Slashdot Mirror
Canadian Regulator CRTC Saves Independent ISPs
fmenard123 writes "The Canadian telecommunications regulator, the CRTC, has affirmed in a decision released on March 3rd 2008 that DSL wholesale and Cable Modem wholesale will continue (PDF) until such time as a meaningful competitive source of supply of wholesale facilities develops. Aside from preserving the status-quo, the CRTC has also determined that unaggregated ADSL access (DSL wholesale for competitors who self-supply their facilities into telephone company central offices) is an essential service given the lack of unbundling for sub-loops. The CRTC ordered phone companies to re-price unaggregated DSL wholesale at forward-looking costs plus a mark-up of no more than 15%, opening the door for a significant reduction in the rates ISPs pay to the telephone companies for access to DSL wholesale. This decision has interesting implications for the US, in which the FCC was not able to overcome the legal attacks against its Computer II regulatory framework. Perhaps ISPs in the US need to look north to try to make their case again."
Government-sponsored monopoly telcos are forced to supply infrastructure access to other companies. They're allowed to make a 15% profit on the line.
This has resulted in cheaper long distance rates, cheaper (and better) Internet access, better hardware, etc.
In the old days, Bell told you to like your Bakelite rotary phone, and that nothing else was economically or technically feasible... and keep paying your monthly rental, since you can't purchase a phone.
Because the telcos were forced to give access to the lines, we now own the phone lines inside our homes, and have fully electronic phones we OWN. We can have Internet access that isn't filtered by Bell, or passed through their misconfigured HTTP proxies. Oh, and the rates for everything are lower after adjustments for inflation.