Lovely CRTC Meter Maid

Where would internet users be without you?

Writing in the Globe and Mail, Richard French says he's concerned about the Conservatives’ plans to review a decision by the CRTC that allows major internet service providers to compel smaller companies that lease their networks to levy fees on users who exceed pre-set downloading limits. French says the ruling should stand because it rectifies the current arrangement, which compels major telecom companies to lease their networks to independent ISPs at low prices in order to artificially create competition, a regulation that French condemns because it “repeal[s] the laws of property and the principles of economics.” Furthermore, the Conservatives have already overturned two major CRTC decisions, and a third reversal would risk reducing the agency to “to a mere way station for disgruntled interests on the way to cabinet.”

The National Post editorial board supports the CRTC decision, writing today that despite caps the big telecom companies already impose on their own customers, Canadians are still some of the heaviest users of the internet and “users can, if they choose, moderate their Internet usage if they want to pay less.” True, Canadians use the internet a lot, but the Post neglects to mention we also pay more for it than do users in virtually every other country on Earth, a disparity the CRTC decision will only exacerbate.

As the importance of the internet grows, the CRTC decision will unduly restrict internet usage, according to this Toronto Star editorial. “The problem is that internet use is changing fast,” says the Star. “More and more businesses are using advanced online applications and websites with rich video content – but find that they or their customers are bumping into the monthly limits … If they go over they can find themselves paying $2 or more for every extra gigabyte of data – something that costs the providers as little as a penny.”

Rightly or wrongly, it’s that $2-to-one-penny figure that this debate boils down to for most Canadians. Sure the big telecom companies have infrastructure costs to recoup, but making a 2000 per cent profit per gigabyte? That does not compute.