VANCOUVER – Consumer group and self-described pro-Internet advocate OpenMedia.ca wants the CRTC to conduct a transparent audit and review of Internet infrastructure costs in order to stave off what it calls “backdoor rate hikes” by incumbents.
After independent ISP Teksavvy announced plans to pass on bandwidth price increases to its consumers, OpenMedia.ca called on Canadians to voice their concerns to the CRTC and government through a new on-line petition which seeks to halt infrastructure access prices increases levied by the likes of Bell and Rogers against their wholesale clients.
It's also asked the CRTC to conduct a transparent review into how Internet infrastructure access costs are set.
“Big phone and cable companies lost the debate on Internet metering and now it looks like they’re trying to sneak pricing hikes in through the backdoor”, said executive director Steve Anderson, in a statement. “Independent ISPs are now telling us that Big Telecom’s complex policy submissions to the CRTC have led to outrageously high rates on Internet infrastructure. Our telecom market is broken and it’s past time we got to work fixing it.”
