Canada’s federal regulatory body for the telecom industry, Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), recently concluded an online consultation which showed heavy demand by participants to ban three year contracts from cellular service providers. The hundreds of participants in consultation with the CRTC were taking part in a move to develop a proposed code of conduct that would be upheld by Canadian wireless providers.
A large majority of consumers that communicated with the CRTC during the 2 week consultation felt that they were being “held hostage” by 3 year contracts. A unnamed participant opined, “Get rid of the 36 months contract!!! It first started with 12 months, then 24 months, now the standard is 36 months, which is ridiculous!” Another person commented on the forums, “CRTC, please get rid of the 3 year contract. Canada will love you for this.”
Another major complaint was that there is a lack of competition in the Canadian Wireless industry. The largest share of the market place is held by Bell, Rogers and Telus. The three major firms were mentioned in most comments about competition.
One person on the forums asked, “Where is the competition? These plans are all the same.”
Another complaint that critics have is that Canadian customers pay to much for their wireless service. When compared to other countries Canadian firms are charging more for similar plans and services that are cheaper in other parts of the world.
This is only the first round of the consultations for the development of a code that would be used for the wireless and mobile services. CRTC wanted to create the code so that Canadian consumer would know their rights while providers would know their responsibilities to the public. The CRTC will now put forth a draft of the code and go into the second round of consultations. Public hearings are expected to start early next year.
Source: Financial Post
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