The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is looking into complaints by many Canadians of unfair billing practices for internet service. The complaints were the catalyst for hearings this week at the commission’s headquarters in Gatineau, Quebec.
David Christopher, of the advocacy group Open Media, says the group has been preparing for these hearings for some time now. “They’re really almost a once-in-a-generation chance to really start tackling some of the most irritating aspects of Canada’s internet market”, he says.
ListenIt all began with the Quebec-based telecom, Videotron. The company was using “differential pricing” that in some cases represented a difference of 800 per cent in what it charged for music services and what it charged for other services. Consumers complained and the timing was ideal.
More Canadians are evolving from television to the online platforms such as Netflix. According to the CRTC’s observations, data consumption “skyrocketed over the last year”, increasing 40 per cent from 2014 to 2015, even as Canadians pay some of the highest fees for the lowest data caps.
Christopher cites the example of the U.K. where people can get an unlimited wireless plan for the equivalent of $30 (CDN) a month. It could be a hundred dollars more in many Canadian markets.
“This week of hearings could really shape the future of Canada’s internet for a long time to come.”
One of the problems is the concentration of the market in the three major companies, Rogers, Bell and Telus. For their part, they argue they’re providing one of the “best networks in the world”. Rogers claims that unlimited data would not be good for consumers.
“The network capacity isn’t there and it would weaken performance for everyone,” spokesman Andrew Garas responded in an email, István Fekete reported on his iPhoneinCanada site.
Tomorrow the coallition of public interest groups known as ‘the Equitable Internet Coaltion’ is set to appear before the commission. Facebook executives are also scheduled tomorrow to defend their zero-rating offers.
Open Media will be presenting Thursday, demanding an end to data caps and differential pricing, and asking the CRTC to flex its muscle, enforcing net neutrality via Canada’s Telecommunications Act, which prohibits carriers from giving themselves or others an “undue preference.”
Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favouring or blocking particular products or websites.
“This week of hearings could really shape the future of Canada’s internet for a long time to come”, according to David Christopher.
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