Canadians that have been slapped with an excessive and unfair phone bill by a telecomm giant to which they are chained to contractually are not part of a small group. There have been a rising number of complaints from Canadian consumers concerning their monthly cell phone, internet and cable bills since 2009. Below are statistics for the number of consumer complaints per telecommunications company in 2011 compiled by the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Systems (CCTS.) Unfortunately the data is not separated by service, so companies that combine telecomm services have been bunched together. We can see a large number of complains across the market, mainly concentrated in the tech giants (Bell, Rogers, TELUS.) Out of these complaints, 62% are wireless, mainly billing errors (Hardy.)
Bell: 2,348 complaints
TELUS: 1,387 complaints
Rogers: 1,355 complaints
Fido: 657 complaints
Virgin Mobile: 637 complaints
Solo Mobile: 226 complaints
Videotron: 153 complaints
Koodo Mobile: 129 complaints
Wind Mobile: 86 complaints
MTS: 72 complaints
SaskTel: 31 complaints
Mobilicity: 23 complaints
Chatr Wireless: 4 complaints
Public Mobile: 3 complaints
Public Mobile: 3 complaints
Compared to a few years ago, we have more options when it comes to service providers due to an opening of spectrum for new entrants. However, the conservative government is planning on loosening foreign ownership restrictions in the telecommunications sector in order to foster more competition and allow to market to flourish. Complaints in relation to service quality and pricing have been attributed to the lack of competition in the Canadian market, which can be amongst other factors, attributed to strict foreign investment restrictions. The current policy not only discourages competitive pricing, which is Canadian consumers’ main argument, it also hinders Canadian telecomm companies’ ability to remain competitive in a global market, discourages innovation in the technology sector and is mainly in the interest of the near-monopolistic companies that are in its favour. However, Canadians have voiced their concerns when it comes to opening our doors to foreign investment, such as the threat to Canadian culture, employment and the fear of losing research and development to other countries (Open Media.) In order to catch up to other developed countries and offer Canadians the best service, there is a need for government intervention and regulatory changes. Loosening these laws will result in a more competitive market, which is in the public interest. However, there are ‘spillover’ issues that must be considered while this change is made. Recently, the Conservative Harper government has begun to come to an agreement about the benefits of removing foreign investment regulations in the telecommunications sector. The Canadian government has proposed three options for reform (Industry Canada):
1. Increase direct limit for broadcasting and Telecommunications ownership to 49%. In this case companies would only be required to have Canadian owned voting shares of 51% compared to 66 2/3%.
2. Telecomm companies with less than 10% of total telecommunications market revenue would be excused from current restrictions.
3. Remove restrictions completely.
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