OTTAWA – Seeking to address a “noticeable gap” in affordable, occasional-use pay-as-you-go wireless plans, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and National Pensioners Federation (NPF) have asked the CRTC to order the national wireless carriers to offer them.
In an application filed Friday, PIAC-NPF asked the Commission to apply a condition of service directing Rogers, Bell and Telus to make occasional-use retail wireless plans broadly available to consumers in the same manner as the Commission proposed to do with lower-cost data-only plans in its ‘skinny wireless’ decision last month. The application also asks to combine the two proceedings “to avoid the re-litigation of shared issues”.
Noting that 13% of Canadians still do not have cell phones, PIAC-NPF say they hope that the application will lead to new innovative and affordable plans being introduced into the Canadian market.
“These plans should lower the entry-level cost of cellphone adoption and make telecommunications more affordable for the occasional users like seniors with landlines and low-income persons who appreciate the control and flexibility provided by pay-as-you-go plans”, say the groups.
According to the application, a customer of U.S. carrier Tello Mobile would pay just $0.03/min for a U.S. call, $0.01/SMS, and $0.02/MB (4G LTE on Sprint), with no activation fee and no expiry, provided the phone is used once every three months (figures in U.S. dollars). Even a Tello user roaming in Canada would pay a small fraction of what Canadians pay, the application continues.
By contrast, many Canadian wireless carriers either no longer offer pay-per-use service to new customers or charge high rates and require a minimum top-up to avoid expiry, “resulting in minimum spending of $100 a year for what may be just a few minutes of calling”.
“Comparing the pay-per-use rates offered by Bell, Telus, and Rogers to the rates which Tello can offer suggests that more than 90% of Canadian carriers’ prices for occasional-use wireless service is pure profits attributable to market power”, reads the application. “By making pay-per-use less appealing and available, it appears these carriers hope to shift customers to even higher revenue monthly plans. To some extent, the neglect of the pay-per-use market may also be motivated by a desire to improve Blended Average Revenue Per User, a key metric looked to by market analysts.”
Mandated occasional-use, pay-per-use service may also help support additional uses of mobile technologies, such as Internet of Things products like home health monitoring and alarm systems, similar to how low-cost data-only plans will support the use of Wi-Fi first service providers, adds the application.
