Canada's broadcast and communications regulator, the CRTC, wants phone companies to notify communities before they disconnect payphones, and is asking Canadians for their comments.
Photo Credit: Kevin Frayer/CP

Communications commission wants community warned before payphones disconnected

Canada’s broadcast and communications regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), wants telephone companies to notify communities before they remove payphones.

On Thursday (February 26) the Commission released the results of a study on payphone use in Canada and proposed that telephone companies:

Notify communities affected, including municipalities and First Nations, before removing the last public telephone;

Notify communities before removing a public telephone where wireless service is not available.

The Commission now wants to hear comments from Canadians by March 30, 2015.

In the study the Commission notes: “When the Commission last reviewed access to payphone service in 2004, 50% of Canadians indicated that they had used payphones on occasion. Today, only 32% of Canadians indicated that they had used a payphone at least once per year.”

More information:
CRTC – Participate in a Process Related to Phone Services in Canada – here
CRTC press release – CRTC releases the results of its fact-finding process on the role of payphones in the Canadian communication system – here
CRTC report – Results of the Fact-Finding Process on the Role of Payphones in the Canadian Communications System – here

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