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Re: Clement: telecom needs competition, June 8
Industry Minister Tony Clement is not the villain here. Recent decisions by the CRTC, the federal agency set up to look out for the consumer, make the relationship with our own telecom industry seem like an old boys club.
There was the decision that cable and satellite carriers should pay the networks carriage rights and that it should come from the consumer. It must have gone over everybody that the club is so small that members are on both sides of the argument. For example, Bell has a satellite company and CTV is part of the Bell family; the decision puts it that we the consumer pay Bell so Bell can pay itself.
Another decision, the one that Mr. Clement is responding to in this article, was for the sake of competition to keep foreign investment out of our industry. Right now our telecom industry is about as competitive as gasoline.
Sad to say, with all the added fees, competition in the Canadian telecom industry is how much these players can glean from the consumer to pad their bottom lines. I happened to catch an ad last night for DirectTV, a U.S. carrier, and satellite service, including high definition, was $24.95 (U.S.) a month.
We also lag in technology. Up here we have companies claiming to have the best 3G network, yet we are already hearing 4G south of the border. It is little wonder that new and innovative products are introduced in Canada last. We are barely past the tin cans on the string.
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