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Hank Intven is a consultant who has focused on communications law, policy, regulation and related business transactions for over 35 years. He is a retired member of the law societies of Ontario and British Columbia, Canada.
For 25 years, Hank led the communications practice group of McCarthy Tétrault LLP, a major Canadian business law firm with more than 600 lawyers and offices in Canada’s major business centres, in London, UK and New York.
Hank is president of Haro Strait Consulting Inc. a communications policy and regulation consulting firm. He is also an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada, where he teaches communications law and policy.
He has been directly involved in many of the major communications business transactions, policy and regulatory developments in Canada over the past 35 years. He has acted for a wide range of clients with an interest in telecommunications, broadcasting and the Internet. Clients have included regulatory authorities, governments, telecommunications carriers (incumbent and new competitive telecommunications carriers, cable TV companies, wireless mobile and satellite carriers, ISPs, submarine and terrestrial cable operators), broadcasting licensees (radio, TV, satellite TV channels, Internet and other new media content providers), trade associations, communications business investors, financial institutions and investment banks, as well as consumer, native and other public interest groups.
Hank has advised clients on telecommunications matters in more than 25 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. This work has included advice to governments, regulators, telecommunications companies, investors and financial institutions. He has advised on the drafting of telecommunications laws and regulations, licensing of new telecommunications services, dispute resolution, competition law and policy. He has advised on the drafting of regulatory applications, notices, decisions, orders and agreements, including those related to network access and interconnection. Other work has included advice on privatization and corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, access to support infrastructure, submarine cables, satellite communications, spectrum licensing, international telecom regulation and Internet policy.
During 2005/6, Hank was a member of the three-person Telecom Policy Review Panel appointed by the Government of Canada to undertake a comprehensive review of Canada’s telecommunications policy and regulatory framework. From June 2018 to June 2019, he was a member of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel appointed by the Government of Canada’s to review Canada’s broadcasting and telecommunications legislation.
Before joining McCarthy Tétrault, Hank held the position of Executive Director of Telecommunications at the CRTC, the Canadian communications regulatory agency. He subsequently acted as the main external advisor to the Government of Canada on the drafting of the 1993 Telecommunications Act.
During most of his time at McCarthy Tétrault, he was consistently ranked as a leading telecommunication law practitioner in legal directories such as Chambers, Lexpert, Who’s Who Legal, and Which Lawyer.
Hank has written and/or edited books and articles on communications policy and regulation. These include the Canadian Telecommunications Regulatory Handbook (2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017 editions), a 1200-page sourcebook on the law, policy, and regulation of the Canadian telecommunications industry. He was also the editor and a principal writer of the Telecommunications Regulation Handbook, a practical manual for regulators, regulated companies, government policy makers, and other telecommunications industry stakeholders (Published in, 2000 and distributed globally in English, French, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, and Chinese).
Hank has served on the Boards of Directors of several companies in the telecommunications industry and is a director of the Canadian Chapter of the International Institute of Communications.
Education & Positions
Education & Positions
EDUCATION
B.A, Western University, London, Canada – 1971
LLB, Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto, Canada – 1974
Directors Education Program, Institute of Corporate Directors & the Rotman Business School,
University of Toronto, Canada – 2007
POSITIONS
President, Haro Strait Consulting Inc., (since July, 2018)
Counsel, McCarthy Tetrault LLP (July 2013-June 2018)
Partner, McCarthy Tetrault LLP, Toronto (1987-2018)
Executive Director, Telecommunications Branch, Canadian Radio-television
& Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Ottawa (1981-1985)Counsel, CRTC, Ottawa (1980-1981)
General Counsel, Consumers Association of Canada, Ottawa (1978-80)
Associate lawyer, Beament Green York, Ottawa (1974-8)
OTHER POSITIONS
Board of Directors, Telesat Canada & Telesat Corporation (2007-present)
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria (2008-present)
Board of Directors, International Institute of Communications (IIC) (2013-18),
President of IIC Canada (2013-18), Board of Directors of IIC Canada (2013-present)
Selected Publications & Lectures
Selected Publications & Lectures
BOOKS
Author of the Canadian Telecommunications Regulatory Handbook (2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017 editions), a 1200 page sourcebook on the law, policy, and regulation of the Canadian telecommunications industry. (Co-authored with Grant Buchanan in 2016 & 17).
Co-author (with Grant Buchanan and Kirsten Thompson) of the Canadian Spam, Telemarketing and Privacy Handbook (publication: Spring 2016), a sourcebook on the law, policy, and regulation of the spam (unsolicited electronic communications) and other forms of unsolicited telecommunications, and privacy in Canada.
