MORE PHONE DEREGULATION? 

Competition in the phone business is about to increase. According to company spokesperson the Chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission "has expressed an interest in looking into the possibility of a 'free-trade zone' (for phone service) in downtown Chicago. This would mean direct competition with Illinois Bell by anyone that wants to compete". Remember what happened in the U.S. when after years of court battles, private companies were permitted to sell phones? Within months there was a choice of colors, sizes, models and attachments. No longer was the one standard phone "any color as long as it's black".

Since those days, competition, has moved in a big way, especially in the U.S., Any American can now own a pay phone and soon will be able to more than that. How about long distance phone calls from privately-owned phone booths to anywhere in America for 25 cents! In Canada, government obsession with control via "the-status-quoforever" Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (C.R.T.C.) has held the country back ... so much, that by the time deregulation hits we won't have the know-how required to manufacture, sell, distribute and operate the new equipment. As a result we have also lost the know-how and the drive to keep abreast of the fast-moving communications game. No other government in the world has gone from such a leading position in communications to where our skills have deteriorated as rapidly as our national debt multiplied. So far and so fast has Canada dropped into the world economic background that only in Africa can our politicians get any respect. Only by going in the hole to the tune of more than $30 billion annually has the Canadian government kept our standard of living from falling precipitously. That subsidy cannot continue.

The finger in a dyke only works so long. Expect a Japanese satellite over Canada in the near future, with a deal Canadian TV viewers and radio listeners won't be able to refuse. Expect our dollar to take a substantial plunge. Expect our cherished marketing boards to be wiped out by international economic sanctions unless we operate competitively. The new game is for smart players. Our stature has diminished and the sooner we recognize our shortcomings the sooner we can try to recapture our competence. Change must be radical and fast. The average shelf-life today in Tokyo for a consumer electronic product is only 90 days. After that it's toast. We can barely get a letter through our postal system to Ottawa and receive a response in that time period. During 1991 Sony Corp. introduced FIVE NEW PRODUCTS A DAY!

Sixty percent of all milk in Canada, by law must come from Quebec. It's apparent why the federal government supports marketing boards. It's another covert way of taxing certain sections of the country. Western Canadians still pay extra transportation charges on cars from Japan, so Ontario and Quebec don't have to pay full freight costs. All this information can be located, but mostly computer literate teenagers know how to access it. When everyone can, watch out. This whole communications breakdown is about to create even more chaos and has advantages. It will remove many protective fences that have allowed inefficient Canadian companies, marketing boards and commissions to survive and flourish. It's like a monopoly game. Fewer than half will not only fail to flourish, they may not even survive.

In the U.S. any individual can now own a pay phone. New infra-red built-in transmitters on a phone made by Tek Communications opens up another world. This phone offers aspects of both cordless and cellular for a fraction of the cost. The technology is so effective that every car would have one, if our phone companies didn't have monopolies.

Picture this: You are driving home and still have some distance to go. It's raining, cold and you want to phone home to say you will be late. You see a pay phone along the road. You stop the car and fasten up your coat to brave the elements. Then you realize you don't have any quarters. Next week you buy a Tek infra-red phone. The scenario changes: You are driving home, it's raining and cold and you want to phone home. You stop the car near a pay phone. You plug the infra-red phone into the cigarette lighter, punch in your home number, then your credit card number and sit back in the warmth and comfort of your own car and make that personal call. How does it work? Infra-red signals powered by the car battery are relayed to a chip in the pay phone saying that it has to take an incoming signal from the Tek phone. Your signal is processed in the same manner, as if you were standing in the pay phone booth. Your signal bypasses the coin slot. It's one of the many better ideas that come along when monopolies fall.

More information: Faye Wells, Marketing Coordinator, Tek Communication Services Inc., 6 Progress Drive, Manchester, Conn 06040. Phone: 203/647-8738.

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