OTTAWA – Jagmeet Singh and the NDP party are promising Canadians that they will “fight” to make cell and Internet service more affordable by slashing monthly bills and killing data caps, among other measures.
The NDP outlined a number of promises on their Lower My Bill website that they also claimed would make broadband access and wireless services more “reliable”. They include:
– Price caps that will save Canadians an average of $10 on every cell or internet bill;
– Ending data caps for internet plan and requiring cell companies to offer “affordable”, unlimited data plans;
– Requiring every company to offer “a basic plan for internet and cell service that meets the needs of Canadians”;
– A Bill of Rights for telecom consumers that will put an end to the “outrageous sales and services practices of big cell and internet companies and protect people from being gouged”; and
– A vaguely worded pledge to redirect the government’s proceeds from “selling the airwaves” to benefit Canadians rather than corporations.
The pledges are part of policy platform that the party first unveiled in March.
While it would be no surprise if these notions were lauded by consumers, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) said that the policies being advocated with this motion would hurt, not help, Canadians, especially those in small towns and rural communities who are depending on ongoing investment in wireless networks to ensure they have access to the same wireless services as their urban counterparts.
“We believe the focus needs to be on quality, coverage and reasonable prices, and the current wireless regulatory framework is driving significant progress in all three of these areas,” said a CWTA spokesperson in an emailed statement to Cartt.ca, which also extolled the virtues of Canadian network’s fast speeds and extensive reach. “In fact, wireless plans that meet or are better than the NDP’s proposed plans already exist in Canada’s wireless marketplace – all of this achieved without the sort of destructive regulatory intervention called for in the motion.
While we welcome debate on wireless telecom policy, let’s ensure the debate is based on facts and not ideology. The facts show a tremendous amount of positive momentum when it comes to bringing customers quality services, better coverage and reasonable prices. The regulatory proposals seen in this motion would stop this momentum and set Canada back.”
