The New Democratic Party joins TekSavvy, Ontario mayors and large cities, and others in calling for the reversal of a ruling by the Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission that would have lowered the price of wholesale Internet rates.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh weighed in on the debate at a campaign stop in Toronto on September 14. issued by CPAC.
He announced that the party, if elected, would introduce new policies to force the CRTC to review its decision not to adjust the wholesale rates that large operators, that is, those that own most of the country’s telecommunications infrastructure, can charging smaller Internet Service Providers (ISPs). ).
The decision in question is a controversial reversal of a major study led, curiously, by the CRTC itself. In August 2019, the commission found that larger operators were overcharging smaller ISPs by a substantial amount, helping to increase internet prices for consumers, and ordered that the large operators would have to lower their fees. wholesale.
At a campaign stop in Toronto to highlight the commitment to lower internet and cell phone rates, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is asked how his party would reverse the CRTC’s decision on wholesale internet rates.#cdnpoli | # elxn44 pic.twitter.com/Vln8uyH32y
– CPAC (@CPAC_TV) September 14, 2021
The findings were later challenged at every possible level by Bell, Cogeco, Eastlink, Rogers, Shaw Communications, and Vidéotron. In May 2021, the CRTC finally decided to backtrack and withdraw its ruling entirely, citing errors in its decision process.
“The CRTC is obviously a regulator, but we can implement laws that indicate where we want to go with things, in terms of where our priorities are,” Singh said, referring to the NDP’s election promise to reduce internet bills for consumers. Canadians. .
TekSavvy, an independent ISP, has made the wholesale rate decision an electoral problem by encouraging Canadians through online petitions and placards on the lawn to ask their local candidates to demand that the CRTC reinstate its original ruling of 2019.
Image Credit: @jagmeetsingh
Source: CPAC