Notwithstanding the Globe and Mail’s preliminary headline, it may not be fair to call it a win for consumers, but it is certainly a start. When the Federal Court granted the Consumers groups leave to appeal the CRTC’s February 16 Deferral Account Decision, it represented another set-back for a Commission that has fielded a number of Cabinet and Court appeals this year.
This was a Decision that didn’t seem to make anyone happy, other than a few provincial governments. Even Bell appealed the Decision, despite the apparent $650M windfall to offset their capital programs.
The consumers’ groups are arguing that the money (around $50 per subscriber) rightfully belongs to the subscribers that overpaid for services; don’t use their money to fund a rural broadband program that should be administered out of tax revenues.
Barrett Xplore felt that the CRTC’s rural broadband program distorted the economics of private sector investment.
Back in June, the Court denied a Stay application, ruling that consumers would not suffer irreparable harm should the stay not be granted. However, the landscape has now changed. The phone companies would be wise to look at asking the CRTC or the Courts for a Stay of their Decision.
The phone companies are spending time engineering rural broadband plans based on a presumption that the program will be funded by the Deferral Account. They will likely seek authorization to stop all work on the projects, now that the source of funds has been put at risk.
Update: [Sept 26 9:50 am]
Mark Evans has a blog posting about rural broadband as well as a story in today’s National Post.
Not sure where one of my colleagues buys his beer, but he is quoted in the Post story as trivializing the rebate, saying that it wouldn’t buy a beer or two. I think it was great for the Consumers’ groups to recognize that $50 is fifty bucks – that’s two beers, movie tickets and a baby sitter – and it is worth fighting for.