OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has decided to open its review of wholesale Internet access services to the public.
In an annoucement on Friday, the Commission said that Canadians will have an opportunity to share their views at a public hearing starting on July 11 in Gatineau, or through an on-line consultation. It will release more details on both the hearing and consultation shortly.
The scope of the proceeding will not be limited to reviewing usage-based billing proposals, as the CRTC said that it intends to focus on issues such as:
– usage-based charges, whether aggregated between the small Internet service providers (small ISPs) or applied to each small ISP;
– usage-based charges driven by peak traffic periods, and;
– an examination of network capacity and congestion.
The CRTC decided against expanding the scope of the review to include the billing practices for retail Internet services, saying that “there is no evidence that market forces are not working properly in this unregulated market”.
It also declined to review the overall regulatory framework for wholesale high-speed Internet access services, noting that it was not part of the original decision that is being reviewed.
Click here for the CRTC’s letter to industry stakeholders about the review.
