Vancouver-based non-profit and consumer advocate, OpenMedia, has launched a petition urging Canadians to help ‘Stop the Internet Price Hike’.
The one-pager asks Canadians to sign their name, to tell the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) to “Reject Big Telecom’s latest price-gouging scheme, and uphold the CRTC’s August decision to lower wholesale rates for smaller ISPs.”
Here’s what they’re asking:
A recent decision from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) dramatically lowered the rates for what Big Telecom can charge smaller providers for access to their networks. As a result, a handful of smaller Internet service providers immediately passed the savings on to their customers in the form of lower prices and faster speeds.
But Big Telecom has been throwing a tantrum ever since, and won’t go down without a fight. They just asked cabinet to overturn the CRTC’s decision, which would see our Internet prices go up, and put the future of smaller providers at risk.
We can’t let this happen. The Liberals promised to lower Internet prices during the election, and now it’s time for them to show us they mean it.
Executive Director at OpenMedia, Laura Tribe, shared a bunch of tweets summarizing the issue, which you can read here.
When news broke of Bell and other telcos asking the Liberal government to overturn the CRTC’s decision to lower wholesale broadband rates, Tribe reacted by saying:
“Big Telecom’s already tried this play before, right after the last election – and the government rightly rejected it, recognizing it for what it was: a desperate move with no standing. Since then, the government has issued a new policy direction for the CRTC focusing on customers and affordability, and even more recently made promises during the election to bring more affordable Internet services to Canadians. Big Telecom’s move today completely ignores the way the winds are blowing. The time for affordable Internet in Canada is coming, and they need to get on board, or get out of the way.”
You can click here to sign your name—the goal is 10,000 signatures and so far 6,003 have signed as of writing.
