New rates for Internet service in Canada could come as early as next week.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) will implement new rates for independent Internet service providers (ISPs) on February 1, 2012.
The large telephone and cable companies will proceed as scheduled with their proposed wholesale rate implementation plans, the CRTC says, with the exception of the Bell companies. Their implementation plan has been modified on an interim basis while the CRTC resolves issues raised by the Canadian Network Operators Consortium.
These decisions affect only the wholesale services the large telephone and cable companies provide to independent ISPs. The CRTC again reminded its stakeholders that it does not regulate the rates or packages that ISPs then offer to the end consumer.
The CRTC has been in the middle of a long and heated debate over Internet usage costs and billing procedures, however. A decision last year to allow implementation of usage based billing drew much criticism and public outcry, so much so that the decision was suspended and eventually overturned.
The alternative to usage based billing is now seen as the implementation of wholesale rates and capacity based billing.
"We are moving ahead with the implementation as planned to ensure that independent ISPs will continue to offer competitive and innovative services to Canadians," said Leonard Katz, the CRTC's Acting Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Telecommunications. "Some temporary adjustments have been made to ensure a smooth transition to the new billing regime and to ensure consumers are not inconvenienced." As an interim measure, independent ISPs who are customers of the Bell companies will have the flexibility to either merge their business and residential Internet traffic, or keep them separate. In November 2011, the CRTC established how large telephone and cable companies should charge independent ISPs for the use of their networks. In the case of wholesale residential and business services, the large telephone and cable companies may charge a flat monthly fee regardless of how much bandwidth customers of the independent ISPs use.
The flat-rate model took effect November 15, 2011.
For more Mediacaster Magazine coverage relaetd to this topic, please see:
CRTC Says New Wholesale Billing Supports Choice of Internet Services
http://www.mediacastermagazine.com/news/crtc-says-new-wholesale-billing-supports-choice-of-internet-services/1000702194/
CRTC Reviews Usage Based Billing Decision
http://www.mediacastermagazine.com/news/crtc-reviews-usage-based-billing-decision/1000401355/