CRTC reverts Canada’s wholesale internet rates to 2016 levels
Posted May 27, 2021 4:38 pm.
TORONTO – In a victory for Canada’s large internet and phone companies, Canada’s telecommunications regulator has reversed a 2019 decision to drop wholesale internet rates.
The CRTC says it made errors when it ordered major phone and cable companies to slash their wholesale internet rates in 2019.
The commission says most of the temporary wholesale rates set in 2016 remain in effect, except for a mark-up charged by phone companies.
The ruling follows years of regulatory filings and political lobbying by Canada’s internet companies, who are divided between the buyers and sellers of wholesale capacity on the country’s internet networks.
TekSavvy, Distributel and other independent internet providers say they’ve been overcharged for years – a position that was supported by the CRTC’s decision in 2019.
Bell, Rogers and other regional phone and cable companies defend the rates they’ve charged since 2016 and say the CRTC’s 2019 rates would have them selling at a loss.