CRTC makes right call
When it comes to balancing the interests of consumers with those of Canada’s few big telecom companies it has been striking over the years how often the consumers come out on the short end of the regulatory juggling act performed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
All the more surprising, then, is the CRTC’s welcome new wireless code of conduct, something of an answered prayer for those harbouring long-standing grievances with cellphone service in Canada. The new rules, applicable to contracts starting Dec. 2, are designed to make it easier for consumers to benefit from pricing competition while also protecting them from the billing shock that’s infamous in the mobile world.
The cardiac arrest-inducing roaming charge is one of the hot-button issues the new code addresses. Last year, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre polled Canadians and found 90 per cent would prefer phone companies to halt roaming usage when out-of-country billings reach $50. The CRTC doesn’t go quite that far, but it has capped international roaming charges at $100 a month unless the consumer wishes to use more. It has also capped overage charges for data at $50 a month.
The real bottom-line issue addressed by the code, and the complaint most commonly flagged by more than 5,000 participants who provided cellphone feedback to the regulator in the past year, is the yoke of longterm contracts. It’s become a form of indentured service — long-term cellphone contracts laden with high cancellation fees that prevent consumers from switching carriers and taking advantage of better deals. The CRTC stopped short of banning three-year contracts, as many had hoped, but its new rules will allow Canadians to cancel their contracts after two years without incurring any cancellation fees, even if they have agreed to a longer term.
With Bell, Rogers and Telus cornering 90 per cent of the nation’s cellphone market, it’s clear there’s a desperate need for more competition. The ability to leave a company for another is really the only leverage a consumer has to combat billing errors, lapses in service or hidden fees. Under the new rules, more Canadians will be free to choose between sticking with their current carrier, perhaps under renegotiated terms, or switching to a competitor.
In its new code of conduct, the federal regulator is also demanding companies produce contracts that are easy to read and understand. That, along with steps to ensure fewer Canadians feel contractually entrapped and more feel sheltered from the worst of billing shock, should produce a more dynamic marketplace for the benefit of wireless users.