The Recap: 2018

The Telecom industry has a funny knack of sucking you into a hole of not quite knowing what day it is, it’s the nature of the beast that never sleeps. So as cliché as it sounds, 2019 has crept up on me faster than anticipated.

With the year rapidly drawing to a close, I thought I would spare some time between my two teenagers ignoring me and my marathon watching Anthony Bourdain on Netflix to reflect on the year that was 2018. 

In terms of expectations, it is safe to say that we hit our targets. What we do isn’t easy. In this market, there are some key players in whom we work with to manage expectations and to educate that we are not disruptors, but that our goal always remains the same – WireIE exists to bridge the digital divide for large enterprise, public sector, and underserved communities.

As always, our focus remained on bringing NextGen, Internet services and IPTV to Indigenous communities. I am most proud of our ability to do this cost-effectively by using existing Indigenous resources and infrastructure to provide successful sustainable solutions. We have had strong traction with our high performing network, exceeding expectations with some pretty powerful weather events. The team has worked tirelessly to overcome roadblocks, and if anything, the year has further solidified how desperately our services are required in underserved communities. Which is a much larger and greater challenge than previously believed and publicly stated.

However, there is always room for improvement. Things often remain out of our control, which becomes frustrating when you are in the business of helping others. Let’s not forget, the lack of access to the digital economy affects health and education, and most importantly our competitiveness in a global market. Never mind posting a photo to Instagram, these are citizens who can’t even contact a doctor in a mental health emergency. This is a mind-blowing realisation when we comfortably sit in our own homes in our six major cities with smartwatches and Google Home taking our UberEats orders. Old ways won’t open new doors, it may be easier and seem to cost less, however, in the long term, the total cost is magnified with social losses. This has been a hard viewpoint to stress. Change is only adopted through the persistent education of the factual value that our services and networks bring. 

This works hand in hand with continuing to find indigenous funding and engaged communities for desperately needed network and NextGen services. The technology exists for the offering, and many times these communities have ticked all the right boxes, yet do not meet the criteria set by Ottawa as the Attorney Generals report so clearly stated. There have been many false starts, which has been disappointing as this continues to set us all back.

Charity involvement has been at an all-time high this year, which as everyone knows, holds a special place in my heart. I am a big advocate for giving back. We had some fantastic events such as the BC Ride For Cancer, our annual Vancouver to Whistler Fondo for Oceans.org, my Executive Sleep Out for Covenant House Toronto and the sponsorship of the Little Native Hockey League annual tournament. I am immensely excited to continue by being involved and participating to help the underserved, vulnerable and more heading into 2019. 

This New Year we will keep a diligent watch on the broader economic impacts. We must remain financially diligent and aware of a possible looming downturn, which is even more reason to keep our finger on the pulse on the market, as our network and services will be in even greater demand. We need a renewed energy on educating clients and customers of what we can offer to underserved markets throughout the Americas. Paired with my personal mantra of “give when you can, it’s good for your life and good for your business”, I plan on making 2019 the best one yet.

All the best,

Rob - @rjbarlow