Irony is dead, long live hypocrisy
In this Globe and Mail piece I’ve copied and pasted below, Minister of ISED, François-Philippe Champagne, has said he’s given Rogers, Bell, and Telus enough rope on coming to terms over competitive access to Rogers’ TTC network and has put the TSPs on an expedited timeline to come to agreement, build the infrastructure, and provide access to all TTC riders.
What’s fascinating and instructive is that Rogers is offering Bell and Telus wholesale open-access to their mobile network as MVNOs, while Bell and Telus want to do a co-build of their own facilities so they can control operation of the infrastructure (aka, “the facilities-based competition regime”). The TTC have said they are not interested in a co-build (which can be a time consuming logistical nightmare in confined spaces) as one of the reasons they chose Roger’s bid for the contract which promised unified infrastructure and open-access. This comes at the very moment that the CRTC has decided in Telecom Decision CRTC 2023-217 to permit regional mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) to have access to large incumbent networks across Canada in order to create more competition.
As if this weren’t ironic enough, BAI Communications Inc., the company awarded the TTC contract in 2012, was offering an open-access model which Rogers, Bell, and Telus refused to use for over 10-years, and only Freedom Mobile, owned by Shaw, did use it. Rogers since acquired Shaw and spun off Freedom Mobile to Quebecor as required by ISED in order to close the deal. At no time did ISED or the CRTC intervene to insist the incumbents use the BAI open-access network.
Meanwhile, down in the subway system, riders continue to be unable to reach police and ambulance over their cell phones at a time when riding transit is becoming increasingly dangerous. Yet the government has given the companies 2 years to reach 80% of subway tunnels having mobile access for subscribers. This is another example of why allowing a private oligopoly to control an essential public service is bad government policy. In this case, one that could be a matter of life or death for transit riders.