[Facil] Telco deregulation no reason for celebration in rural and remote areas.
Stéphane Couture
steph at stephcouture.info
Mar 19 Déc 14:12:46 EST 2006
Alternative Telecommunications Policy Forum
News Release
Dec. 18, 2006
Telco deregulation no reason for celebration in rural and remote areas.
The recent decision by Industry Minister Bernier to deregulate telephone
service in areas where consumers have three choices of service has
raised concerns among the 40% of Canadians who will not benefit from
this ruling.
"There will be less reason for any further development in the rural and
remote parts of the country. The big players will need all their
resources to create and maintain their share of the traditional market."
said Brian Beaton, Coordinator of K-Net Services in Sioux Lookout,
Ontario. "It is an old business model that mostly supports those who
conform to preset requirements." It is not clear, for example, how
those communities who seek ownership and control of the local
communications infrastructure would benefit.
"This is not really competition," adds Andrew Clement, Professor of
Information Studies, University of Toronto and principal investigator of
the Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking
(CRACIN). ""Oligopolies of our large telephone and cable companies will
mostly be engaging in creative poaching. It is not necessarily in their
interest to undercut each other in price and thereby destroy the markets
they own together."
But the decision comes as no surprise to organizers of an Alternative
Telecommunications Policy Forum held in Ottawa in October, 2006.
Participants, who were considering some of the recommendations of the
Telecommunications Policy Review Panel, felt that far too much faith had
been placed in market forces.
Serious concerns were raised about the proposed changes to section 7 of
the current Telecommunications Act which would eliminate various
important policy goals such as the need to provide "reliable and
affordable telecommunications services of high quality accessible to
Canadians in both urban and rural areas in all regions of Canada". The
proposed new version requires the only promotion of affordable access,
not its delivery. "We appear to be abandoning our historic compact with
our rural neighbours that has made high quality services in all areas an
obligation. The market will not look after these areas and there is no
other plan on the table" says Marita Moll, a CRACIN co-investigator and
one of the Forum organizers.
In this rapidly changing environment, the recent CRTC public notice
initiating a proceeding to redefine 'essential service' only adds to the
concern. Within the context of facilitating competition and
interoperability, the CRTC is asking "what definition of essential
service would be appropriate and contribute best to the achievement of
[the] policy objectives [of the Telecommunications Act.]" With those
policy objectives, i.e. section 7 of the Act, apparently hanging in the
balance and few voices other than the major competitors contributing to
the process, the future for communications in the public interest is
murky at best.
More information about the Forum can be found at
<http://www.cracin.ca/>www.cracin.ca
For further information please contact:
Diane Dechief,
CRACIN Administrator
Tel: 416-978-4662
E-mail: <mailto:cracin at fis.utoronto.ca>cracin at fis.utoronto.ca
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Stéphane Couture :: http://stephcouture.info
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