Affordability, universality and reliability. This, in three words, is the direction that the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development will impose from now until 2030 on the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The federal government hopes that its directives will lead to increased competition for the Internet and wireless telephony.
Ottawa issued final instructions Monday afternoon that seek to redefine the CRTC’s role in the national telecommunications market. These instructions were originally released last May in preparation for public consultations that were held over the summer. During these consultations, the government says it noticed that independent and regional providers were largely in favor of a CRTC that was more focused on consumer protection, while the major national providers were opposed in their entirety.
The government decided to ignore this opposition. He promises to give the CRTC the necessary means to facilitate access for new and smaller suppliers to the infrastructures already in place held by the major players such as Bell, Rogers and Telus. He invites the organization to come back to the charge on the question of the wholesale prices that the latter charge to independent suppliers. These prices were revised upwards in 2021 with the approval of the CRTC.
The government expects Internet and wireless services offered by new entrants to be of the same quality and speed as those offered by established national providers. He also expects access to infrastructure – specifically, access to telephone poles across the country – to be facilitated by their owners.
Finally, it invites the CRTC to take greater account in its actions of the complaints made by Canadian consumers to the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) about their telecommunications services.
Minister François-Philippe Champagne confirmed in a press release Monday afternoon that these new instructions come into effect immediately. “These goals are intended to enable residents of all regions of Canada, including those in rural, remote and Indigenous communities, to enjoy high quality services that are reliable and resilient. »
No specific target
The two main concerns of Canadian consumers are the price paid for their telecommunications services and the reliability of these services. The massive network outage suffered by Rogers in the summer of 2022 that crippled an astonishing part of the Canadian economy is something Ottawa does not want to see happen again.
“Access to reliable and affordable Internet and wireless services is essential in our society and for our economy,” noted Minister Champagne. He therefore asks the CRTC to establish a framework to minimize the chances of this happening again. The federal agency will also have to establish a compensation formula for customers harmed by future breakdowns. This could take the form of a discount on the next bill, a service bonus, etc.
High prices are also in the minister’s sights. “Although progress has been made, Canadians are still paying too much and the competition remains too weak,” says François-Philippe Champagne. Beyond better access to wired and wireless infrastructures and a formal framework that should encourage the emergence of new virtual operators who will not have to own their own network, the Minister does not, however, set any specific price reduction target.
Ottawa was pleased at the end of January 2022 to have fulfilled its promise to oblige the wireless industry to reduce by 25% the typical bill sent each month to its customers. To make such a claim, the government had to tweak the numbers a bit and focus on a handful of outdated, limited or unpopular packages. Meanwhile, prices have fallen at an even faster rate everywhere else in the world.
The third part of the instructions to the CRTC, universal access to networks everywhere in Canada, does not contain indications that would make the prices of services identical from one region to another. For equal service, the cost of access to the Internet or mobile networks is currently much higher in rural or remote areas than in urban areas.
A bigger CRTC
The new directives sent to the CRTC by Ottawa represent a significant change of direction for the federal organization, which had been since its most recent instructions received from the federal government in 2006 more confined to the role of administrative and sectoral tribunal. At the time, the CRTC was asked to let the free market dictate the evolution of the Canadian telecom industry.
Already at the beginning of January, the entry into office of its new president Vicky Eatrides, formerly of the Competition Bureau, gave some indications of the Liberal government’s desire to take a new direction.
Confirming what Mme Eatrides hinted last month, Ottawa also confirms that the CRTC, which currently has about 500 employees, will be called upon to grow.
Especially since monitoring telecoms will probably not be its only mandate. The bills governing the presence of digital platforms in the country and the role of social networks in sharing the content of major Canadian media include specific additional mandates that the CRTC will eventually inherit.