CRTC to maintain approach for setting wholesale internet rates, with some adjustments
BNN Bloomberg
The federal telecommunications regulator is sticking with the way it sets prices for smaller companies that buy access to large carriers' internet networks.
Following a review, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission says that the best way to promote competition is the current approach in which it sets rates for wholesalers, such as TekSavvy, based on the service and infrastructure costs to the major players, plus a markup.
Most of Canada's larger carriers had argued for reforms, saying the traditional wholesale rate-setting method has resulted in competitors paying them less than the break-even cost.
They instead wanted to bring in commercial negotiations as the method for setting the majority of wholesale service rates, saying that model would provide greater opportunity to meet competitor-specific needs while minimizing unnecessary regulation.
