

Independent ISP Responds to CRTC's UBB Decision - CountHackulus
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r25398612-UBB-Notice

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JimmyL
Some context (for non-Canadians):

TekSavvy is one of the leading independent ISPs in Canada.

The CRTC is (roughly) the Canadian version of the FCC.

This price increase is in response to a CRTC judgment that allows Bell to
force usage-based billing (UBB) onto its wholesale customers (who are, for the
most part, independent ISPs). Before this decision, Bell was unable to sell
them packages that took bandwidth used into account - so they could force
their own individual customers onto UBB, but not the customers of their
wholesale purchasers. This is no longer the case - now they can (and will)
charge independents a per-customer fee (like they used to), plus a fee for
bandwidth used.

The rates at which they're now able to sell independent are the same as those
they charge their own customers, meaning Bell can now effectively set a floor
price for the DSL market. Furthermore, independent ISPs can no longer offer
unlimited plans.

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JimmyL
Small correction, as I just got around to reading the CRTC decision itself -
which is surprisingly clear, considering it comes from a government body - as
opposed to just reports:

Bell has to give a 15% discount over the standard retail rates to its
wholesale customers (meaning third-party ISPs). They wanted to be able to sell
it at retail, but the CRTC decided that would be too bad for competition, so
they imposed an arbitrary discount. This still allows them to set a price
floor, but a slightly lower one than I originally thought.

