GATINEAU – After reviewing a dozen of the new submissions made at the CRTC’s latest wireless policy review submission deadline on Friday, we can confidently say: No one has yet changed their mind since the last rounds of information were filed.
The arguments, butressed by some new expert reports in some instances, mostly bolster what has been said and repeated early and often.
- The incumbent carriers say mandated mobile virtual network operators riding on their networks as wireless resellers will cause them to decrease investment.
- Poppycock, says the Canadian Network Operators and the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance. “Such threats have never, not once, come to pass,” writes CNOC, and was repeated in the CCSA submission.
- Mandated MVNOs will hurt the smaller regional carriers Freedom, Videotron and Eastlink first and most, say those carriers as well as the Competition Bureau.
- Some say we need to set aside the fight for MVNOs and instead think about the future and focus on 5G and what the new wireless policies might say, in the hopes they don't hinder the deployment of next generation technology.
- The Big Three (Rogers, Bell and Telus) all quote the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association saying Canadian network operators will need to spend at least $26 billion to deploy 5G technology.
- Gaining municipal rights of way is a challenge for everyone and will be a major bone of contention moving forward. Most agree the CRTC should be the final arbiter of disputes here.
- Most say retail rate regulation is a bad idea. Except for the PIAC-led Coalition for Cheaper Wireless Service, which says all operators should offer an option for means-tested low income Canadians which gives them unlimited Canada-wide voice and texting as well as 4GB/month of data at LTE (4G) speeds with no data overage charges, for $25-$30/month, post-paid, excluding the device, with no changes to the plan during its term, which is 1-2 years; and no bundling with other offers.
- Everyone has an expert report they like – and all found "fundamental" flaws in the expert reports filed earlier by those they disagree with.
- The national incumbents and regional players insist the market has never been more competitive. Rogers notes three million Canadians change their wireless brand every year and Telus says affordablility questions “are best addressed through government social policy” and not telecom regs.
- Of course, almost everyone else says the market suffers from too-high prices and a lack of competition. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” reads CNOC’s submission, countering the Big Three's assertion about a highly competitive market in Canada.
- Most of the national carriers and regional players, while insisting they do not want mandated MVNOs, did offer opinions on what the Commission should do IF it decided more competition is needed. Rogers suggested Cogeco’s hybrid model (where MVNO-type wireless offerings could only be offered by existing regional wired players who could also contribute fibre backhaul) should be what is approved, if the Commission goes that way. Others disagree with this and call Cogeco's proposal "self-serving."
- If the CRTC goes the MVNO way, rates should be commercially negotiated and not imposed, said Rogers and others.
- MVNOs, if allowed, should also be time-limited and only allowed for companies which already operate wireless networks and have a market value of less than $20 billion, says Videotron.
- Bell offered no “if” option in its November 22 submission.
We’ll have more to come on the submissions and this proceeding in the coming days.
