OTTAWA – Striking while the reconsideration iron is hot, Canada’s incumbent telcos have asked the federal cabinet to refer another telecom decision back to the CRTC for a re-think.
As they said they would, Aliant, Telus, SaskTel and Bell Canada today launched their appeal of the Commission’s April 6th local forbearance decision, "and to do so in light of the recommendations of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel, which filed its report in March.
The companies filed the petition on May 12th, a year to the day that the CRTC’s 2005 decision on VOIP came out – which is a decision that has already been referred back to commissioners for reconsideration, as reported by cartt.ca.
"In its April 6 decision, the CRTC effectively set out a path to further and more detailed regulation of local telephone service," says the telcos’ press release. "The CRTC’s decision is in stark and stunning contrast to the report of the TPR Panel, the overall thrust of which was that competitive market forces can now achieve many of Canada’s telecommunications policy objectives without regulatory intervention."
In a recent interview with cartt.ca, CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen had a bit of a different point of view, that the Commission had set the industry clearly on a path to deregulation.
"The companies believe the Commission has once again demonstrated that it is out of touch with today’s market realities," continued the ILECs’ press release. "The vast majority of customers can now choose between at least two local providers – telephone or cable companies – and most also have access to local service resellers or domestic and foreign VoIP providers. Moreover a growing number of Canadian households are relying only on cell phones, almost 10 percent in Vancouver alone according to Statistics Canada.
"The CRTC’s decision is further evidence of its inability or unwillingness to reform telecom regulation. The companies urge the cabinet to act quickly on their appeal in order to encourage innovation and productivity by ensuring regulation is kept to a minimum and competitive market forces are relied upon to the greatest extent possible," says the release. "Otherwise Canadian telecom customers – consumers, businesses and governments themselves – will be denied the full benefits of competition: expanded choice, competitive prices and promotions, and innovative services."
– Greg O’Brien
