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 257: Lisa Given on What Canada Can Learn From Australia’s Youth Social Media Ban
byMichael Geist

February 9, 2026
Michael Geist
Episode 256: Jennifer Quaid on Taking On Big Tech With the Competition Act's Private Right of Access
February 2, 2026
Michael Geist
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 255: Grappling with Grok – Heidi Tworek on the Limits of Canadian Law
January 26, 2026
Michael Geist
December 22, 2025
Michael Geist
December 8, 2025
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Recent Posts
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 257: Lisa Given on What Canada Can Learn From Australia’s Youth Social Media Ban
Court Ordered Social Media Site Blocking Coming to Canada?: Trojan Horse Online Harms Bill Clears Senate Committee Review
An Illusion of Consensus: What the Government Isn’t Saying About the Results of its AI Consultation
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

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