The Toronto Star reports that Bell has written to Industry Canada asking for a "spectrum fee holiday" that would suspend the millions of dollars the company pays in licensing fees for wireless spectrum. Bell said it was "too early to say what impact a change in government policy would have on Bell's customers but noted there hasn't been a direct link between the company's $8.95 wireless system access fee and federal spectrum licensing fees for years."
Bell Calls for “Spectrum Fee Holiday”
June 12, 2009
Share this post
4 Comments

Law Bytes
Episode 238: David Fraser on Why Bill C-2's Lawful Access Powers May Put Canadians' Digital Security At Risk
byMichael Geist

June 30, 2025
Michael Geist
June 23, 2025
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Recent Posts
Canadian Government Caves on Digital Services Tax After Years of Dismissing the Risks of Trade Retaliation
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 238: David Fraser on Why Bill C-2’s Lawful Access Powers May Put Canadians’ Digital Security At Risk
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
An interesting point
in the article is that what the wireless industry apparently collects from the SAF is 10 to 12 times what is paid to the government in spectrum fees. So, assuming that they passed on the savings, expect the SAF to go down to about $7.95.
When do consumers get a “nickel and dime fee” holiday from Bell, Telus and Rogers?
and were still traffic shaped why then
where is the so called investment at the back end to give canadians more bandwidth?
giving shareholders more cash wont solve issues and in time people will just say WHAT i can only download one movie? legal or otherwise wont do it and there goes 300-500 mill a month to bell.
note the size of a HD film is 30-40GB 50-75% of one month with bell canada…ALL for the amazing low price of 55-75$ and then you pay for the movie.
Technology making it cheaper and fattening bells pockets