CHATHAM, Ont. — In its latest salvo aimed at the CRTC and its May decision not to lower wholesale Internet rates, independent ISP TekSavvy today issued a press release and an election backgrounder in an effort to rally Canadian voters to visit paylesstoconnect.ca — where they can “demand concrete federal action that will lower monthly internet bills,” the release says.
“In this election, affordability remains top-of-mind for most voters. Recent polling by Abacus Data shows that 64% of Canadians believe the cost of things you use day-to-day have gotten worse over the past 2 years,” the press release reads.
“In another poll conducted by Leger on behalf of TekSavvy, nearly 80% of Canadians say the cost of their internet service is too high,” the release adds.
To back up its arguments, TekSavvy referenced the CRTC’s own press releases from 2016 and 2019, which show the Commission’s thinking when it initially decided to lower the wholesale rates and when the lower wholesale rates were announced.
“[T]he CRTC’s 2019 rate decision confirmed that Canada’s largest carriers, such as Bell and Rogers, broke federal rate-setting rules to inflate costs for competitors, which in turn drove up Canadian retail prices. The CRTC set new rates to bring “more affordable prices for consumers” that were expected to take effect this year,” reads TekSavvy’s press release.
TekSavvy has petitioned the Federal Cabinet to overrule the CRTC’s May 2021 decision and to enforce the Commission’s earlier rate decision from 2019.
“With the stroke of a pen, Cabinet can deliver lower internet prices for Canadians, simply by reinstating the CRTC’s pro-consumer 2019 rate decision, which was based on years of process and mountains of evidence,” said Andy Kaplan-Myrth, TekSavvy’s vice-president of regulatory and carrier affairs, in the company’s press release.
According to TekSavvy, more than 250,000 Canadians have used paylesstoconnect.ca to urge the federal government to support the CRTC’s 2019 wholesale rate decision.
