Saturday, March 12, 2005
More Competition in the Telephone Industry is a Good Thing
I've said it before and I'll say it again, competition is good. It leads to lower prices and technical innovations for the consumer, and keeps the telcos on their toes.
But the field should be level. The incumbent telephone companies should be able to compete on equal footing with the CLEC's. That's why the CRTC in Canada should pay heed to Bell Canada's petition to them:
Bell Canada Calls on CRTC to Lift Ban on Local Service Promotions
OTTAWA, March 11 -- Bell Canada today called on the CanadianRadio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to lift its suspension of promotional offers linked to local phone service, a move that would deliver to Canadians the benefits of lower prices and more competition.
In its submission to the CRTC, Bell highlights a November 2004 broadcasting decision that acknowledges promotions are in the public interest. As part of that decision, the Commission reaffirmed an earlier view that promotional offers are a legitimate business practice regardless of how competitive a particular cable television market is.
"Lifting the suspension of phone company local service promotions would be in the best interests of Canadian consumers and businesses," said Mirko Bibic, Chief, Regulatory Affairs, Bell Canada. "Competitors, including cable companies, are free to offer promotions as they see fit. Lifting the suspension would allow Bell to offer promotions on the same basis as competitors, and the result would be lower prices and increased competition for customers."
The CRTC prohibited local service promotions and special winback offers from Bell and Canada's other incumbent phone companies over two years ago, announcing at that time that it was "temporarily" suspending consideration of any such applications.
Read the full story at Bell Canada's web site
Good for BCE. The CRTC hopefuly, will take action on this. Competition means competition accross the board. The cable companies (see Rogers) have had there way with the CRTC for long enough. Come on guy's, level the playing field. It is good for consumers, the people you are supposed to be looking out for. Pay heed to what is happening in the States.
BellSouth Signs 100th Commercial Agreement Allowing Competitors to use Elements of BellSouth Network
ATLANTA -- BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) today announced the company has signed 100 commercial wholesale local voice platform agreements with its competitive local exchange carriers (CLEC) customers. These agreements allow CLECs to offer telecommunications services by leasing portions of BellSouth's network at commercially negotiated rates. These 100 agreements cover more than 530,000 access lines served by CLECs in BellSouth's region. CLECs doing business in the BellSouth territory have approximately 2.7 million lines in service using the complete platform of unbundled network elements (UNE-P).
The Federal Communications Commission earlier this year brought an end to the requirement that incumbent telephone companies like BellSouth lease the entire platform of network elements to competitors at below-cost prices. Those new rules went into effect today.
"The end of government-managed pricing, and the signing of commercial agreements with CLECs, brings much needed stability to the competitive telecommunications industry," said Rex Adams, BellSouth President - Interconnection Services. "We will continue to work with our CLEC customers to offer them the world-class service that BellSouth is recognized for. We want their business and we will continue to earn it."
