ANALYSIS: Did the Minister tell ILECs: Deregulate thyself?

IF CANADA'S INCUMBENT TELEPHONE companies want total deregulation quickly, they're going to have to do it for (and to) themselves, in the marketplace.Yesterday Industry Minister Maxime Bernier told the Economic Club of Toronto, with numerous telecom executives in the audience, that the federal government will force the CRTC to deregulate "access independent" VOIP services, no matter which company offers them or where. The voice services offered by Primus and Vonage are prime examples. The consumer buys a special box, perhaps downloads some software and "poof", they have VOIP service in their homes –and perhaps portably, too. The Commission's 2005 VOIP...