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Canada: Regulator cuts wholesale high-speed access service price

 |  August 18, 2019

Canada’s telecommunications authority CRTC has published a ruling setting the final rates applying to wholesale aggregated high-speed access (HSA) services. These final rates are lower than those set on an interim basis in October 2016, when the regulator had imposed a first cut in the charges that operators proposed to collect from resellers. They will also be applied retroactively to the date when the interim rates were set in 2016.

The reductions affect both components of wholesale rates (capacity and access), and are meant to facilitate greater competition in the market. The monthly capacity rates are 15 to 43 percent lower than the interim rates set in 2016, while the drops range from 3 and 77 percent for access rates.

These cuts apply to HSA services provided by Bell Canada, Bell MTS, Cogeco, Eastlink, RCCI, SaskTel, Shaw, TCI, and Videotron. A decision on final rates for the provinces of Ontario and Quebec is expected in the near future.

Full Content: Telecom Paper

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