Observers wary of Liberals’ wireless plan

TORONTO The Liberal party’s promise of a 25-per-cent reduction in wireless bills for average Canadian families was greeted with skepticism Monday by observers of Canada’s telecommunications industry.

Consumer advocates agreed that Canadians want to pay less for their wireless services, but questioned whether a Liberal government would follow through on its pledge if Justin Trudeau gets another mandate as prime minister.

They cited a lack of detail in the party’s platform and the telecom industry’s opposition to having a government or regulator set the wholesale price they can charge to mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) — their competitors for retail customers.

Trudeau vowed on Sunday the Liberals would work with incumbent carriers and select MVNOs for two years and would consider spurring further competition if there isn’t a 25-per-cent reduction in prices. A Scotiabank analysis suggests prices on some Canadian plans have come down compared with the prices cited in the Liberal announcement — which are based on information collected in 2018.

“Examples given were $87/5GB and $75/2GB plans. These plans have already fallen recently to $65 and $55 before promotional bonus data, or by more than 25 per cent,” Scotiabank says in a brief report.

But John Lawford, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, said a focus on prices was misplaced. Lawford said stats from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission finds that the total amount spent annually per customer is always going up.

“To me, it’s more (important) what people are paying on average,” he said.

“If, on average, that keeps going up faster than inflation and faster than the OECD average, then maybe they need to take regulatory measures to put more competition in or put a price cap on — but that’s a real big step.”