CRTC ruling: internet access is a social right T ruled on Dec. 23 that high-speed internet is now

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The Canadian Radio and Television Commission a basic service—as essential to our lives as the tele­ phone. From now on, all Canadians must have access to reliable, world-class mobile and residential inter­ net services.

This is Big Telecom’s worst nightmare. The CRTC just ordered them to extend full service to every part of the country. This is a shake-up in the world of in­ ternet, a big departure from the status quo.

Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc., and Telus Corp. are not accustomed to being told what to do. They are used to enjoying huge profits, and to using their economic clout to crush competition. The Big Three incumbent wireless providers cashed in by muscling out new entrants, like Wind and Mobilicity, by charging prohibitively high rates to use their infra­ structure, the Canadian Competition Bureau charged.

Patrick Hughes, senior economist with the indepen­ dent enforcement agency, said the out-sized returns the incumbent carriers are making from their wire­ less divisions are evidence that the market is dis­ torted. If new entrants that rely on the incumbents’ towers and networks have to pay exorbitant costs to use that infrastructure, that cost will get passed on to consumers, he said.

There’s no doubt Big Telecom is already scrambling to overturn the latest win for working-class consum­ ers. As surely as night follows day, there will be court challenges, intense lobbying, and temper tantrums.

Meanwhile, here’s what the CRTC ruling means:

• Universal access to mobile and residential Inter­ net.

• Packages with unlimited data.

• Funding support for rural and remote communi­ ties.

• World-class Internet speeds. 50 up. 10 down.

• Minimum quality guarantees for your internet.

Now, before you pop a champagne cork, there is still a major problem to be addressed: lack of access to high-speed internet for low-income people. Accord­ ing to Statistics Canada, only 58 per cent of Canadian households with annual incomes of $30,000 or less have home internet access, compared to 98 per cent of households with annual incomes of $120,000 or more. Can the telecoms afford to reduce rates?

Award-winning journalist Peter Nowak, in a Novem­ ber 2013 article titled “The Country Most Gouged By Telecom Companies? Canada,” wrote: “With a margin of 45.9 per cent, Canadian carriers come in at the high end of the most profitable list. They’re seven per cent more profitable than their American and Euro­ pean counterparts and five per cent more than the developed world.”

Even more interesting is the fact that Canadian car­ riers had the third-highest year-over-year growth in margins. Combined with ARPU growth, it’s clear that business is good in Canada. Incumbent carriers may have experienced a temporary hiccup thanks to new