The Toronto Star reports that a Saskatchewan court has certified a class action against the major telecommunications companies over the widespread use of "system access fees", a deceptive monthly charge added to cell phone bills that appears to be government mandated, but isn't (I touched on it in a column […]
Post Tagged with: "crtc"
Diversity of Voices Hearing, Day One
Plenty of coverage of the first day of the CRTC's Diversity of Voices hearing, starting with the Tyee on the "big showdown" as well as conflicting views from the CBC and CTV & Canwest.
Spectrum Auction Delay?
Deirdre McMurdy reports that "industry buzz" on the forthcoming spectrum auction would delay release of the rules to December 2007 with the auction to follow in May 2008.
CRTC Seeks Public Comment on Complaints Commission and Do-Not-Call Investigations
The CRTC has released two public notices seeking commentary on the Telecom Complaints Commission and its plans to delegate investigative responsibility for the do-not-call registry. The Complaints Commission notice calls for public comment on the plan developed by the major telecommunications companies for a complaints commissioner (I earlier criticized the process behind the creation of the commission). The CRTC raises many of the right issues, including whether participation should be mandatory, whether the governance structure is sufficiently independent, and whether the complaint process and remedies are adequate. Anyone interested in participating in the process must inform the CRTC by September 13th and submit their comments by October 1st. Hearings are set for mid-November with a final decision by late February 2008.
The one surprising element in the complaints commission notice links to the second notice – the delegation of investigative responsibility for the do-not-call registry.
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