NCF members, partners and supporters,
Please find below my report as Chair of the Board of Directors for the year ending December
31, 2023.
Offering appreciation
On behalf of the Board and NCF members, I would like to recognize the hard work of NCF’s staff
and volunteers. I say this every year but that doesn’t make it any less true or heartfelt — we
rely on both our staff and volunteers to make sure things keep working in terms of our internet
and other member services and ensuring we’re advancing our mission. They do a great job,
especially given some of the challenges.
I was particularly cheered to hear about new volunteers joining our HelpDesk in 2023, alongside
those longstanding volunteers who transitioned to remote volunteering during the pandemic.
Having received grant funding in 2023 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to build back up
our formerly award-winning volunteer program, I’m looking forward to even more volunteers
coming on board, bringing new perspectives, skills and enthusiasm to helping their fellow NCF
members.
Given that the Board of Directors are also all volunteers, I’d like to thank my fellow directors for
all their work in 2023: NCF is doing something important and unique amidst a great deal of
change and turmoil in both the non-profit and the internet services sectors. It’s a pleasure to
work with all of you as we help guide NCF through these challenges and opportunities. Special
thanks to outgoing directors Laura Novitsky, Chris Taylor and Michael Chan. I’m pleased
Michael will continue to serve on the Marketing and Communications Committee, and Chris will
help as we bring back our popular digital skills workshops.
Finances and Funding
Here’s what I said in this section last year: “We’re proud NCF has been able to hold our prices
steady since February 2021, despite rising costs. This is a core element of our mission for digital
equity, making sure we deliver affordable high-quality internet for everyone in our
community.”
This is still true. But given the fiscal shortfall we experienced last year, as well as the ongoing
loss of member-subscribers to Fibre-to-the-Home services and short-term deals offered by the
major telecom companies, we will need to carefully review our pricing this year in relation to
our other sources of revenue.
Despite the shortfall, I am pleased to say that 2023 was a big year for NCF in terms of grants
and new services, including $20,000 in funding through the Investment Readiness Program,
delivered by the Ottawa Community Foundation, two back to back grants from the Ontario
Trillium Foundation totalling almost $130,000 and, at the end of the year, a commitment of
$250,000 from CIRA (the Canadian Internet Registration Authority) to build our new Community
WiFi Network, the first phase of which launches this Fall.
This work is built on the strength of our community connections, and I would like to thank the
Social Planning Council of Ottawa who partnered with us on the original concept funding for the
Community WiFi Network, as well as our community partners including Ottawa Community
Housing, Hiboo Networks, Rideau Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre, and many others.
Thanks also to all the NCF members and other community members who donate to help
support our digital equity work and other community services.
Regulatory conditions
This past year also brought the CRTC’s Review of the Wholesale Internet Policy, which
determines major elements of our business model, including being able to sell Fibre-to-the-
Home services in addition to our fibre-backed DSL and cable internet services, and the tariff
rates we pay Bell and Rogers to access their networks. Thanks to Shelley for guiding our
regulatory strategy, including writing a number of CRTC submissions for this review as well as to
the review of the CRTC’s Broadband Fund Policy, and to Shelley and Andrew for appearing
before the CRTC in this hearing in February 2024. You can check them out on our advocacy
page at www.ncf.ca/advocacy.
One win from that last year’s submissions was that the CRTC mandated temporary wholesale
access to Fibre-to-the-Home services starting this past May, as they continue to deliberate. NCF
has started testing this service and is also making network changes to enable its launch: we’ll
keep you posted.
The Commission has said it expects to release its decisions from this hearing in the Fall, and we
are hopeful that this could provide an opportunity for NCF: the last time the CRTC dropped
wholesale rates, NCF both dropped our rates and took all our plans unlimited usage for the
same price.
Planning for the future
When I first joined the Board we started a long-overdue process of strategic planning, focusing
on 2019-2025. At the time we couldn’t have foreseen the global pandemic and everything that
came in its wake. NCF’s Board and Management Team have been tweaking our strategic
roadmap each year to keep on top of all the changing conditions.
The future doesn’t look like what it did nearly five years ago, but I believe we are staying true to
the same mission we started with in 2019 and even when we were founded in 1992: ensuring
everyone in our region has equitable access to affordable, high-quality internet services that
they can understand how to use, while feeling safe online.
I’m looking forward to entering the next phase of strategic planning and seeing what NCF can
achieve in the next five years, maintaining that same commitment to digital equity.
Thank you for your ongoing support for NCF,
Anis Hanna, gb499
Chair NCF Board of Directors