OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is deregulating the first residential telephone markets in Canada, in Fort McMurray, and parts of the Maritimes.
The ILECs, TELUS and Bell Aliant, will no longer need to get the commission’s approval to set local phone rates or introduce new services and packages.
The systems in Fort McMurray, Fredericton, Charlottetown, and Halifax are the first of likely many to get approval in the coming months. The CRTC says it’s received enough applications for deregulation to cover more than 60% of the residential phone lines in Canada.
The commission says it’s considering the other applications and could decide to deregulate if they meet the criteria. The CRTC took just over three months to issue its first decision on deregulation.
TELUS and Bell Aliant won’t be completely unfettered, since they can’t increase the price charged for basic telephone service. They will also be subject to possible customer complaints filed with the new consumer telecommunications agency, launched recently by the industry to resolve complaints not handled by the CRTC. The commission will hold a public process soon to approve the agency’s structure and mandate.
“Consumers in deregulated markets will benefit from increased competition between local telephone service providers, in the same way they already do when choosing between competing long-distance, wireless and Internet services,” CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein said in a release.
The TELUS forbearance decision is here, while the Bell Aliant decision is here.
