Copying and distributing are prohibited without permission of the publisher
Canada orders operators to repay customers
01 September 2010
Canada’s regulator, Konrad von Finckenstein, has told operators to repay customers and invest more in broadband
Read more:
Canada
Telus
BCE
MTS Allstream
Aliant
CRTC
Bell Canada
Canada’s telecom watchdog has asked the country’s big phone companies to pay out a total of more than $650 million for customer rebates and broadband investments. The companies will use the funds generated from residential telephony fees to pay the rebates. The ruling applies to BCE, Telus and MTS Allstream.
Canada’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal by BCE and Telus to avoid a previous order to distribute the funds. The regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, requires the phone companies to rebate a total of $292 million to their urban phone customers. The rebate, which must be credited within the next six months, will range between $23.51 and $84.64 for each subscriber.
“Today’s announcement is a positive solution for Canadian consumers,” said Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the CRTC.
The regulator has also ordered the companies to invest a total of $396 million to increase their networks in their home territories to provide broadband internet.
According to the CRTC, Bell Canada and its rural partner, Bell Aliant Regional Communications, will connect 112 communities in Ontario and Quebec; Telus will connect 159 communities in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec; and MTS Allstream will connect 16 communities in Manitoba. GTB