Bill follows in footsteps of U.S. broadband ‘nutrition’ label
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA — A private member’s bill that would require internet service providers to include the “typical” download and upload speeds that customers should expect when buying service received support from small internet service providers, according the author of the bill on Monday afternoon.
Dan Mazier, Conservative Member of Parliament for Manitoba’s Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa riding, appeared before a House industry committee to discuss bill C-288, which would amend the Telecommunications Act to effectively eliminate vague language such as “up to” and “maximum” used by ISPs to market their internet packages. The clarified language, which would be determined by the CRTC after a public consultation, would give consumers a better understanding of what speeds they can expect during peak hours, the MP said.
“I’ve heard very positive feedback from the smaller internet service providers, interestingly enough…because it takes that noise away,” Mazier said, alluding to the vague language. “All of sudden…they can be very transparent and certain of what service they are offering as a smaller internet service provider, which might be lots especially in rural and sparsely populated areas.
“It would level the playing field” for the consumer and the industry because the marketing delta between big and small companies would not be as stark and assist in driving competition, the MP conveyed.
Mazier added that consulting with the larger players yielded a “mixed bag” of reactions, though he only said that they would look at it.
Cartt reached out to ISPs and will update if it gets responses.
ISP speeds marketed on websites are often theoretical, meaning subscribers won’t actually be able to download files, movies and games at those megabits or gigabits per second. The marketing more so shows the capability of the network.
And ISPs cannot always deliver on a certain speed due to congestion on the network, with speeds fluctuating depending on the hour of the day.
When asked about the variability in speed, Mazier said ISPs already report this data to the CRTC; all they have to do is report it to consumers, he said.
“It will vary…but they [consumers] want some service and they want to know what they are paying for,” Mazier said.
The bill draws on efforts in countries including Australia and the United States, which in November mandated that ISPs include a label of service that outlines “typical” download and upload speeds. Mazier raised the examples of the two countries as models to follow.
Last month, Innovation Canada directed the CRTC to make its decisions through the lens of a new policy direction, which focuses on providing balanced prices for wholesale access to the incumbent’s networks and enhanced consumer rights. Among the consumer rights are provisions to “improve transparency” and requiring providers to “implement mandatory broadband testing so Canadians will know that the service they’re getting is what they’re paying for.”
Mazier said the policy direction “doesn’t go far enough,” and noted that the direction is not a law like his legislation would be.
The MP did not reject the idea of modifying his legislation to be more malleable to assist providers, but said that the legislation must hold the service providers accountable for the information they present.
The bill completed second reading in the House in late November.
