GATINEAU – The CRTC today pared back some of the rates which large internet service providers can charge independent ISP competitors for using their networks.
This battle has raged on for a number of years as independent ISPs like Teksavvy, Telnet and others attempt to carve out a market for themselves as ISPs serving a small slice of the Canadian populace who’d rather not be subscribers of one of the big telcos or cablecos. In order to do that though, those small ISPs need access to the big networks owned and run by Bell, Telus, Rogers and others just the same.
Today’s decisions from the CRTC finally, hopefully, will almost end this regulatory fight (there are a couple of loose ends still needing to be tied). "Large and small independent service providers now have the certainty they need to continue offering Canadians a choice of innovative and competitive services," said Jean-Pierre Blais, CRTC chairman, in the press release announcing the decision. "We are pleased to finally close this chapter after a careful examination of the wholesale rates, which included a review of the costing information."
While independent ISPs have long fought (mostly) the big telcos for affordable access to their networks, the issue really came to a head just over two years ago when the Prime Minister decided to wade in and ask for a review of the CRTC’s maligned usage-based-billing (UBB) decision.
After another public proceeding and despite some affinity for the Commission’s capacity based billing scheme set in late 2011 that came from that PM-mandated review, all sides disputed the rates. The big network owners thought them too low and the independents thought them too high. That led to several review and vary applications to the CRTC, which took the Commission nearly a year to rehash and re-decide.
Now, not only have some of the wholesale rates been cut, all large telephone and cable companies that provide wholesale high-speed access services to independent service providers must now use a single billing model and offer the same rates for business and residential end-users, according to the Commission. In the past, business users have always been charged more for their telecom usage, but that is a relic of a time past since nowadays, there is no network distinction between IP traffic from a business or a residential customer. “This will result in a more straightforward billing process for independent service providers. Previously, certain large companies charged different rates under different billing models for wholesale and residential business services,” reads the CRTC press release.
The final wholesale rates are based on the large telephone and cable companies' costs, plus a reasonable markup and the Commission says these “rates enable large companies to recover their costs and make further investments in their networks.”
Today's decisions apply only to the wholesale high-speed access services the large telephone and cable companies sell to independent service providers. The CRTC does not approve the rates and packages for Internet services offered to Canadian consumers at the retail level. “The CRTC expects, however, that the final wholesale rates will have a favourable impact on prices charged in the competitive retail market,” adds the release.
