A person navigates to the online social-media pages of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on a cellphone in Ottawa on Monday, May 17, 2021. Canada’s national telecommunications regulator is lowering some wholesale internet rates by 10 per cent as it launches a review aimed at bolstering competition and lowering consumer costs. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – Canada’s national telecommunications regulator is lowering some wholesale internet rates by 10 per cent as it launches a review aimed at bolstering competition and lowering consumer costs.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission says it recognizes its current approach does not encouraging enough competition in the sector.
Its review will look into the rates that smaller competitors pay the major telecom companies for access to their networks.
The regulator will also probe whether the latter should provide competitors with access to their fibre-to-the-home networks to improve internet speeds to their customers.
Last month, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne directed the agency to implement new rules to enhance consumer rights, affordability, competition and universal access, which included a requirement for improved wholesale internet rates.
Canadians can participate in the review until June 22 by submitting feedback through the CRTC’s website, writing to the agency’s secretary-general, or through fax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2023.
