“I’m not building yesterday’s telecom,” founder says
By Amanda OYE
RICHMOND, B.C. – After spending nearly two decades working for a major Canadian telecom, Babbl Communications’ president and founder Jason Speers (above) decided to put what he had learned to use to bring down Internet prices in western Canada.
Babbl is a third-party Internet access (TPIA) provider that was launched last September and currently serves over 40 communities in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Southern Vancouver Island and the Sea to Sky Corridor.
Internet packages, which are currently being offered at a discounted rate, include $35/month for Internet 75, $45/month for Internet 100 and $65/month for Internet 250. There are no contracts, and the company is set up for customers to be able to easily self-serve.
“One of my guiding lights or guiding principles is that I’m not building yesterday’s telecom,” Speers told Cartt.ca yesterday during an interview in Richmond, B.C., which is where Babbl is headquartered. “So, I’m building as much as I can in the digital space, in the cloud, automate whatever I can, which helps me with costs.”
The Babbl website emphasizes this philosophy, noting the company is “born digital” so it can operate at a lower cost than incumbent Internet service providers (ISPs) and can pass those savings on to its customers. Speers said the savings are in the range of 15-25%.
“We offer a premium service at a reduced rate – we’re not a second-tier service,” he explains. “Our Internet service mirrors what you can get with the incumbents today… we’re not changing wireline Internet, but we’re disrupting how much it costs.”
The response to Babbl has been mostly good so far, Speers said.
“I really want to just work for the average Canadian when it comes to wireline Internet rates. I think there are many, many segments that deserve to pay less, and that’s what I want to do” – Jason Speers, president and founder of Babbl
“I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a couple of hiccups along the way, but our customers have been great in the sense that they’re really supporting an increase in competition,” he said. “They’re really supporting a grassroots company, a homegrown company, and somebody to challenge the incumbent. So, I think overall perception’s fantastic – we’re super excited and energized by it.”
Before founding Babbl, Speers spent nearly 20 years at Shaw Communications, where he began working right out of college. He spent over half his time there on the operations side and then changed over to sales. “I left a fairly well-rounded individual when it comes to telecom,” he said.
After June 2020, when he was no longer employed by Shaw, Speers did some research and realized the TPIA model does not have as much of a presence in western Canada as it does in the eastern part of the country. “Opportunity kind of presented itself and I thought, hey, I’m not done with telecom yet… let’s take what I know and put it to good use,” Speers said.
The Babbl founder’s relationship with Shaw did not end when he was no longer working for the company – his new company uses Shaw’s infrastructure to provide its services.
The rates Babbl (and other third-party service providers like it) pay for wholesale high-speed access services is set by the CRTC, which decided last May it would make permanent the interim wholesale rates set in 2016, despite having set lower rates in 2019. (CRTC chair Ian Scott has since said on multiple occasions, including to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology, that the Commission got the 2019 decision wrong.)
Babbl came to be amidst uncertainty over what the final wholesale rates would be set at since the CRTC was asked by incumbent ISPs to review and vary its 2019 decision to lower the rates and the decision was also appealed through the courts.
“When I started this venture there was still no decision,” Speers said. “The appeal was still in motion with the courts… and so there was still a chance of reduced wholesale rates and that clearly presented quite a significant opportunity to start this kind of a business up.”
“There is room for more competition and it’s going to take competition for prices to come down” – Speers
However, knowing the decision was still in the courts and that “the incumbents have a lot of money,” Speers built three different business models – one for if the reduced 2019 rates were maintained, one for if the 2016 rates were made permanent and one for if the decision was ultimately to meet somewhere in the middle.
Speers said he was “pretty confident” the decision would be to meet in the middle. “The flip flop that the CRTC did to go right back to 2016 rates was kind of a shocker, I think, to say the least.”
“It was complete lobbying efforts that the incumbents with their millions and millions of dollars… and I don’t think that’s a secret,” he said. When asked about the photo of Scott having a beer with Bell’s chief operating officer at the time, Mirko Bibic, Speers said “the optics are terrible.”
He tries to stay out of the head space and away from empty anger over the situation, instead focusing on his goals for Babbl. “I really want to just work for the average Canadian when it comes to wireline Internet rates,” he said. “I think there are many, many segments that deserve to pay less, and that’s what I want to do.”
While disappointed by the CRTC’s wholesale rates decision, Speers noted he did prepare for it, and so he has been able to move forward with his plans for Babbl. “There is room for more competition and it’s going to take competition for prices to come down,” he said.
Babbl has its eyes set on growth throughout western Canada, Speers explained, noting they see the Okanagan in their near future and even Alberta. The plan is to continue on and expand as a third-party access provider – at least for the next few years. “I don’t see us putting fibre in the ground, but never say never,” Speers said.
The company does, however, have wireless ambitions.
“That’s absolutely on the radar,” Speers said, adding “it’s kind of a wait and see situation.”
“It’s likely that Rogers will carve out the Shaw wireless assets… and a fourth carrier comes in. We know that there’s a couple of people, a couple of organizations bidding at that right now. It’s likely that’s how that’ll play out to allow for Rogers to take over Shaw’s… wireline assets, and so if that’s the case I think we let the dust settle and see what we can do at that point.”
