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Usage based billing debates are wrong… and here’s why

[Ed Note: this article was updated with new information] The Canadian government has once again promised to overturn a CRTC decision if the CRTC doesn’t do so itself.  This time around, it’s the the contentious Usage Based Billing ruling that would have crippled 3rd party ISPs from differentiating themselves in the marketplace.  It’s rare for the government to step into CRTC affairs, but with the UBB issue growing in public awareness and a deadline looming less than a month away, they’ve pulled out the big guns.  After all, it was…

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What the CRTC taketh, the CRTC giveth (to Bell)

It was only two months ago that the CRTC made a surprisingly positive ruling in helping innovation in the Canadian internet marketplace, though I was somewhat skeptical.  In August they announced that incumbent DSL and cable providers, aka the big guys (Bell, Rogers, Telus, Shaw, Videotron), had to provide 3rd party ISPs with access to their networks, at a price level of 10% above cost.  Part of this reasoning was in the ruling itself… Agreed that a duopoly of telephone and cable retail Internet access services is insufficient, and that…

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