Bell, Bell Aliant and TELUS wanted to get rid of those pesky service charges.
The way the system works right now, if you order phone service from the ILECs, you have to pay a service charge. If you test drive a competitor and want to go back, they have to charge what seems to be a punitive fee. It is in the tariffs, so they can’t waive them. Period.
Last summer, the companies applied to get rid of service charges by raising monthly bills for everyone. Today, the CRTC said no to that idea.
As Vice Chair Richard French said in a statement
We did not feel it was appropriate to approve a rate increase for all residential customers to compensate for the elimination of connection charges. The government’s recent direction on forbearance removed the CRTC’s restrictions over promotions and winbacks. Telephone companies are free to apply at any time to reduce or eliminate their connection charges, and the Commission will deal with their requests expeditiously.
Given the flexibility soon to be enabled by forbearance and from the recent Price Cap decision, the telephone companies have other tools, less intrusive to consumers, to allow them to compete.
Watch for revised tariff filing soon.