Telecoms shouldn’t be gatekeepers, Blais says ahead of differential pricing decision

The CRTC may very well complete the record on net neutrality policy in Canada when it releases its decision Thursday afternoon on differential pricing practices, chairman Jean-Pierre Blais told a Harvard University audience Tuesday. The decision on the proceeding — which started with complaints over Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron’s Unlimited Music Service back in 2015 and morphed into a survey of the entire scope of zero-rating and sponsored data practices in the Canadian environment — is scheduled to be released Thursday at 4 p.m., and Blais said during his presentation at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at the university that it would be of interest to those interested in net neutrality. “I think it’s much anticipated, especially with developments here in the U.S. as to where goes net neutrality,” Blais said during his presentation. The new chairman of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), Ajit Pai, has repeatedly expressed his desire to repeal the U.S. regulator’s net neutrality rules established in 2015. “In Canada we have been involved in this space since 2008-2009 and we will continue to be concerned about net neutrality going forward because the last thing we want is our telecommunication companies becoming gatekeepers like our cable and satellite companies.” In addition to a 2009 decision that set out rules to keep Internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking or slowing traffic on their networks, the Federal Court of Appeal also upheld a CRTC decision against BCE Inc. exempting its mobile-TV services from data charges. With the inclusion of Thursday’s differential-pricing decision, “we may have a complete code of net neutrality in Canada because we’ll have pronounced what the policy ought to be on zero rating,” Blais said. Because of this, Blais noted that he is “not sure what’s left, frankly, on net neutrality,” given the federal government’s pronouncement in its recent 2017 budget to review the Telecommunications and Broadcasting Acts with a view towards addressing “issues such as telecommunications and content creation in the digital age, net neutrality and cultural diversity, and how to strengthen the future of Canadian media and Canadian content creation.” Blais said he is also “unclear” as to the motivation behind the government’s legislation review, as his “experience with both acts is they work quite well because they have that very open, textured drafting style that allows you to navigate ambiguities and change with technology. But it’s up to them to make those Parliamentary decisions.” During his remarks Tuesday, which centered on December’s basic telecom services objective, Blais also took a moment to question the decisions of ISPs that don’t reach out to make better service more accessible. He related a story about his own father who was dealing with overage charges after subscribing to a video streaming service, and that “just by asking I ended up getting for him, without even negotiating,” a better Internet package. “So you say to yourself, why are they not actually proactively offering the customers this? And it would seem that shareholders are more important than subscribers,” Blais said. “And there’s often discussion about disloyal customers, I think there’s a place for a reflection on disloyal companies as well.” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Telecoms shouldn’t be gatekeepers, Blais says ahead of differential pricing decision

Broadcast | April 18, 2017

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Telecoms shouldn’t be gatekeepers, Blais says ahead of differential pricing decision

Broadcast | April 18, 2017

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