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Tuesday May 07, 2013 |
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Industry Minister Christian Paradis appeared before the Standing
Committee on Industry, Science and Technology last week and was
asked what he thought Canadians would say about wireless pricing.
Paradis instead indicated what he would tell them:
I would tell them that when we compare with our peers, we are
in the middle-average, we dropped down by almost 20% and this is
a work in progress. We will continue. We are dedicated to have a
fourth player and we will do whatever we can in terms of policy
to achieve this. Frankly, so far time gave us reason.
If this is a work-in-progress, is the government prepared to do
more? Apparently it is, as Paradis also told the committee:
When you talk about the roaming and the tower
sharing, we announced broader measures, and if we have to
intervene more we will.
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Monday April 22, 2013 |
Appeared in the Toronto Star on April 13, 2013 as Deep Divisions Surface in Canada's Wireless Industry
The Canadian wireless sector was shocked last week by the abrupt
departure of the three major new entrants - Wind Mobile, Public Mobile,
and Mobilicity - from the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications
Association. The new entrants took the CWTA by surprise, issuing a stern
release claiming the association has shown consistent bias in favour of
Bell, Telus, and Rogers, the three incumbent providers. Moreover, the
companies pointed to a blatant disregard for new entrants and alleged
that the CWTA had failed to honour repeated promises of fair
representation.
The move is a major blow to the CWTA, which has long promoted itself as
the voice of the industry. For example, during the recent CRTC consumer
wireless code hearing, it opened by telling the commission that it
“represents virtually all of the major companies in Canada's wireless
telecommunications ecosystem.”
No longer.
While analysts searched for a specific incident that led to the
departure, the more likely explanation lies in the ongoing battle over
the state of competitiveness of the Canadian wireless sector. The
question is not a mere academic debate since key government policies,
including the framework for the forthcoming multi-billion dollar
spectrum auction, the creation of an enforceable consumer wireless
protection code, and the rules on much-hated three-year wireless
contracts, all hang in the balance.
The CWTA has long argued that the Canadian market is competitive and
that no government intervention or additional regulation is needed.
Indeed, as far back as 2000, the association told officials “the
Canadian wireless market has been competitive from the outset.”
As study after study pointed to high consumer prices and comparatively
low subscriber rates, the government began to entertain the possibility
of a set-aside in a spectrum auction to pave the way for new entrants
into the market.
Once again, the CWTA argued against the approach, claiming that the
market was already competitive and that no intervention was needed. The
government rejected the CWTA’s position, leading to the 2008 set-aside
and the eventual entry of Wind Mobile, Public Mobile, and Mobilicity
into the market.
The new entrants succeeded in providing lower-cost alternatives, yet the
incumbents did little to alter their approach, hoping that the new
competition would be short-lived. Provincial governments became involved
with several proposing new wireless consumer protections. The CWTA
first argued against provincial involvement in the issue and later
against immediate implementation of a national code being crafted by the
CRTC.
For the new entrants, an association committed to fighting efforts to
enhance competition and consumer protection was an association fighting
against their own interests since their long-term viability depends on
maintaining policies designed to promote further competition. While the
CWTA and the new entrants may have been able to paper over their
differences on technical issues, the competitiveness issue was too
important for compromise.
At the recent CRTC hearing on a consumer wireless code, Wind Mobile openly broke with the CWTA, telling the commission that
“The CWTA has elected to take certain positions over the express
objections of WIND Mobile (on the basis that such positions are not
"industry positions" but rather those of a BRT-dominated CWTA board).
Accordingly, without needing to single out positions taken by the CWTA
which align with those of WIND Mobile, WIND Mobile simply states that
WIND Mobile does not support the CWTA submission.”
Moreover, Mobilicity had already publicly differed with the CWTA on
consumer issues back in 2011, stating that it was “exceptionally
disappointed with the CWTA's lack of foresight in continuing to act only
in the interests of the Big Three wireless oligopoly.”
Viewed in this light, the only surprising thing about the decision to
abandon the CWTA is not why, but rather what took so long. The move
sends a strong message to the government and the CRTC that there remain
deep divisions within the industry with many legitimate concerns about
competitiveness of the Canadian wireless market.
Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and
E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can
reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca or online at www.michaelgeist.ca.
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Monday April 22, 2013 |
The debate over the state of wireless competition in Canada continues to rage. Last week, I appeared on CBC's The Current,
as part of a 30 minute segment devoted to the wireless industry. The
issue was also discussed during Question Period at the House of Commons,
with Industry Minister Christian Paradis focusing on competition and consumers:
We want to enhance competition and investment in this country, and
this is why we adopted this policy back in 2008 for the AWS spectrum.
Let me say that the price went down by an average of 11% since then, and
we will continue this way with the 700 megahertz spectrum. We launched
consultation with the industry to make sure that we enhance competition
and provide better choice and better rates for our consumers.
cbc the current, paradis, wireless Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareMonday April 22, 2013 |
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Monday April 22, 2013 |
OpenMedia has an interesting post
that takes a close look at the claim that the large Canadian geography
is responsible for high cell phone prices. The post notes that coverage
actually focuses on as little as 20 percent of the country.
open media, wireless Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareMonday April 22, 2013 |
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