Principal author of most of the Final Report of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel (2006). As one of three members of this Canadian Government-established Review Panel (with Dr. Gerri Sinclair and Mr. André Tremblay), Mr. Intven participated in the formulation of the Panel’s recommendations, many of which have since been implemented.
Co-author (with Mary Dawson) of A Model Act to Implement the Regulatory Recommendations of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel (2007). This annotated model bill was published to advance the discussion on legislative implementation of the Report of the 2006 Canadian Telecommunications Policy Review Panel.
Editor and co-author of the Telecommunications Regulation Handbook, a practical manual for regulators, regulated companies, government policy makers, and other telecommunications industry stakeholders (published in December, 2000). The Handbook was distributed by The World Bank and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The Handbook’s 6 modules deal with: (1) overview of telecom regulation, (2) licensing, (3) interconnection, (4) price regulation, (5) competition policy and (6) universal service. Distributed around the world by the ITU, World Bank and BUPT in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic.
ICT Regulation Toolkit – Module 3: Authorization of Telecommunications Services – (Hank Intven, Theresa Miedema and Brodie Swartz), published in 2006 by The World Bank’s InfoDev Program, with the assistance of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
Co-author of a report on Dispute Resolution in the Telecommunications Sector, prepared for ITU and the World Bank. The report was presented at the ITU’s Global Regulators Symposium (Geneva, December 2003) and an ITU’s European Industry Workshop on Dispute Resolution, September, 2004.
Co-author of Legal and Regulatory Aspects of E-Commerce and the Internet (Hank Intven, Richard Pfohl, Cheryl Slusarchuk and Barry Sookman), published in The World Bank Legal Review, Kluwer, 2003.
Effective Regulation: Specific Regulatory Functions (Hank Intven and Theresa Miedema) chapter in Trends in Telecommunications Reform, 2002, published by the International Telecommunications Union, Geneva, 2002.
Information and Communications Technologies (Hank Intven was one of 26 contributors), Book published by European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), London, 2004.
Co-author of Convergence, Competition and Cooperation: Policy and Regulation Affecting Local Telephone and Cable Networks, Report of the Co-chairs of the Local Networks Convergence Committee (Ottawa, Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1992)
SELECTED ARTICLES, PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS
“Internet Telephony- The Regulatory Issues” (Hank Intven, Mark Zohar and Jay Howard), Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal, (University of California) Vol. 21:1, 1998.
“Canada’s Information Highways”, Media & Communications Law Review – 4 MCLR, pp. 131-171.
“Révision judiciare de la première decision de la Commission du droit d’auteur en matière de droits de retransmission” (Judicial review of the Copyright Board of Canada’s first decision on retransmission rights) in Les Cahiers de Propriété Intellectuelle, Vol. 4.2
Hank Intven has written shorter articles, papers and conference presentations, for McCarthy Tétrault LLP publications, trade periodicals and conferences in Canada and other countries, including the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Samoa, Colombia, Peru, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong, China.
LECTURES, PRESENTATIONS & REGULATORY TRAINING PROGRAMS
Sessional Lecturer on Communications Law & Policy, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria (2008-present)
Presenter at Regulatory Development Symposia on Telecom Dispute Resolution, Market Opening strategies and Interconnection (for the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Geneva, Switzerland, December 2004, 2003, 2000).
World Bank workshop for the Ministry of Communications of Iraq, on reform of the telecom sector (Amman, Jordan, March 27-30, 2004).
Telecommunications Competition Policy Workshop; Chair of industry workshop sponsored by the ITU (Geneva, Switzerland, November 19-23, 2002)
Caribbean Regulators Training Course, sponsored by Canadian CIDA and LIRNE.Net (Grenada, W.I. February 25, 2002)
Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Regulators Forum (Phuket, Thailand, May, 2001)
Presenter at Training Program for European Regulators (Maastricht, Netherlands) Sponsored by the University of Delft (Maastricht, the Netherlands, 1999)
Presenter at the Central and Eastern European Privatization Network (CEEPN); (Lubliana, Slovenia, 1998).
Canadian Association of Members of Public Utility Tribunals (CANPUT) program (Montréal, Canada)
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Annual Regulators Training Program (Ann Arbour, Michigan, USA)
Guest lecturer on telecommunications law, policy & regulation at the London Business School, University of Strathclyde, University of Toronto, Osgoode Hall Law School, Carleton University, and the Communications University of China.
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