CRTC should be flexible with zero-rating: Rogers

GATINEAU, Que. — While Rogers Communications Inc. said it generally does not support differential pricing practices (DPP), it suggested Wednesday that the regulator should stay flexible in its approach given potential developments in Internet of Things (IoT) technology. The statement came during the third day of the week-long hearing into differential pricing practices by wireless and Internet service providers (ISP), including zero-rating, or not counting usage of some services against a consumer's data cap. Rogers was the only major company to come out opposed to the practice, but also said having rules “set in stone” would be “problematic.” “ yesterday mentioned that one of the reasons why they supported DPPs was because they were concerned about Internet of Things, 5G, all these new technologies , and we agree in part,” Howard Slawner, Rogers’ vice-president of regulatory telecom, told the panel. Slawner said these new technologies will “change a lot” and that “we don’t fully understand exactly how it will impact the markets, services, and even how we offer them to customers.” He suggested Rogers would like to see flexibility on the part of the CRTC “because perhaps something will happen that will require some kind of interpretation.” “So setting these things in stone can be a little problematic,” he said. But he added that just because nobody knows what’s going to come tomorrow “is no reason not to address discrimination that we’re seeing today and that we’re concerned … will happen.” Rogers said it prefers a "principled approach" to the practice where "as a general rule" content provided over the Internet is subject to data charges, and customers should pay those data fees regardless of what kind of content they get. However, Donavan Beth, Rogers' senior director of product management for wireless, told the panel that current IoT applications shouldn’t be considered as part of the hearing, because the issue of differential pricing practices pertains to gatekeeping applications over general Internet use. When asked how much an investment in zero-rating would cost, Mark Shinozaki, Rogers' director of product management for Internet, said in the "tens of millions," the costs of which the company's senior vice-president of regulatory, David Watt, said would ultimately be charged to the subscribers. Also testifying Wednesday were the Independent Broadcast Group (IBG), Xplornet Communications Inc. and Bragg Communications Inc.'s Eastlink. IBG, which represents 10 different broadcasting companies including “edge providers” —companies that use the Internet to deliver content — argued that the traditional content world should not cross-over into the open Internet space, a view Blais said was “refreshing point of view" from the content side. The group said in its opening remarks that its concerns include vertically integrated companies preferring their own content, as well as the ability of broadcast distributors — which “already control how consumers access content” — to negotiate ISP access on top of that, granting “further power to the BDU in an already imbalanced relationship.” "Our primary issue is not allowing our negotiations on the broadcasting system to be muddied on the ISP side," Brad Danks, CEO of OutTV Network, told the panel. "We want an opportunity to move some of our business. We're all strong believers in the current broadcasting system, but we also see the benefits of the Internet and being able to develop a direct-to-consumer relationship." "I can say very clearly that I do not think that going forward, content services are going to be able to survive unless they develop a direct-to-consumer relationship," he said. "We're concerned if ISPs have new powers, they're going to try and strangle those aspects of the Internet that are so fundamental." The group was also asked about how categories would be defined if DPPs were implemented, a suggestion brought forward by the Canadian Network Operators Consortium on Monday. “Our basic point is that it’s almost impossible to do, which is why we shouldn’t go down that road,” Danks said. “Our service, for example, has news, has drama, has lifestyle content, and I think the challenge on the Internet is that it doesn’t come as neatly packaged as it does in the broadcasting system." Xplornet Communications Inc.’s executive vice-president and general counsel C.J. Prudham argued that the practices do not harm the retail Internet, content aggregation, reseller and content creation markets because they are competitive, and in a competitive environment, ISPs should be afforded flexibility to deliver "unique and dynamic offerings to customers." — With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

CRTC should be flexible with zero-rating: Rogers

Broadcast | November 3, 2016

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CRTC should be flexible with zero-rating: Rogers

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