The Globe and Mail on why telecom deregulation may actually result in higher, not lower pricing. As Ivey School of Business professor Guy Holburn notes "It's a fairly concentrated industry. It's just not obvious rates are going to go down."
Telecom Reform and Consumer Prices
One Comment
Recent Posts
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 256: Jennifer Quaid on Taking On Big Tech With the Competition Act’s Private Right of Access 
Government Says There Are No Plans for National Digital ID To Access Services 
Government Reveals Digital Policy Priorities in Trio of Responses to Canadian Heritage Committee Reports 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 255: Grappling with Grok – Heidi Tworek on the Limits of Canadian Law 
Canadian TikTok Ban Called Off as the Government Hits the Digital Policy Reset Button Once Again
Because it’s more like long distance
It may not be obvious to Holburn, but there is less concentration in telephony than he acknowledges. Perhaps in a battle of the business schools, I see that Mihkel Tombak of Rotman thinks that prices could go down.
As I am quoted in that same article, “You have all sorts of outsiders who can discipline the pricing from the incumbent phone companies.” Look at all the alternatives: cable-based voice services, cell phone competition, over-the-top VoIP – local phone service is more likely to behave like long distance.
And one thing is for certain, consumers won’t save money under regulated pricing.