GATINEAU – The CRTC today announced it is prohibiting exclusivity provisions in all roaming agreements between Canadian wireless service providers, saying it has found clear instances of unjust discrimination by Rogers Communications.
In December 2013, the CRTC launched a public proceeding to look at whether wireless service providers were subjecting smaller Canadian competitors to unjustly discriminatory roaming rates, terms and conditions – and it found some.
“Rogers has imposed exclusivity clauses in roaming agreements that prohibited smaller service providers from using networks from any other carrier. Additionally, they charged some new Canadian service providers significantly higher roaming rates compared to rates for other wireless service providers,” said the Commission’s Thursday afternoon press release.
There is no penalty the Commission can or will apply to Rogers from this finding. “Since the implementation of section 27.1 of the Telecommunications Act mitigates the risk of future unjust discrimination with respect to wholesale mobile wireless roaming rates, the Commission will not put in place a remedy in this regard,” reads the decision.
Section 27.1, which caps domestic wholesale roaming rates, only came into effect in June as an amendment with the passing of the omnibus budget bill. As well, to assist in fulfilling its mandate under 27.1, a letter was sent to wireless service providers on July 28, 2014 requesting information on how they are calculating the roaming caps.
Also, the CRTC is also currently looking at the competitive state of the wireless market and will hold a public hearing on this issue on September 29, 2014, to figure out “whether regulatory measures are required in order for Canadians to have more choice for wireless services,” says the Commission.
