Consumer group opposes CRTC move to accept new plans for lower-cost data

TORONTO The country’s three national wireless carriers have agreed to offer a “broad range” of data-only plans through their secondand third-tier brands, including $30-per-month plans with more megabytes than previously suggested, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced Monday.

But Openmedia, one of the consumer groups that had objected to the carriers’ proposals earlier this year, was quick to denounce the CRTC’S acceptance of their new position, saying it “completely fails” to meet the needs of low-income people in Canada.

“Connectivity is not a luxury — it’s essential. And affordable plans are critical to ensuring that everyone in Canada is able to participate in our digital society,” Openmedia executive director Laura Tribe said in a statement.

The CRTC had ordered Bell, Rogers and Telus in March to come up with data-only plans to fill a void in the marketplace. But it said Monday that there was widespread criticism from consumers and consumer-advocacy groups about the price of the initial proposals filed in April.

“Concerns with the initial offerings were mostly associated with the price of the plans, which were seen as too high, and the proposed data allotments of the plans, which were seen as too low,” it said.

Bell, for instance, had offered a single new option that cost $30 per month for 500 megabytes of data. Rogers also had a single new option, that cost $25 per month for 400 megabytes of data. Telus had offered to introduce plans that would charge $30 for either 500MB through Koodo or 600 MB of data through Public Mobile.

The CRTC now says all three national wireless carriers will offer at least one plan that charges $30 per month or less for one gigabyte of data (1,000 megabytes).

Telus will offer two $30 per month plans with 1 GB of data, through Koodo and Public Mobile, while Rogers will offer a similar 1 GB plan for $30 through Fido and Bell’s Virgin Mobile will offer the same amount of data for $28 per month, according to the CRTC.

It listed only Bell Canada’s Lucky Mobile and the Rogers Fido and Chatr brands with $15 data-only plans with 250MB of data, but Telus had previously noted it had a Public Mobile plan for as low as $20 per month for 250MB of data.