The Canadian Internet Registration Authority, the organization that manages the dot-ca domain, has unveiled an exciting new initiative that will deliver a million dollars toward community projects, research, and other related activities (full disclosure: I am a member of the CIRA board and chair of the committee that will review […]
News
Competition Bureau Raises Wireless Competition Concerns, Concludes Big Three Have “Market Power”
The Competition Bureau of Canada has just released its submission to the CRTC’s consultation on domestic roaming rates and with it left no doubt about its concerns with the state of wireless competition in Canada. Despite repeated efforts of the big three incumbent providers to argue that the Canadian market is competitive, the Competition Bureau has concluded that the big three enjoy “market power.” As the Bureau notes, market power is “the ability of a firm or firms to profitably maintain prices above competitive levels (or similarly restrict non-price dimensions of competition) for a significant period of time.”
Given its market power, the Bureau finds the wireless incumbents can use roaming to shield themselves from competition. It states:
“Incumbents can use the terms and conditions of roaming agreements to raise their rivals’ costs such that incumbents are shielded from the full effect of their the rivals’ (i.e., entrants) entry. Making it more costly for entrants to access incumbent networks through roaming agreements is one way for an incumbent service provider to relax competitive pressure.“
Another Step Toward the TPP: Canada Moves to Ratify Five Intellectual Property Treaties
The Canadian government quietly tabled five intellectual property treaties in the House of Commons on Monday: Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, five treaties, entitled, one, Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, adopted […]
The Destruction of the Department of Fisheries Libraries
The Bibliocracy blog posts the results of a response to an order paper question on the Department of Fisheries and Ocean’s library system with very discouraging news: massive destruction of materials and no information on what was digitized.