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So, cell users have been overcharged for last few yrs and not getting a refund
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| EvilTree |
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...y/Business/home
| quote: |
CRTC vetoes payback
SIMON TUCK
From Friday's Globe and Mail
GATINEAU, QUE — The CRTC said yesterday that Canadian telephone customers have been overbilled to the tune of $652.7-million over the past few years, but the money will not be going back to them.
The federal regulator ruled instead that telecommunications companies such as Bell Canada and Telus Corp. should use most of the money -- equivalent to about $50 a customer -- to expand offerings in underserved markets, primarily rural and remote communities.
When the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission decided in 2002 that it wanted to encourage competition in the local phone services market, rates were set high enough to attract new entrants. In effect, a cushion was built into the rates and the companies were told to put some of the money into so-called deferral accounts.
Consumer groups and one dissenting commissioner said the money belongs to consumers and should go back to them.
CRTC chair Charles Dalfen told reporters yesterday that expanding broadband services, also known as high-speed Internet, is an important social and economic goal.
It has been a federal government priority for at least five years, although Ottawa has yet to allocate enough money to provide access in most rural and remote communities. "We think this is in the broader interests of the consumers," Mr. Dalfen said.
As of June, Canada had fallen to sixth among the 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in the provision of broadband access, down from second place just a couple of years ago.
Most urban residents have a choice of broadband providers, with most high-speed customers choosing a telephone or cable company. Most remote communities, however, do not yet have access to the service, which many analysts and government officials argue is quickly becoming essential.
Some consumer groups say that does not change their view that overcharged customers should get a refund. "Instead, we will all make a $650-million contribution to the commission's favourite projects," said Michael Janigan, executive director of the Ottawa-based Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
"It is unfair and unprecedented."
The CRTC said in its ruling that the companies will have until June 30 to outline how they will use the money to expand broadband. They are also ordered to use at least 5 per cent of the money to improve broadband access for the disabled.
The CRTC's Mr. Dalfen said it would have been difficult to calculate consumer refunds, although that was a "secondary" issue. Each customer would have received about $50 if refunds had been issued, he said.
One of the commissioners, Barbara Cram, issued a dissenting view, arguing that the money belongs to consumers.
"There is no convergence of the donors and ultimate beneficiaries."
The CRTC's decision means the beginning of the end for deferral accounts. Customers of each of the country's largest telecommunications companies have separate deferral accounts. Bell Canada customers have a balance in that account of $480.5-million, easily the largest of the seven accounts.
The deferral accounts were created in May, 2002, as part of a CRTC ruling on what the companies were allowed to charge for local telephone service in a bid to attract competition to the sector. Despite that effort, one of Mr. Dalfen's priorities, the incumbents continue to dominate local service.
The accounts were intended to "mitigate rate increases," the commission's decision said, if, for example, inflation jumped. Other uses for the money could include "subscriber rebates or the funding of initiatives that would benefit residential customers in other ways," the CRTC said at the time.
The commission says the companies have already used about half of the surplus money that has gone through the accounts to reduce consumers' bills.
But consumer groups maintain that none of the money belongs to the phone companies -- or the regulator -- and that most subscribers will not benefit from the expansion of services they already get.
"We're disappointed that the money isn't going back to the people who paid it," said Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers' Association of Canada.
Consumers did, however, get a break in that the CRTC said telecom companies will have until May 15 to provide plans to begin reducing consumers' monthly bills, so that the deferral accounts do not continue to swell before they are phased out.
With a report from Catherine McLean in Toronto
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Essentially, we got overcharged and now some govt body wants to use that money for one of their projects.
Pure robbery.
*waits for Jayx1 to chime in* :D |
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| VERTiG0 |
Oh god, I've had a feeling I'd been swindled for a few hundred dollars at least over the past few years with certain bills, but now it's pretty much true.
YOU BELL MOBILITY! |
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| Euphorica |
"system access fee" etc.
gay. |
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| VERTiG0 |
| Yeah, I'll access their system alright. |
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| Dj Smitty20 |
| my Fido plan is still charging me, as of my last bill for January, the $6.95 access fee. Wasn't this supposed to disappear? Why am I still paying it? |
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| Jayx1 |
It's a lot more than $50. And thats not just miscalculation either. We have some of the highest prices in the world for cell phones. I cant wait ofr number portability. Thats when we wont be held hostage like we are now.
"Oh yeah Rogers? really? OK im switching and taking my number with me"
Trust me. This will have a huge impact. |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
It's a lot more than $50. And thats not just miscalculation either. We have some of the highest prices in the world for cell phones. I cant wait ofr number portability. Thats when we wont be held hostage like we are now.
"Oh yeah Rogers? really? OK im switching and taking my number with me"
Trust me. This will have a huge impact. |
honestly i dunno given that we're still being held hostage to just 3 companies .. and 1 GSM provider within those 3 ..
we need to open up the market to foreign competition and force certain providers to divest parts of their network to these foreign players
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| vickyvale |
| quote: | Originally posted by VERTiG0
YOU BELL MOBILITY! |
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| chinaboy1021 |
| you guys want everything for free? |
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| 4-play |
| quote: | Originally posted by chinaboy1021
you guys want everything for free? |
The consensus here is not 'free', but a 'fair market price' |
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| AdReNaLiNa |
^^
I'd say .95 access fee should be sufficient now |
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| simms327 |
| its true, its a total rip off here in canada. cell phones are a bargain elsewhere in the world. canada needs to wake up |
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