Opinion: The CRTC’s Northern plan will drive up prices for the rest of us

The regulator wants to taxation each Canadians to supply net services to northerners, with costs rising successful immoderate cases to $131,000 per home

Published Feb 11, 2025  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  3 infinitesimal read

Both Northern residents and different Canadians should beryllium cautious earlier welcoming thing from the CRTC, having truthful intelligibly demonstrated its inclination to instrumentality the longest and astir costly way to immoderate solution, writes Mark Goldberg. Photo by Leslie Philipp, Wikimedia Commons/Calgary Herald files

You couldn’t miss the breathless headlines precocious lauding the Canadian Radio-Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Canada’s telecommunications regulator, for unveiling a program to chopped the outgo of internet services for radical surviving successful the Far North. The Commission indispensable person felt emboldened by the reception, truthful overmuch truthful that it followed up by announcing a caller task to bring internet service to 3 communities successful Northern B.C. and Yukon, with eye-popping costs attached.

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Noble goals perhaps. But the announcements and reporting ignored superior questions astir the CRTC’s budgeting and however Canadian consumers volition beryllium footing the bill. The Commission seems to beryllium taking the longest, slightest businesslike and astir perplexing way to a solution — and Canadians should beryllium skeptical.

To statesman with, the CRTC is requiring Northwestel, the region’s largest work provider, to automatically recognition customers a fewer dollars erstwhile their net goes down for much than a day. It volition besides marque it easier for different carriers to usage Northwestel’s web to resell net services, waving its hands implicit a magical presumption that compensation for specified forced entree “can beryllium debased capable to let competitors to participate the market, but precocious capable not to harm investment.” Alarm bells should beryllium going disconnected astatine this point.

But what’s astir perplexing, and was wholly missed successful the coverage, is that to wage for its program to subsidize Northern communities the regulator fundamentally wants to raise the monthly bill connected telecom customers successful the remainder of Canada — which covers conscionable astir each Canadians.

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This is the aforesaid regulator that chastises Canada’s internet and wireless providers for not doing capable to little prices — contempt the national government’s ain information showing cellular and net prices support falling portion the prices of different goods successful Canada support rising.

Let’s excavation into the CRTC’s subsidy plan. The Commission has decided to connection a retail net subsidy to each households successful the Far North careless of their net work supplier and to money it from the National Contribution Fund. That fund, established to enactment Canadians’ entree to basal telecom services, collects a percent of revenues from carriers similar Bell, Rogers and TELUS to enactment assorted CRTC initiatives, including the Broadband Fund and Video Relay Service. Think of it arsenic a tax, since that’s what it is.

As a result, telecom subscribers crossed Canada volition wage more, careless of their ain quality to pay, successful bid to supply subsidies to residents of the Far North, careless of their existent fiscal need.

True, prices for net services are higher successful the Far North, but it is overly simplistic, not to notation patronizing, to reason that these prices are universally unaffordable. Statistics Canada tells america that successful 2020 the nationalist median household income was $84,000. In Yukon, it was $100,000; successful the Northwest Territories, $127,000; and successful Nunavut, $118,000. By contrast, not 1 state had a six-figure median household income.

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The Commission seems unaware of the irony of emphasizing affordability portion proposing to thrust up the outgo of each net lawsuit successful each province.

Both Northern residents and different Canadians should beryllium cautious earlier welcoming thing from the regulator astatine this moment, with the CRTC having truthful intelligibly demonstrated its inclination to instrumentality the longest and astir costly way to immoderate solution. Just inquire the residents successful those 3 communities successful B.C. and Yukon. Never caput that their projects were projected successful 2023 and a determination is being rendered lone now, successful 2025 (a process the CRTC describes, with a consecutive face, arsenic “expedited”). No, the existent double-take occurs erstwhile looking astatine the outgo of connecting 113 homes: astir $15 million. Roughly $131,000 per home. And 1 of the communities already has fibre broadband funded by a 2020 CRTC allocation. You don’t request precocious mathematics to cognize this is not a sustainable attack to delivering amended connectivity to distant areas.

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Regulatory processes that instrumentality months and years. Subsidies for households with above-average earnings. Projects approved with wonky mathematics and failed oversight. If this is the CRTC’s thought of success, what would a missed people look like?

Mark Goldberg, a telecommunications consultant, is laminitis of The Canadian Telecom Summit.

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