The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) recently approved a request by Bell to pass their own bandwidth caps and overage fees on to independent ISPs at a 15% discount. The Pirate Party of Canada objects to this ruling on three grounds, all of which boil down to competition.
The CRTC’s current purpose is to maintain the present oligopoly in Canada’s telecom industry. In so doing, it has a responsibility to provide protection for consumers against the abuse inherent in such a system. Instead, by repeatedly ruling in favour of major corporations’ attempts to dominate the market, the CRTC has cheated Canadian consumers and is responsible for the widening technological and financial gap between the telecom industry in Canada and that in much of the rest of the First World.
By allowing Bell to impose its own pricing structure on other ISPs, the CRTC has made usage-based billing the de facto standard. With wholesale pricing all but eliminated, other ISPs will be forced to match Bell’s price points and billing practices. Canadian consumers will no longer have the option of switching to another ISP with better prices, because all ISPs will be forced into the same system.
Finally, by placing a ridiculously high price on inexpensive bandwidth, Bell’s usage-based billing scheme will stifle online competition as new bandwidth-heavy innovators try to break into a market that is moving backwards, not forwards. Services such as Netflix compete directly with Bell’s other offerings, and Bell has now effectively shut it down by imposing low bandwidth caps and high overage fees.
As the Supreme Court has recently challenged Minister Tony Clement’s ability to interfere with the CRTC, we call on the CRTC to review and overturn this decision on the grounds that it will do great harm to Canadian consumers and to Canadian competition. Furthermore, we urge Mr. Clement to stop trying to patch holes in the system; it is time for the CRTC to be significantly overhauled or disbanded. In order to effectively police the telecommunications industry in Canada, the CRTC must be controlled by a majority of Canadian consumers rather than a cartel of telecom execs.
The CRTC has proven time and again who it really serves. Enough is enough.
Founded in 2009 and registered in 2010, the Pirate Party of Canada was established to protect the rights of consumers of information and culture against increasingly-draconian laws enacted in response to the demands of corporate interests. Specifically, the Party is committed to reform Canadian copyright laws, encourage innovation through patent reform, protect all Canadian citizens with strengthened privacy laws, and affirm their right to monitor their own government by promoting the ideals of open government.
