CIPPIC unveils most ambitious low cost wireless plan

GATINEAU, Que. — The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic and Open Media have unveiled the most ambitious low-cost wireless plan at the final day of the CRTC’s wireless hearings, asking the regulator to mandate a $20 monthly plan including four GBs of data. CIPPIC lawyer Tamir Israel told commissioners that the low cost plan had been calculated by “reverse engineering” plans previously offered on the market and should only be mandated for the big three incumbents. He acknowledged that 4GB was well above the average monthly data usage figures captured by the CRTC but said “anything below that wasn’t really going to be responsive to what we were trying to do.” “In terms of the cost though, we started off with a retail plan that was being offered by a number of providers for a higher data allotment and tried to work backwards from there,” Israel said. “Given the plans that are out there we suspect this is doable, even with a bit of a profit margin.” CIPPIC and OpenMedia are the latest groups to advocate for a low cost plan to be mandated in both the hearings and in submissions, joining groups including the Manitoba Coalition and the Coalition for Cheaper Wireless. The Coalition for Cheaper Wireless asked the CRTC to mandate a bring your own device plan providing 4GBs of data for a maximum of $30 a month. Asked about evidence by Shaw Communications Inc. that it could not afford to introduce such low cost plans, Israel said regional mobile network operators would not be mandated to provide them under his model. Appearing earlier in the day, Nunavut-based provider SSI Micro Inc.’s CEO Jeff Philipp, responding to questions from Commissioner Christopher McDonald, told the panel he did not see how mandated low-cost plans could be implemented without “the commission’s staff having 100 more people to investigate every market and look at every business case”. He said SSI Micro faced much greater costs in delivering services in Nunavut than southern Canada service providers, and a low cost plan needed to take that into account. “Short of a large carrier choosing to, and many do, cross subsidise their entire model and lose money on something, how would you possibly manage it? To suggest a certain number of GBs should be mandated as a minimum level of service to be delivered by any carrier I think is appalling,” Philipp said. “I think if we want to get into something like that, it should become more of a consumer subsidy to purchase a package and let the competitive market determine what the best package is, because otherwise it becomes very complicated.” Rogers Communications Inc. CEO Joe Natale told the hearing on Wednesday that a “broad plan at 4GB would eviscerate the industry economics”, but said he would be happy to consider it if it was targeted only at low-income Canadians and involved means testing. SSI Micro’s chief development officer Dean Proctor told commissioners that broad MVNO access was preferable to hybrid mobile network operator models put forward by Cogeco Inc. and the Competition Bureau, but wanted the focus instead to be on providing affordable access to backbone connectivity and “upstream inputs.” OpenMedia executive director Laura Tribe urged the CRTC to mandate full MVNO access, saying plan costs were too high and competition levels were not high enough. “We need competition and we need it now. Full mandated MVNOs are a critical step to addressing the lack of affordability, and competition, in Canada’s wireless market,” she said. The CRTC will now begin the process of reviewing evidence put forward during the public hearings. Intervenors have until March 10 to file undertakings, while a final comments deadline of March 23 has been suspended until the CRTC rules on two procedural requests. With reporting by Adam Langenberg at alangenberg@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

CIPPIC unveils most ambitious low cost wireless plan

News | February 28, 2020

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CIPPIC unveils most ambitious low cost wireless plan

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