There were two big releases today that impact the telecom sector.
The Competition Tribunal released its decision in a deceptive marketing practices case against Rogers, granting the application brought by the Commissioner of Competition.
By promoting and advertising across an array of marketing channels in Canada as “unlimited” or “infinite” mobile data plans that had a pre-determined and finite amount of high-speed data, after which the speed would be significantly reduced for the remainder of the billing cycle, Rogers’ “unlimited” or “infinite” representations contravened paragraph 74.01(1)(a) of the Act.
The Tribunal has assessed a $15 million penalty. The Order is currently very brief since the Tribunal is working with the parties (the Commissioner of Competition and Rogers) to identify confidential or competitively sensitive information that will be redacted from the public version, expected to be released within the next 2 weeks.
The other one of the big releases earlier today was a Telecom Competition Roadmap released by ISED.
As part of a multi-pronged approach to augment competition, affordability, and transparency for consumers, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is publishing this Telecom Competition Roadmap that outlines a broad range of actions that are being taken over 2026–2027 that each target specific areas for improvement. This is the first time a comprehensive approach is being taken to this issue.
I’ll have more to say about both these releases in the coming weeks.