Canada`s telecommunications watchdog outlined rules yesterday that will let the country`s largest telephone companies apply to deregulate the rates they charge for local phone service.
The so-called incumbent telecoms companies, including BCE`s Bell Canada, Telus and MTS Allstream, will have to comply with essentially two criteria before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) considers deregulating their rates.
First, an incumbent company`s competitors will have to have market share of at least 25%. Second, the incumbent must have provided competitors with access to its network for at least six months.
"These criteria will allow us to deregulate as market forces take over, while ensuring local competition is sufficiently robust to protect consumers after deregulation," CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen said in a statement.
If the two stipulations are fulfilled, the large incumbents may apply for deregulation of rates on both residential and business services, the CRTC said. Once the rates are deregulated, the companies will have to make sure vulnerable customers are protected and provided with basic affordable service.
The CRTC said deregulation will be allowed to occur in markets such as large cities, as well as "social and economic communities of interest" in rural areas.