MONTREAL – Canadian VOIP provider Babytel sharply criticized the CRTC for leaving Canadian cable companies unregulated in Thursday’s decision.
“This is asymmetrical regulation," said Stephen Dorsey, babyTEL president and CEO.
“This is regulating Bell, Telus and other incumbent phone companies on price while ignoring the cable incumbents with their sizable territories and customer base of high-speed Internet users. Competition – and consumers – would be better off with no regulation than this asymmetrical regulation," he added.
“Bell and Telus will be partially self-regulated in that they will be restrained in VOIP offerings to avoid cannibalizing legacy telephone business; whereas cable companies have no such constraints and can be predatory in order to take market share. In particular, they are free to bundle VOIP with other services to squelch competition.
“Further,” continued Dorsey, “the CRTC is inadequately ensuring our customers receive the same quality of Internet transport as the incumbents – both phone and cable – offer their own customers. Without any regulation, I fear large cable companies could take advantage of this more than others.”
Dorsey also said the equal access portion of the ruling will be particularly hard on independents. "It is totally unjustified and contrary to the spirit of VOIP, which is the elimination of long-distance tolls.
“Therefore, for the good of competition, for the good of the consumer, we need a level playing field. But this decision has the potential to put the ball on Bell’s 10-yard line with cable at quarterback and us on the sidelines," Dorsey added.
“The CRTC went too far and not far enough by letting quasi-monopolies like large cable companies off the regulatory hook.”
