Source : National Post

New head of CRTC welcomed by industry

The appointment of Konrad von Finckenstein as chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has drawn praise from industry insiders that consider him a logical choice by the federal government.

"I think von Finckenstein has enormous respect for the power of markets. So I don't think he and the government are going to have a problem with each other," said Iain Grant, managing director of the Sea Board Group, a telecommunications consultancy.

Ken Englehart, vice-president of regulatory affairs at Rogers Communications Inc., said he is well-qualified and agreed he won't try and over-regulate the industry.

"I think he's a practical public policy analyst. The tools of public policy analysis generally dictate that regulation should only be used when market forces can't do the job," he said.

Mr. von Finckenstein is currently a Federal Court judge, and also served as commissioner of the Competition Bureau. He previously forced Astral Media Inc. to sell off some radio stations when it bought Telemedia Communications Inc.

All the same, he is considered an outsider in the telecom and broadcasting world. The federal government was thought to prefer someone who is pro-competition but doesn't have direct connections to the industry.

"In the long run, it might be good for the commission to have somebody from outside the industry with fresh eyes asking 'Why do we do things this way?' or 'Why do things happen that way?' " said Greg O'Brien, publisher Of the Telecom News Service Cartt.ca.

Mr. von Finckenstein is joining the CRTC at a critical time for the regulator.

Last year, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier appeared to marginalize the commission when he called for the deregulation of local telephone and Voice over Internet Protocol services.

And this year, the CRTC will rule on two huge media deals - CTV Globemedia Inc.'s takeover of CHUM Ltd., and the purchase of Alliance-Atlantis Communications Inc. by CanWest Global Communications Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

On top of that, he has to deal with the influx of new technologies, which many experts have argued makes CRTC policies obsolete.

"It's hard to mould the current policies in the current acts to the rapidly changing telecom and media fields," said Mr. O'Brien. "Maybe he's the guy to do that."

Dave Dobbyn, president of Toronto Hydro Telecom Inc., said Mr. von Finckenstein may have been attracted to the job because of the opportunity to reform how the CRTC works.

"I think he's got a big challenge ahead of him. The [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] has criticized Canada because the telecom regulatory panel isn't arms-length from policy. Because that's how it is everywhere else in the world."

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