Proposed changes to policy direction show TSPs disagree on how best to foster competition

By Amanda OYE

OTTAWA – When the federal government announced it was proposing a new telecommunications policy direction to the CRTC back in May, it emphasized how it would improve competition. This is supposed to help ensure telecommunications services are affordable and encourage innovation in the industry. The proposed policy direction compels the CRTC to consider, among other things, how its decisions “encourage all forms of competition and investment”. But while several telecommunications service providers (TSPs) that submitted comments to the government on the proposed policy direction seem to agree competition is important, there is disagreement on what kind of competition the CRTC...