http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/05/26/tech-spectrum.html

but then again, the new potential entrants, such as Shaw, issued a statement earlier this week that they will not lower prices at all but will come up with new plans and services.

The CRTC needs to conclude that not even Bell or Telus has the means to cover 100% of Canada; and so they must open up the market to new companies, no matter what it takes.

When writing this post, I was thinking about the CRTC which at one point forced Bell to give up its landline monopoly and give access of the last mile to third-party companies.

I haven’t examined the technical feasibility, but it occurs me that the same thing must be done with the wireless space. Whenever a new antenna is laid out by a company, any other company should have the right to use it and openly provide services to people covered by the antenna. Of course, it won’t be free, service will be charged, according to a rate, ideally set by the market, but practically I think only the CRTC can now set it.

Also, we’d need to favour GSM and handsets that can use 2+ SIM cards, so that users can switch seamlessly between different service providers. say one for voice, and another for data.

It is really sad to read about your access challenges.

When I lived in New Jersey, the most densely populated state in the US, we had the same problem. No cable TV, no high speed Internet, no satellite alternatives. Huh?

All I can say is, it felt weird being in the most advanced country in the world struggling to get an email out.

Our options in Canada are relatively limited for the reasons you point out. The options depend mostly on how much action you are willing and able to take.

If you want to make change happen at the industry level (lower rates through regulation or opening the market to competition) then you have to go after the CRTC and your local politicians. Having done a quick tour in regulatory affairs, I can honestly say the CRTC listens very carefully to individual consumer voices. In public hearings I was amazed at how much pressure a farmer from rural Ontario was able to put on telecom executives.

There are also advocacy groups that represent consumers (I’ll try to hunt a few down and comment later). Getting your local politician to go to the appropriate ministers is also a pretty straight line. You need to equip them with the right info though since most politicians are market generalists.

I started my own Internet business recently and when I read your comment, I thought to myself “There’s a business opportunity in there somewhere.” There is actually a lot of untapped market opportunities in non-metro areas but due to their relative size in a big telephone company, they tend not to get full attention. The US still has lots of tier 2 and 3 companies doing very well thanks to their very local focus. I am 100 percent on my current venture right now but maybe someone reading this has some ideas or funding to dive into it with you.

You can also contact the non-dominant provider in your region. Telus in Bell Canada’s home turf, smaller providers who may be near by are good to. Tell them what you are lacking. Sign up a bunch of friends and neighbours on a blog perhaps and then go to the alternative telcos. Your voice to them may be the tipping point to getting better service and more options. You have to find the right person there to listen. The customer care rep isn’t the right person. Ask for the head of marketing, sales or new business line and go from there.

That’s all I can think of right now. Sadly, it puts all the burden on the individual consumer. I hope things improve.

M

The only question, given no preconceptions, is, what can we do to change it?

We do have a unique situation given our very low population density. I live in somewhat rural Southwestern Ontario (ie: the cable line is 1km away) and can’t even get highspeed internet (dsl/cable/wireless). And I’m 20 minutes from a pretty major collection of cities (Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge).

What’s disturbing is that even the larger metropoli (Greater Toronto Area, Vancouver Delta, Montreal) don’t have the rates or services of other countries.

So what can we possibly do? Any ideas? :)

Bring on the Americans. Open up the market. (Let’s try it for air travel too.)

-A

Your frustration is understandable. You have some good, very reasonable ideas about how to improve the market.

The biggest problem with the Canadian market is that it is too small to induce an effective level of competition on its own. Making any meaningful impact on any telecom service market requires a hefty investment, even without the cost of participation in spectrum auctions.

The “capital-light” MVNO model with all its potential for market differentiated content and services has not been able to change much.

My sense is that Canada really only has two options – heavy regulation on rates (we pay far too much for wireless services), or open up/merge the market with the U.S. to bring the necessary scale competitors in on a level playing field. Or both.

Sadly, I think nothing short of this will drive any long term improvement in competition and benefit to consumers.

M