Canadian regulators to go easy on VoIP upstarts?

The deadline is quickly approaching for Canadian utility officials to decide how they'll regulate Net phone services, and some industry insiders predict they'll favor upstarts like Vonage over the country's incumbent phone operators.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC, is supposed to decide by Thursday how it will regulate calls made using voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

The prediction among some is that the commission may tell incumbent phone operators such as Telus and Bell Canada that their VoIP calls will be regulated in the same way as other calls they offer, while start-ups such as Vonage will be left alone.

The CRTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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In Canada, about half a dozen major carriers dominate the market, to a greater degree than the Bells dominate the U.S. market, which could explain why regulators might want to take a tougher line with incumbents.

The handicapping has begun on just what the CRTC will decide. Net phone analyst Jon Arnold, based in Toronto, is among several people interviewed Friday who believe the commission will favor the upstarts, while taking a harder line with incumbents' VoIP.

"My sense is that the status quo will prevail from the CRTC, and that's the story I'm hearing from others as well," Arnold wrote in his blog. "Essentially, this means that the Canadian ILECs (incumbent local exchange carriers) will be held to a different set of rules and regs than everyone else, which ultimately makes it impossible for them to be competitive in offering VoIP to consumers."

The commission's May 12 deadline to act was set last April, when in a nonbinding decision the agency opted to regulate most VoIP services. At the time, the CRTC wrote that it thought VoIP calls share enough "functional characteristics" to their circuit-switched competitors to merit regulating.

"VoIP service providers...should be subject to the regulatory framework for local competition," the commission wrote then.

But the agency has since come under enormous pressure from Canadian cable operators, Vonage and other VoIP interests. Adhering to government regulations is an expensive proposition, VoIP upstarts have argued, something that would quickly thin out the beehive of start-ups and force weaker providers to pare back their unlimited calling plans to just the United States, where VoIP remains unregulated.

On the other hand, Canada's incumbent phone operators believe the commission should level the playing field by regulating the VoIP providers.

A decision that favors cable operators and Vonage reportedly could keep at least one traditional telephone operator, Telus, from getting in the VoIP game for now.

[asperger]

voip only user...

I'm so glad to read an article on the subject outside the physical boundries of canada. I've been using voip (exclusivley at home) for about a year now ( with a providor www.teliphone.ca )

when an article came out recently in the canadain press on the subect of crtc national regulation.. here's what I said to teliphone.ca then...

'...the CRTC ( http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&lid=1&sid=58524 ) demands VoIP providers offer 911 services. I absolutely agree with the federal stance on enforcing a consistent 911 service nationwide and I believe that 'Emergency Services' as a whole would benefit from VOIP tech, finally enabling a truly multi-lingual national service for it's citizens. I support any effort to improve national 911 services, however, I do not approve of privately owned and operated companies such as teliphone having to expend their capital resources on efforts that are not their core business.

Thanks for your attention, and I hope this CRTC ruling leads to better emergency services, but not at the expense of telecommunications solutions such as VOIP.


.......

I still feel the same way,
Go Upstarts!, Go National Emergency Services Serving Local Needs using that said same tech!

This action too can help level the playing field.
Go! thanks.

CRTC should set an even level playing field

Canadian ILECs should have the same rights at the beginning as the MSOs and xSPs. If they engage in anti-competitive practices, then the CRTC can act.

http://gruia.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2005/5/6/659519.html

Major Players Considered Startups?

Shaw, Rogers, Primus, Vonage? These are start-up business people? These are all multi-million dollar companies. Th cable guys have exclusive right's to everything from satellite to cross ownership in the Radio & TV markets. And you consider these guys start-up's? Same Scam - Different Day. 10 People sit on their butts in Ottawa at the CRTC tell 30 million what to watch, listen to and who they can call. Hmmm. What nonsense. Require any location where phone services was ever installed over copper to retain 911 only. Lost your phone due to non-payment? 911 stays. Lets get real here people. Shaw is no more a start-up than a man in the moon. Level the field. Let every ISP in the door and drop the restrictions. If your cell is dead 911 is a no go? If you don't pay your home phone bill - No 911. If you don't pay the cabel company no 911 - Hey no phone modem.