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MaynardKrebs
We did it. We heaved Steve. Yipee.
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join:2009-06-17

MaynardKrebs

Premium Member

Incumbents to get spanked in Budget today?

»www.huffingtonpost.ca/20 ··· 057.html

"There have been complaints from the new players about the exorbitant rates they pay so their customers can receive service from their competitors’ towers, charges that often get passed on to the consumer. The changes could encourage the new carriers to cut consumer fees and improve coverage outside their home areas, which are mostly in metropolitan centres.

Huang suggested the law could be amended so telecom companies cannot charge wholesale customers more than they charge their own customers.

Still, he added that he doesn’t see the government lowering the rates to a level that would eliminate the Big Three incumbents’ competitive advantage so as not to encourage new players from simply relying on existing towers without the incentive to build their own infrastructure.

The changes would have a minimal effect on bottom lines at the Big Three, he suggested.

“Wholesale roaming revenue currently represents less than one per cent of Rogers' service revenue, and essentially nothing for BCE and Telus,” he said.

“We continue to believe that the Canadian government's move to regulate wholesale wireless rate is not as threatening as it might sound.”
MaynardKrebs

MaynardKrebs

Premium Member

Nah, the incumbents didn't get spanked. Mostly they were forced to wear scratchy socks for the afternoon.

Stuff in today's Budget that's too little, too late for meaningful competition in this country. What are the Feds gonna do, strip 700 MHz spectrum from an incumbent and award it to Wind? That's about that they'd have to do in addition to the stuff below.

The Government will build on this record by proposing to amend the Telecommunications Act to cap wholesale domestic wireless roaming rates to prevent wireless providers from charging other companies more than they charge their own customers for mobile voice, data and text services.
This measure will be in place until the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which is now investigating this issue, makes a decision on roaming rates. With wholesale domestic roaming rates on networks capped, Canadian consumers will benefit from more competition in the wireless market."

The Government will also propose amendments to the Telecommunications Act and the Radiocommunication Act to provide the CRTC and Industry Canada with the power to impose administrative monetary penalties on companies that violate established rules such as the Wireless Code and rules related to the deployment of spectrum, services to rural areas and tower sharing. Legislative amendments will be proposed to:

• Enhance information sharing by the CRTC and Industry Canada to enable greater cooperation with organizations such as the Competition Bureau, which will benefit consumers;

• Provide the CRTC with the authority to impose conditions pertaining to social requirements on telecommunications service providers that are not carriers (i.e.
“re-sellers” of services) to help ensure that all consumers can benefit, no matter which provider they choose;

• Clarify the prohibitions against violating Industry Canada’s spectrum auction rules, to ensure fair and competitive bidding that achieves the greatest benefit for Canadians from this public resource; and

• Clarify the prohibitions against the manufacture, sale or use of jamming devices (e.g. devices that block cell phone transmissions by creating interference), to better protect Canadians.

In addition, amendments will be introduced to streamline the process for certifying telecommunications equipment for use by consumers and businesses.

The CRTC commenced hearings last Fall on telecommunications service providers’ practice of charging customers to receive paper bills. The Government is following these proceeding with great interest.


WTF does the underlined bit mean? Is there an error in the document?

It's all pretty vacuous and all this will take years for regulations to come forth and, in the meanwhile, competition, or at least the last vestiges of it, will whither and die. Long live the incumbents, sayeth Herr Harpler.

[Daltrey scream] We won't get Con'ned again. Je me souviens 2015.