CNOC, advocates push gov’t to be tougher on affordability

The Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) and advocacy group OpenMedia told MPs the federal government needs to demonstrate more political will to bring lower internet and wireless prices to Canada, two days after Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains told the same committee there needs to be a “balance” between affordability and investment. Speaking to the House industry committee Thursday, OpenMedia executive director Laura Tribe suggested the government needs to adopt tougher policies to ensure that limited resources such as spectrum space did not go unused. “The spectrum in Canada has largely been licensed but that doesn't mean that everyone has access to cellphone services in their areas, because there are large areas where it’s not being deployed. I think looking at things like ‘use it or lose it policies’ to make sure that those areas have access to that spectrum if they’re not being served .” Tribe’s OpenMedia colleague, campaigner Erin Knight, said that in the midst of the pandemic, the federal government hadn’t shown a strong will to facilitate affordable internet access and telecommunications, at a time when it was particularly imperative. Knight pointed to the fact that telecommunications companies provided reprieves from overage fees early in the COVID-19 pandemic, but re-imposed them after a few months. This was the kind of situation where the government should step in, she said. “The government took no action to share the burden of these supports or ensure that they would last until the pandemic is over.” Earlier in the week, the industry minister told the committee that the government believes prices will go down with competition. Bains also said there needs to be a “balancing act” between affordability and investment. “The balancing act is making sure that prices are affordable for consumers, and at the same time we have the environment where we continue to see meaningful investment. That is why we have put forward these programs to help de-risk some of those investments,” including to rural and remote communities, he said. In 2019, the federal government issued a new policy directive, stressing competition and consumer affordability, and in the election that followed in the fall of 2019, the Liberal party promised to improve telecom affordability. Then in August 2020, Bains issued a statement supporting incumbent telecoms’ arguments that wholesale internet rates set by the CRTC were too low and could harm investment. In October, The Wire Report reported that while the Liberals had previously promised to lower some cellphone plan prices by 25 per cent, the government believes that that drop will be achieved organically by the market anyway, without the need for government intervention. Conservative MP Earn Dreeshen asked Bains whether the government will issue a new policy direction to the CRTC to overturn the 2019 directive to focus on on affordability and consumers. “Will you now be issuing another policy directive to the CRTC overturning this and suggesting that they now focus on this new so called ‘balancing agenda’?” he asked. On Thursday, CNOC president and chairman Matt Stein echoed the call for the government to show more willpower in fighting for affordable or accessible internet, arguing that new funding for infrastructure wasn’t necessarily the most optimal solution. CNOC represents wholesale-based ISPs that have been fighting the incumbents on the wholesale rate issue. “The best investment that could be made in Canadian telecom affordability right now doesn’t originate from government coffers. It originates from a reaffirmation from the current government of the role competitive service providers play in delivering competition affordability and innovation,” he said. Stein also floated new policies that could facilitate competition between incumbents and smaller providers. “If we can’t rely on the regulation and the regulatory regimes that exist today to preserve competition, the next step is to move towards what you’re referring to which is structural separation, where there’s a separation of the operations divisions and the retail arms of the large incumbent carriers.” This resembles similar calls Stein made for structural separation policies earlier this month at CNOC’s own ISP summit. Another area where CNOC said the government could be firmer is in its support for the CRTC’s regulatory role. CNOC director of legal affairs Geoff White told the committee that he believes another impediment to lower internet and wireless prices is the tactics of the incumbents in the face of regulation. “Whenever the CRTC delivers a decision they don’t like, the incumbents protest, wait for the last minute to appeal, not because they’re doing what’s right, but they’re creating a delay. Because a delay is a win, every day of a delay is another day of acting without being kept in check by competition.” CRTC chair Ian Scott appeared at the same committee meeting, where he affirmed his belief that competition is a necessity for affordable telecommunications. “Clearly we need to continue to get mobile rates down, make them more affordable...I firmly believe that competition and a competitive market is the best and most meaningful way to do so.” Speaking to Scott, NDP industry, science and economic development critic Brian Masse questioned whether the CRTC was well-resourced enough to effectively execute its role. “Given the fact that Canada wants to expand these services rather quickly … to roll it out within a few years properly and affordably, your task is insurmountable in terms of the resources provided.” Although Scott told Masse that he believed the CRTC had sufficient resources, the idea of more support for the CRTC was later reiterated to the committee by Stein. Stein said that while he felt that an immediate implementation of the CRTC’s August 2019 wholesale rates was paramount, “helping the CRTC by giving them the support that they need to get those things out the door without any further intervention is important too.” — Reporting by Tim Forster at tforster@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

CNOC, advocates push gov’t to be tougher on affordability

News | November 27, 2020

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CNOC, advocates push gov’t to be tougher on affordability

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