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
Ignoring the Warning Signs: Why Did the Canadian Government Dismiss the Trade Risks of a Digital Services Tax? 
Why Bill C-2 Faces a Likely Constitutional Challenge By Placing Solicitor-Client Privilege at Risk 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 237: A Conversation with Jason Woywada of BCFIPA on Political Party Privacy and Bill C-4 
Lawful Access on Steroids: Why Bill C-2’s Big Brother Tactics Combine Expansive Warrantless Disclosure with Unprecedented Secrecy 
Government Reverses on Privacy and the Charter: Department of Justice Analysis Concludes Political Party Privacy Bill Raises No Charter of Rights Effects
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.