayama as head of a new ministry that combines his current position as chief of the Management and Coordination Agency with the positions of minister of posts and telecommunications, and home affairs. The merger of the three will take effect Jan. 6.
The government's IT Strategy Council and Strategy Headquarters, meanwhile, has adopted plans designed to make Japan the world's information technology leader within five years. The final document includes a proposal laid out in the Nov. 6 draft calling for nationwide access permanent, low cost Internet services within one year.
EU Votes To Let Consumers Sue Across Borders
Finance ministers of the European Union (EU) approved a major revision to a 1968 Brussels Convention last week, granting consumers in the EU's 15 member nations the ability to sue foreign-based companies in the home country of the consumer.
The new regulations, which have been in the works more than a year, are aimed primarily at the EU member states, and experts say it would be tough to enforce local and regional laws in Europe against U.S.-based companies. Nevertheless, observers and industry groups voiced concern that the new regulations will hamper Internet and e-commerce growth across Europe.
The European council is getting ready to meet this week in Nice, France, where officials will examine, among other issues, the e-Europe action plan and evaluate its progress in terms of moving the EU into a role as an information-based society.
India's New Communications Law Nears Approval
Indian Telecommunications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan last week cleared the draft of a communications bill that seeks to facilitate the rapid growth of broadcasting, telecommunications and information technology in an environment of convergence.
The Hindustan Times reported that Paswan's support for the measure indicates that India's telecommunications department has agreed to many of the crucial points contained in the proposed legislation. Paswan's action also paves the way for quick approval of the bill by Indian Parliament next year.
Some minor changes were included in the draft. Under its provisions, for instance, the Communications Commission of India, an independent statutory body would handle licensing powers, and the commission also would have the authority to issue licenses for all types of telecommunications service.
In other news, India's ministries of communication and disinvestment reportedly have agreed to privatize Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL), the state-owned international and long-distance telecommunications provider. A formal decision is expected next month.
The government is expected to reduce its stake in VSNL to about 27 percent as part of its plan to end the VSNL monopoly by 2002. The disinvestment department had sought to expedite a decision on privatization of VSNL on the grounds that nowhere in the developed world does government continue to maintain a monopoly in the communications sector.
- by Maureen Sirhal
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