In a letter to the editor of CARTT, Bell regulatory chief, Mirko Bibic responded to Videotron’s charges that Bell was trying to kill competition in phone service. Back on February 1, Videotron’s president and CEO, Robert Dépatie wrote:
While it used to take the telephone companies up to several months to get approval for new rates, the CRTC is now guaranteeing that it will deal with their rate applications within 10 days. Most disturbingly, the phone companies can now file their rate applications ex parte, i.e. without other interested parties being informed. No cable company has ever received this type of confidential treatment for its rate applications and supporting arguments.
In Bibic’s reply, he charged back:
No cable company ever needed regulatory permission to change prices or service features on anything other than their basic service, and even that was deregulated soon after satellite TV arrived. No cable company ever faced a one year prohibition on contacting its customers who switch to a competitor. No cable company was ever prevented from pricing differently in different regions of its territory, or restricted from introducing promotions for its services. No cable company has ever had to receive prior approval for bundles of its multiple services like internet, cable and telephone.
The battle is on. Consumers can only benefit from the battle of the big guys – and no one needs to start a charity drive for either of these combatants.