Post Tagged with: "bce"

The Canadian Public’s Effect on the CRTC Ruling on Whether BCE could Buy Astral

I appeared on CBC News to discuss how Canadians are taking back the CRTC and our communications system. The CRTC, for the first time ever, included questions submitted by members of the public in the hearing. My interview can be found on Youtube or on CBC’s website for better quality.

BCE CEO Cope Says UBB Accounts for Almost All Internet Revenue Gains

When Bell’s Mirko Bibic appeared before the Standing Committee on Industry to answer questions on usage based billing last month, he focused on the “fairness” associated with the billing approach. Using the word “fairness” seven times, Bibic mixed congestion, heavy users, and fairness with responses such as:

As for small businesses, which are generally on the same network as residential users, what you have is really a case where the congestion during peak periods is largely a residential phenomenon. It’s in that area that we’ve addressed the usage-based billing issue, and all we’re asking the CRTC for is to follow a fundamental principle of fairness. If we asked 97% or 98% of Canadians if they would be prepared to pay more so that the 2% of heaviest users pay less, I’m pretty sure of what the answer would be.

While Bell emphasized fairness once UBB became a political hot potato, the company had a far different emphasis when discussing UBB last year with financial analysts. In an August 2010 quarterly call, BCE CEO George Cope stated: