Ottawa issues new directive to CRTC, aiming to spur telecom competition

The federal government is giving the CRTCnew guidelines for regulating telecommunications companies.

It's the first time in 17 years that Ottawahas changed its directions to the arms-length body that oversees telecommunications in Canada.

The previousguidelinesissued in 2006 instructed theCRTC to "rely on market forces to the maximum extent feasible," while the new onesplace a greater emphasis on regulation.

"That didn't work, and that's gone now, thank goodness," said John Lawford,executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa.

The new directiveaimsto make it easier for smaller telecom companies to enter the market alongside national providers. This includes cell phone companies that buy access to the national providers' networks and then sell cheaper service to customers.

There are also guidelines about ensuring reliable service in rural areas, remote areasand Indigenous communities.

However, Lawford said he thinks the directivecould have gone further in expressing that all Canadians have a "right" to reliable access to telecommunications services, regardless of where they live in the country.

One of the new guidelinessaysthe CRTC should improve consumer protections if telecommunications companies have outages.

During consultations last summer, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada heard from a lot of unhappy consumers about the massive Rogers network outageon July 8, 2022, that left millions without cell and internet service.

A few months later,post-tropical storm Fiona knocked out phone and internet service to large areas of Atlantic Canada, withsome customers waitingdays for service to be fullyrestored.

The CRTCwill use the directiveto determine how it should be regulatingthe telecom sector going forward.

That could include consumer-protection measures such asmandatory rebates, service standardsor more proactive investment in networks.

Lawford said he hopes the CRTC will hold a hearing on outages in order to determine rules on"baseline" quality or resiliency for telecom networks.