Canada’s telecom regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), has begun revealing its eventual plan for shifting the focus of government telecom subsidies away telephone services, towards its broader strategy to improve broadband internet access across Canada.
The fund and proposed plan
To a significant amount of fanfare last December, the CRTC revealed a plan to create a $750-million CAD fund, in part funded by the country’s major telecom providers like Rogers, Bell and Telus, in an new effort to bring high-speed internet access to Canada’s rural regions. The shift in subsidy allocation will go towards this newly created fund, according to the CRTC.
In the first phase of the CRTC’s proposed plan, telephone subsidies are tipped to be cut by January 1st, 2018, but only in locations where the market is considered by the regulatory body to be sufficiently competitive. In areas of the country where competition is not as fierce, the CRTC says it plans to keep the subsidy present, unless reliable internet is also available.
Patrick O’Rourke – MobileSyrup – April 7, 2017.
Want More Investigative Content?
