Last Friday, the CRTC must have been caught up in the holiday spirit unleashed by all of those post-Thanksgiving sales south of the border. All those ads for “buy one, get one free” just don’t seem to be as prevalent here.
As of last week, a regulatory constraint for deals on telecom services has been lifted. The Commission released a Decision that removed the need for ILECs to get approval for what could be considered any reasonable bundle of services.
In essence,
the bundling rules, including the requirement to file and obtain Commission approval for a tariff, no longer apply with respect to bundles in which the retail price at least equals the sum of the rates of all retail tariffed services included in the bundle.
So, a bundle can include one or more components that are still regulated, and as long as the price for the bundle is at least as high as the tariff price, no CRTC approval is required.
What could this mean for consumers? In areas that still have price regulation for local service, watch for deals that throw in a little internet here and there. Maybe a side order of discounted wireless, as long as you keep your basic residential service.
The relaxation of the bundling rules could mean even more for business users. Telcos have had a more difficult time responding in a timely fashion to special requirements set out in RFPs because many such arrangements needed regulatory approval.
The relaxation of the bundling rules could mean that pricing for business services will be getting more competitive.