|
TOTA Mobile/Wireless/Celluar/VOIP Thread (pg. 4)
|
View this Thread in Original format
| ShadoWolf |
http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.co...6330796476.php#
CRTC to regulate VoIP telephone rates
By Ottawa Business Journal Staff
Fri, May 6, 2005 8:00 AM EST
It appears Canada's major phone companies have lost a key round in the battle over regulating the emerging market for Internet-based telephone services.
A senior source at the CRTC has told The Globe and Mail the commission has decided that VoIP phone service will be regulated in the same way as traditional phone services. The decision is a blow to Bell Canada and Telus, who'd argued that VoIP should not be regulated like other online applications.
The CRTC's stance means the phone companies will have to get CRTC approval for their rates. That will keep the door open for competitors like Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications to pursue the lucrative local phone market.
The competitors argued that if rates had not been regulated, the incumbent telcos would have been able to slash prices in the short term, thereby limiting the number of new entrants in the field.
The fight over regulating VoIP service hinged on whether the CRTC considered it a telephone product or an Internet product. It has become the latest battleground between the telcos and the cable companies. Despite efforts to improve competition, the incumbent phone companies still control about 97 per cent of the residential phone market. |
|
|
| ShadoWolf |
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...ory/Technology/
CRTC expected to rein in big phone companies on VoIP service
By SIMON TUCK
Friday, May 6, 2005 Updated at 8:46 AM EDT
Globe and Mail Update
OTTAWA — The budding Internet-based telephone business is widely expected to be regulated the same way as traditional phone services under a CRTC ruling next week that analysts say will strike a blow to the dominant phone companies.
A senior source in the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission confirmed that it has rejected arguments from Bell Canada and Telus Corp. that voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) should be left unregulated like other on-line applications.
If their argument had won the day, their competitors say, the incumbent phone companies would have been allowed to limit the number of new entrants by slashing prices in the short term.
Instead, the CRTC's ruling would mean that the large telcos would have to get CRTC approval for their prices, thereby further opening the door for startups, such as Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. and Vonage Holdings Corp., and cable companies, such as Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and Vidéotron Ltée. to pursue the lucrative residential phone market.
VoIP is a technology that allows for telephone service over the Internet and the CRTC's much-anticipated ruling is expected to be a key in determining which industry -- and which companies -- gain the early edge in the nascent niche.
Analysts say the battle for the VoIP market is a flashpoint in a larger, high-stakes war between two converging sectors: cable and telephone. Technology is overhauling telecommunications as the two sectors increasingly roll out similar products. The central debate over the regulation of VoIP is whether it is a phone or Internet product.
The phone companies told the CRTC last fall during VoIP hearings that more competition and less regulation would be good for consumers and the industry. Even though local phone markets were opened up for competition seven years ago, the large incumbents still control about 97 per cent of the market.
Many of the telcos' rivals, however, warned the CRTC that the regulator had to ensure that the incumbents weren't allowed to use VoIP as a "loss leader" that would deter competition through artificially low prices.
The cable companies, some of which are making hefty investments in the lucrative phone services industry, say rapid deregulation would allow the telcos to take over the emerging VoIP market before others are given a fair chance.
UBS Securities Canada Inc., which is among the many brokerages expecting a win for the cable companies, said the ruling expected on Thursday will accelerate the cable industry's moves toward bundling services. The VoIP market, meanwhile, will jeopardize between 15 and 20 per cent of the incumbent phone companies' revenue and between 30 and 35 per cent of their pretax earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, analyst Jeffrey Fan said.
Janet Yale, executive vice-president of government and regulatory affairs at Telus, called VoIP a "paradigm shift" because it opens up the phone business to the cable guys. "From our perspective, the entry of cable changes everything."
Lawson Hunter, executive vice-president of regulatory affairs for Montreal-based BCE Inc., which owns Bell Canada, wouldn't comment on the potential impact to Bell, but said that it wouldn't be fair if the CRTC were to regulate only the phone incumbents in the VoIP market. About 18 other countries have issued VoIP rulings and only Singapore has decided to regulate pricing, Mr. Hunter said.
