Finally over, almost

Most of us thought that today would finally be the end of a CRTC regulatory file that had its genesis nearly 5 years ago. We’re almost done.

Let’s review.

In 2008, the CRTC issued Decision 2008-17 a revised regulatory framework for wholesale and “essential” services. That begat a series of appeals leading to Telecom Regulatory Policy 2009-34, which begat a Notice of Consultation (2009-261), which indirectly gave rise to the much reviled creation of usage based pricing for wholesale internet, approved in Decision 2010-255. The CRTC had a wholesale high speed access proceeding leading to  Telecom Regulatory Policy 2010-632. The public furor and blatant signaling from the other side of the river caused the CRTC to review wholesale residential billing practices once again (“of its own motion” – if you believe the notice) in Public Notice 2011-77 leading to Telecom Regulatory Policy 2011-703. That generated another series of appeals.

The decisions that came out today adjust much of what has been issued in the past 5 years.

I am not going to analyze the outcomes or the impacts. Each company will have its own view of whether its consumers or shareholders benefit or lose as a result. As the CRTC states in the main release, Telecom Regulatory Policy  2013-70:

the Commission expects that with these new wholesale HSA service decisions both the incumbents and the independent service providers will recognize the need to move away from regulatory processes into a period of certainty that will benefit the industry, their customers, and the Canadian economy as a whole.

It has been 5 years or more of uncertainty for Canadian internet service providers and their customers. It still isn’t over. The CRTC launched two more notices of consultation (2013-79: Review of rate principles for legacy business wholesale high-speed access services and 2013-80: Review of outstanding wholesale high-speed access service issues related to interface rates, optional upstream speed rates, and modem certification requirements).

More than anything, the lengthy process seems to demonstrate the challenge of rate regulation in a competitive marketplace.

Decisions that were made initially did not appear to appropriately consider inter-platform competition and the need for regulatory symmetry. Unintended consequences kept popping up – consequences that many felt should have been anticipated. Digital policy appeared to be delivered through tweets, rather than a cohesive national strategy. The regulation of wholesale internet access will not be one of the proudest moments in CRTC history.

Therein is the message that I see from today’s decisions. Internet services are not that complex.

But, regulatory manipulation of a competitive market is tough work.

As the CRTC prepares to intervene in mobile services, are there lessons from the internet services business?

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