QUISPAMSIS, NB – While pleased the government altered the final telecom deregulation order last Wednesday so that small cable operators will get an 18-month head start if and when they decide to enter the local phone market, the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance blasted its decision to drop the winback restrictions.
The alliance, which represents more than 90 small cablecos across the country, said it “remains deeply disappointed” at the immediate removal of the 90-day winback restrictions.
When the order is gazetted on April 18, large incumbent phone companies will be allowed to try to “win back” telephony customers with lucrative offers before they make the switch to small cablecos’ local voice services. The ILECs will know which customers are planning to switch their provider because they will need to transfer their phone number from the ILEC and will also need interconnection with the PSTN.
“The winback rules are the heart of the matter,” said CCSA President and CEO Alyson Townsend. “Without these rules, customers will not have the opportunity to experience our members’ new competitive services before the big telcos try to win them back through bundled offers that cross-subsidize local service. That means that not all customers will see the benefits of competition, only those who switch to a competitor.”
As a result, Townsend called on the government and the industry to “be exceptionally vigilant to ensure that the telcos’ targeted campaigns do not frustrate the intent of this order through anti-competitive practices that will undermine competition as soon as it begins to emerge.”
The order defines small independent local phone providers as companies with fewer than 20,000 telco subs anywhere in Canada.
