Victor Dwyer, writing in this weekend’s Globe and Mail, asked why he is paying for Touch tone service.
Would you still need to pay for obvious features like this in a truly competitive world of local telecom? Call your local cable company and ask them if they charge for tone dialing. Try to get service without it.
Ask Bell why they still charge. Their initial answer will be that they have to – it is in their tariffs, and they will likely add that the CRTC won’t let them waive the fee. Technically, that is correct, but don’t forget to ask if Bell has asked the CRTC for permission to reduce the price of local service to eliminate the charge. That would be the CRTC’s response: Bell is free to apply for a rate reduction. But what company could reasonably be expected to offer such a discount to every customer.
That is not how competition works.
A fully competitive market means that the price reduction would not have to be applied across the board. Some people would get better discounts than others.
Not fair, you say? Gee, I know of lots of people who paid less for their car than me; less for their clothes, their computer, their flowers and lots of other stuff. Of course, I paid less for a few things – I think.
Don’t get me started talking about prices for hotel rooms.
But these are all fully competitive markets.
So, keep asking why you still have to pay for touchtone. It’s a good example of the benefits that can arise from opening up the Local Services market.