While more involved, Rodriguez’s CRTC letter doesn’t go far enough: consumer advocates

While the letter from Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez to newly-appointed CRTC chair Vicky Eatrides contains some encouraging language about consumer protection and competition in the telecommunications space, it is still too early to tell if there will be lasting impact at the CRTC, according to longtime CRTC watchers and consumer advocates. The letter, sent to Eatrides on Feb. 3 and made public last Friday, urges the new CRTC leader to speed up decisions, ensure that CRTC processes are open to the public and to non-corporate interest groups, and increase the level of openness and transparency in the organization. Acknowledging a sense that "public confidence and trust in the CRTC has waned in recent years," Rodriguez urged the regulator to speed up its decision making processes. "Undue delays create uncertainty and potentially impact investment decisions and service offerings for Canadians," Rodriguez wrote. "As the pace of technological change continues unabated, timely decision making will only be more critical in responding to the needs and expectations of society and industry." Rodriguez also advised the new CRTC chair that many stakeholders feel locked out of CRTC processes. "While the regulator’s open and evidence-based processes are a core strength, barriers to participation remain," the minister wrote. "Smaller organizations and civil society groups, in particular, expressed concern about not having the same level of resources as large corporate interests to participate in CRTC proceedings." This direction, Canada's Forum for Research and Policy in Communications executive director Monica Auer noted in an email to the Wire Report, echoed language in a letter from a previous heritage minister to a previous CRTC chair – over 10 years ago. "Over the years, I have watched the broadcasting activities of the CRTC and believe that the Commission could do a better job to ensure consumer participation at the Commission and focus on its core duties," then-Heritage Minister James Moore wrote to incoming CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais in June of 2012. "I would like to see the Commission comprehensively address consumer affordability and service complaints, ensure consumers are aware of and able to participate in broadcasting proceedings, and regulate broadcasting undertakings only to the extent necessary," Moore advised. Auer wrote that the FRPC is looking for "concrete steps" by the CRTC to further strengthen participation in its proceedings, and added that Rodriguez's letter to Eatrides is significantly longer and more detailed than previous letters to incoming CRTC chairs. Another CRTC observer, PhD researcher and consultant Ben Klass, wrote in an email to the Wire Report that when it comes to an increased focus on consumer issues at the CRTC, he is keeping an "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude. In Rodriguez's letter, the minister gave particular attention to the wholesale access regime. "Wholesale access is a proven regulatory tool for enabling retail competition in the Internet service market, and the CRTC can ensure that this tool is used, supervised, and adjusted effectively and in a timely manner," Rodriguez wrote. "The CRTC can also promote competition by continuing with its approach to wireless services, while also monitoring to determine when changes are necessary." For Klass however, he wrote that he has "to wonder whether it might be too little, too late with respect to competition in important telecommunication markets." "With the outcome of the Rogers-Shaw merger outside the CRTC’s hands, mobile markets (the largest telecommunication market in Canada by revenue) are clearly on a industry-controlled trajectory," Klass wrote, adding that the sale of a number of competitive ISPs to larger incumbents portends poorly for competition in the sector. " For this reason, I remain skeptical of promises from a government that has consistently shown itself to be more concerned with image than substance on this file," Klass wrote. Rodriguez's letter also warns the CRTC that they will have to move quickly on the issue of digital broadcast regulation once the government issues its policy direction to the regulator after Bill C-11 gains royal assent. "Once the policy direction process has concluded, you can expect interested parties to quickly look to the CRTC to provide a roadmap for when and how the key regulatory questions will be considered," the letter read. Auer called for better monitoring going forward with regards to broadcaster data. "We think that the "forward-looking, flexible regulatory framework" mentioned by the Ministers in the context of Bill C-11 must include the annual publication of data about the programming made available to Canadians by their broadcasting system," the FRPC head wrote. "Without such data neither the public nor Parliament can evaluate the CRTC's implementation of Parliament's new broadcasting policy for Canada." For Klass, the letter and its advice on broadcasting, online news remuneration, and online harms, constitute an "inordinate" amount of focus on that area of the CRTC's remit, at the expense of the telecommunications side. "All of these relate to content, but in my view the rules governing the fundamentals of communication—the infrastructure—have not enjoyed sufficient attention," Klass wrote. — Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

While more involved, Rodriguez’s CRTC letter doesn’t go far enough: consumer advocates

News | February 8, 2023

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While more involved, Rodriguez’s CRTC letter doesn’t go far enough: consumer advocates

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