GATINEAU, Que. — CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said during the first day of the CRTC’s hearing into its wholesale wireline regulations that his commission needs to be a “doctor” rather than a “coroner” for the telecom industry. In an exchange with Patrick Hughes, a senior economist at the Competition Bureau, Blais said the commission must anticipate changes in the telecom industry in order to enact effective regulation. In its filings to the CRTC, the...
GATINEAU, Que. — Legislation introduced earlier this year that caps wholesale wireless roaming rates to what host carriers charge their own retail customers doesn't create the conditions necessary for smaller operators to compete, representatives from Wind Mobile and Mobilicity told the CRTC on Monday. It was the first day of a weeklong hearing looking into Canada's wholesale wireless market. Representatives from Wind and Mobilicity told the hearing that their entry into the market in 2009, after buying set-aside spectrum in the 2008 AWS auction, was hindered by expensive roaming rates. Legislation that came into effect in June capped these rates at a formula based on the...