191–200 of 403 posts
Really strange day but not unexpected. We “know” the telcos are screwing us but we don’t have a way to gang up against them, as people easily buy into their feelgood propaganda.
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If you asked 100 Canadians if they’d prefer more competition to the telcos, 97 would say yes (1 works for Bell, 1 works for Rogers, 1 now works for the CRTC). We’re not risk adverse. It’s just that our government / regulator is captured.
I wonder how many of them would actually buy them though. There's been attempts at mobile providers, sometimes offering prices that the big telcos won't try to match even to flood them out, and they tend to wither away.
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The entire tech sector would not exist without the telcos. So there's that
Deploying infrastructure is not easy or cheap. But is clearly profitable if you can find investors to finance the capital spend. Google have tried to enter the FTTH market thinking there must be opportunities to innovate and reduce the cost to consumers. But even they have struggled due to the complexities of deploying fiber in the existing built environment...
At what point does the anti-competitive nature and monopolistic qualities of Canadian telecoms become a national security threat? Maybe when it destroys the whole Canadian economy for a day
The utterly inefficient and overpriced Canadian telecoms exist only because we allow one specific behavior: 1. A new local player comes to town, builds their own infrastructure (e.g. connects one building to fiber) and starts offering competitive service. 2. Rogers/Shaw/Bell/Telus immediately offer better terms for the residents of that building. 3. The competitor runs out of money and leaves. 4. The telecoms revert…
> 1. A new local player comes to town, builds their own infrastructure (e.g. connects one building to fiber) and starts offering competitive service.
You forgot to mention that whoever is the ILEC in an area (Telus, Bell, etc) and/or the incumbent 35+ year early advantage local cable TV operator (Shaw, Rogers) has an immense advantage in owning and controlling existing right-of-way to reach whatever is the last mile service delivery location, whether it's aerial pole to pole or duct routes.
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Curious though what the government could do about this pricing scheme here? Seems like the solution is to setup a bureaucracy to watch pricing and then micro-manage the situation whenever its tried? The ride-hailing services pulled this in various places around the world. Airlines in Canada did it as well. Feels like whack-a-mole.
Acknowledge that internet / phone service works much better as a utility and nationalize or highly regulate (i.e. fixed pricing schemes) the telecom companies.
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/phone/mobile/occa.htm
Near the bottom it states that those companies are supposed to promote those plans. They didn't the last time I tried looking them up. Regulation is meaningless if there is a lack of enforcement.
(Note: I'm not saying that the pricing scheme is particularly good since it leaves the needs of many people unaddressed. On the other hand, it does address the needs of those who would have the most trouble affording phone service.)
Also consider the continual battle of third-party ISPs to provide affordable Internet access. The CRTC says the major providers have to lease out their lines and stipulate what those rates are. On the other hand, those third-party ISPs are constantly fighting to keep the rates low and are pretty much tied to providing service levels that match the major providers.
The VP of Rogers admits they have yet to identify the root cause: https://twitter.com/PnPCBC/status/1545512971878662145
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I have a lot of experience in both places. Americans may think think they do, but I don’t think so. As bad as Comcast and others are in the USA, I have found them to be far more efficient and competitive than Rogers or Bell in Canada. Same for banks in Canada. It’s unbelievable what they do and get away with. And airlines. Rather, Airline. I believe there’s a cultural element here: Canadians are more risk adverse and…
At least the Canadian banks and airlines have international operations. TD has more US than Canadian branches. But Rogers, Bell, Telus? Nobody has heard of them ex-Canada unless they’re an ex-resident with bad memories.