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Canadian consumers are faced with the possibility of having fewer options among Internet providers as the country's largest Internet service providers are crushed, and federal regulation inadvertently worsens the situation, said industry group .
The Canadian Network Operators Consortium, or CNOC – which brings together 35 small telecommunications companies, including TekSavvy, Distributel and Primus – has filed an application with the CRTC, Canada's telecommunications regulator, to modify the rules governing their operation. outside key markets.
These Internet "resellers" purchase space on the networks of major legacy Internet access providers, such as Bell, Rogers, Cogeco and Videotron, and resell it to consumers, often at rates below those proposed by the major telecommunication operators.
Watch: The main complaints from Canadians regarding telecommunications (the story continues below)
But many of these companies say that, despite the CRTC's rules requiring them to access the networks of major players, it is still impossible for them to access these networks at a reasonable cost.
"The big carriers are playing the system to block consumer choice," said Janet Lo, vice president of privacy and consumer affairs at TekSavvy.
"The big operators use the same reading book for each customer, whether it's their wholesale customers such as TekSavvy or their own private customers." (They) overstated wholesale customers like TekSavvy for years Now, consumers no longer have the choice of their new monopoly of broadband optical fiber ".
The reference to "overbilling" refers to a 2016 CRTC ruling that large telecommunications companies imposed excessive rates on small players for network access. The regulator has cut tariffs imposed by the big phone companies up to 89%.
According to CNOC, the additional costs cost Canadian consumers about $ 300 million.
Earlier on HuffPost Canada:
In 2015, the regulator imposed on large telecommunications companies the obligation to transfer their access to independent resellers in order to create more competition in the market. The big telecommunication companies opposed it, stressing that they supported the cost of building these networks.
In order to encourage small players to invest their own money, the CRTC ordered changes to the access to the networks of major players. Rather than organizing access to an entire market, such as a province, small Internet providers should connect to the networks of big players, neighborhood by neighborhood.
"If consumers do not quickly have competitive choices for fiber, we will see a situation in which incumbents will have a monopoly."Janet Lo, Vice President, Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection, TekSavvy
The idea was to encourage small players to invest in the construction of an Internet infrastructure. But the little players say that this is impractical. Given the conditions defined by the major players, it will take years for small players to connect to their fiber optic networks. In the case of the Bell network, it will take 43 years for the networks of small players to connect, the CNOC told the CRTC in its brief – and this is only for Ontario.
In addition, if the small players do not adopt the new district – to – neighborhood model, they risk losing access to the networks of the big players for the internet at very high speed, c & # 39; that is 100 Mbps or faster.
"What is at stake is that if consumers do not quickly get competitive choices for fiber, we will see a situation in which incumbents will have a monopoly," Lo said of TekSavvy, at HuffPost Canada.
Indeed, small players may soon be unable to provide access to high-level Internet services, and consumers in many markets will be forced to return to major historical players, announced the CNOC.
"Without regulatory change, in many parts of the country, we could return to a market monopoly where Canadians will have no choice in providing the Internet service they need," said Matt Stein, President of CNOC. and Chief Executive Officer of Distributel.
For large operators, a question of who pays
But for large telecommunication companies, the problem is not so much in consumer choice, but rather in knowing who pays for the infrastructure that provides Internet services.
In a statement sent to HuffPost Canada by email, a spokesman for Rogers defended the CRTC's position.
"This investment is vital because the demand for more bandwidth continues to grow … The 2015 CRTC decision reflects a modernized framework in which ISPs will have greater access to high-level technology … and exchange, they are invited to invest in modest facilities to provide a small portion of their service. "
CNOC has already attempted to amend the CRTC rules by filing an application with the Telecommunications Supervisory Authority in 2017 to remove the investment requirement. The CRTC rejected this claim, saying the elimination of the requirement would convince many small players to avoid investing in the Internet infrastructure for as long as possible.
Small players say that everything depends on whether regulators are on the side of consumer choice or profits for major telecoms. TekSavvy Lo notes that today there are no small operators offering fiber optic internet in Canada – this technological change only occurs among the major players.
"We are asking the CRTC to ensure that consumers have a choice, not only in fiber optics but also in high-speed Internet," she said.
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