After review, CRTC cancels its 2019 decision

In an unprecedented turn of events, the CRTC overturns its own 2019 ruling on wholesale internet pricing - May 27, 2021

OAKVILLE - May 27, 2021: In a move that will surely force independent ISP's to increase their prices, the CRTC has completed reviewing and elected to rescind its 2019 decision to lower wholesale Internet rates as it determined there were errors made when calculating the proposed aggregated wholesale HSA service rates.

However instead of correcting rates as part of their revision which in their opinion would cause further market uncertainties as the corrected rates would be significantly higher, the CRTC decided to simply cancel its 2019 decision and keep current wholesale rates as is.

As with all other independent ISP's, SkyChoice is shocked and dismayed at today's CRTC decision which will hurt telecom competition in Canada and lead Canadian consumers to pay even more for Internet service.

"Given increased reliance of Internet for working and learning from home during these unprecedented times, it's morally unjust that the CRTC has done such a thing" said Serge Cormier, SkyChoice CEO.

The CRTC's decision to reverse their 2019 decision was made even after the CRTC's own previous chair Jean-Pierre Blais stated back in 2016 that it was “very disturbing” that the Canadian telecom giants “did not respect accepted costing principles and methodologies” when proposing their rates, and that Canadians’ access to a choice of broadband services was at stake.

As his 5 year term expired in 2017, Mr. Blais got replaced by Ian Scott, the former VP of federal government relations at TELUS. His appointment as CRTC chair drew concerns from many people and telecom industry organizations including consumer advocacy group OpenMedia.ca.


About SkyChoice Communications
Since 2013, SkyChoice has been offering innovative and value added television, home phone and high speed Internet services across Canada. In addition to DSL and Cable, SkyChoice also offers Internet service direct to the home or business via its own WiFibe wireless fiber network which continues to expand on a regular basis. For more information, please visit: www.skychoice.ca