Rogers says its telecom application is ‘probably a money loser’

Rogers Communications Inc. says its CRTC application—which would force customers to take their balances with them when they switch phone companies—will “probably be a money loser.” “It will probably be a money loser for us, because, quite frankly, we attract more people who pour into Rogers than there are people pour out of Rogers,” Ken Engelhart, Rogers’ senior vice-president for regulatory affairs, told The Wire Report. Since March 2007, wireless customers have been able to take their phone numbers with them when they change carriers, but this increased the number of unpaid balances on phone bills with their former carriers. Others are more skeptical about the application, however. For the policy to be "a money loser" for Rogers, Rogers would have to take in more customers in an increasingly competitive Canadian wireless market. Critics say that increased competition from Bell, Telus, and new entrant Wind Mobile—a carrier that has dropped the incumbents’ practice of cell phone contracts—may have encouraged Rogers to make the application. Telus waded into the debate over the application Thursday, opposing it. “Telus couldn't disagree more with Rogers on their proposal," Telus spokesman Jim Johannsson told the CBC. "It's not consumer focused, it's not transparent, doesn't promote consumer choice and runs counter to everything we are striving for as an industry." But Engelhart said the application represents the right thing to do. “If you’re taking over someone’s account and someone’s phone number, it’s really not fair to stick the old carrier with the bill,” he said. Parties have 30 days to respond to Rogers’ application, filed with the CRTC on Jan. 18. Following that, Rogers can respond to the comments. The CRTC is expected to make a decision within four months. In a separate CRTC matter Wednesday, the commission issued a decision that means the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) will retain its authority to create an industry code to regulate policies for disconnecting customers from their phone service. In CRTC telecom decision 2010-27, the commission denied an application from cable carriers Bragg Communications Inc., Cogeco Cable Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc., and Quebecor Media Inc. The cable carriers had requested that the CRTC review and vary a previous decision so that the CCTS does not regulate phone disconnection and deposit policies. A commission decision Wednesday denied the cable companies’ request, upholding decision 2009-424, made last year. The CRTC is giving the CCTS, an independent agency that facilitates resolutions between consumers and telecommunications companies, 180 days to create an industry code for disconnections. “It’s a competitive marketplace and nobody wants to lose customers. So everyone has flexible and appropriate plans to help people avoid disconnection,” Engelhart said. “We get more regulation and that strikes me as being absurd.” Engelhart argued that a competitive marketplace would make the need for CCTS intervention redundant. John Lawford, legal counsel with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, a consumer advocacy group, also disagreed with the CRTC decision, but for different reasons. “The CCTS is semi-dysfunctional and hasn’t even gotten around to its communications plan,” he said. Lawford said that the only thing the cable carriers’ application accomplished was to delay the CCTS’s industry code—which was originally due this month—by another 180 days. “In the interim period nobody is going to know what the rules are,” Lawford said.

Rogers says its telecom application is ‘probably a money loser’

News | January 21, 2010

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