It is estimated about 25,000 Canadians use VoIP services, but Iain Grant, managing director of SeaBoard Group, a telecom consulting firm in Montreal, said he expects the market to grow by about tenfold by the end of this calendar year.
Canada's local telephone market is worth about $10-billion a year.
Mr. Grant also said VoIP will open up the telephone services market to greater competition. "Ten years ago, you needed a trillion dollars to get into this business -- now you need $20,000."
The CRTC's ruling, which is expected to be in line with its preliminary ruling on VoIP last year, is not expected to end the battle over the issue. Analysts said the telcos would likely appeal to the federal cabinet and VoIP could also be part of Industry Minister David Emerson's coming telecom review. |
|
|
| St_Andrew |
| hmm, what im i missing here, how can regulating a market like voip where you in theory have a place for perfect competition, be good for competition? :conf: |
|
|
| che |
| anyone know which providers besides Rogers support the RAZR?? |
|
|
| fn_xtc |
| quote: | Originally posted by che
anyone know which providers besides Rogers support the RAZR?? |
Fido |
|
|
| dEsidEL |
Motorola is also coming out with a CDMA version of the RaZR phone .. tho there are so many other options available ..
juss gotta look around..
www.howardforums.com
|
|
|
| Irishaddict |
| quote: | Originally posted by SurrJRS
+∞ from someone who had to deal with their bull on a daily basis. Don't pass go, don't collect $200 and go straight to ing Hell you ulcerated faced ass mongers! |
+100
Bell blows. Period.
And their stupid commercial about no hidden fees. BULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!
My plan was supposed to be $35/month - 500 minutes, free evenings/weekends and 50 free text messages, 10 cents a piece after.
My bill is NEVER below $75 EVER..and I always get a list of b/s randomness that I'm charged for.
I switched to Telus. Bell can go themselves. Just like those shirtless monkeys at Guv. |
|
|
| che |
| I settled for Fido....all the deals here in canada suck compared to what i had in the US but ohh well...ohh btw, does the unlimited free incoming through Fido count against the 100 anytime minutes on the plan??? |
|
|
| malek |
| quote: | Originally posted by che
I settled for Fido....all the deals here in canada suck compared to what i had in the US but ohh well...ohh btw, does the unlimited free incoming through Fido count against the 100 anytime minutes on the plan??? |
no it doesn't count.
I have the unlimited incoming, 100 mins plan and 1000 for weekends/nights... +5$ and you got unlimited 5 to 7 :D
btw don't invest too much into voip equipment, infrastructure owners (telcos aka Bell,Telus, etc.) won't let voip compagnies survive much longer. A packet filter on their end and bye bye voip ;) |
|
|
| dEsidEL |
| quote: | Originally posted by malek
no it doesn't count.
I have the unlimited incoming, 100 mins plan and 1000 for weekends/nights... +5$ and you got unlimited 5 to 7 :D
|
sick plan .. bloody Rogers had to jack it up to $30 at one point .. good thing it's back down to $25 ..
oh and looks like Rogers-Fido network integration has finally finished in my area.. seemless roaming !
|
|
|
| Möbius |
| quote: | Originally posted by dEsidEL
oh and looks like Rogers-Fido network integration has finally finished in my area.. seemless roaming !
|
Yeah I had to work on a weekend to help finish that area :P |
|
|
| rabbitjoker |
| quote: | Originally posted by malek
btw don't invest too much into voip equipment, infrastructure owners (telcos aka Bell,Telus, etc.) won't let voip compagnies survive much longer. A packet filter on their end and bye bye voip |
I don't believe this to be the case. The FTC has imposed significant fines/actions against data providers who have packet filtered Vonage (and other VoIP) services.
Expect the CRTC to do the same. |
|
|
|
|
