cacruden
Senior Member
The problem with the Canadian Marketplace is that we love monopolies - or that is the way it seems. Even if you are in a market with both cable and bell - it is way too easy for them to "not compete" (not by explicit deals which are illegal - just by signalling through matching packaging or decreases in service). No real competition means low service, no need to invest as much, and higher prices.
It is time the market was shook up, and the wholesale and retail (bell, cable) operations broken up. The lines (wholesale) a regulated monopoly/duopoly, and the retail providers (lower cost of entry - higher competition in that area).
An other option would be to create a "Hydro One" (lines) crown company which provides the last mile of access (ownership, not necessarily maintenance), which would put out bids for building the infrastructure. The maintenance could be done by any "authorized" technicians (paid for by retail operations). These last miles would run to aggregation points (public schools, transit points (subway), universities, subway, courts etc.) and then from that point on there would be aggregators which would feed data to ISPs connection point (this would be private) - to 151 Front in Toronto which is communications central for most of the ISPs in Ontario. Basically it would be a recognition that it is not economically feasible to have a large number of line providers (costs go up dramatically if you are serving one out of 6 houses vs one out of 2) - and by breaking off wholesale it would be allow for greater competition.
The lines would have their price set at cost (including infrastructure loan payback) + 15% (or some profit amount) which would go back into public revenues (maybe to subsidize rural area infrastructure). The standards for the local lines would be set by the greater of the local community/provincial/federal policy and price of lines for that area set proportionally.
You would then get a line charge (collected by one of the providers - depending on which one installs first - or your choice to move), and the cost for private services (ISP, cable**, telephone, or any new services).
Because there is a base infrastructure, channels (networks etc.) (canadian channels and maybe international news stations) would be able to hire the aggregators "free-feed" (commercial based) content to you directly - bypassing cable operators. Non-profits, schools, etc. could use public infrastructure to feed community channels directly to the end user as well - for minimal costs. This would allow the diversification of local Canadian content.
Cable operators would become channel aggregators, which would build packages that meet the CRTC requirements (bundling US stations with Canadian stations) and be able to sell packages.
Basically, I think the whole way the infrastructure is provided should be reworked.
It is time the market was shook up, and the wholesale and retail (bell, cable) operations broken up. The lines (wholesale) a regulated monopoly/duopoly, and the retail providers (lower cost of entry - higher competition in that area).
An other option would be to create a "Hydro One" (lines) crown company which provides the last mile of access (ownership, not necessarily maintenance), which would put out bids for building the infrastructure. The maintenance could be done by any "authorized" technicians (paid for by retail operations). These last miles would run to aggregation points (public schools, transit points (subway), universities, subway, courts etc.) and then from that point on there would be aggregators which would feed data to ISPs connection point (this would be private) - to 151 Front in Toronto which is communications central for most of the ISPs in Ontario. Basically it would be a recognition that it is not economically feasible to have a large number of line providers (costs go up dramatically if you are serving one out of 6 houses vs one out of 2) - and by breaking off wholesale it would be allow for greater competition.
The lines would have their price set at cost (including infrastructure loan payback) + 15% (or some profit amount) which would go back into public revenues (maybe to subsidize rural area infrastructure). The standards for the local lines would be set by the greater of the local community/provincial/federal policy and price of lines for that area set proportionally.
You would then get a line charge (collected by one of the providers - depending on which one installs first - or your choice to move), and the cost for private services (ISP, cable**, telephone, or any new services).
Because there is a base infrastructure, channels (networks etc.) (canadian channels and maybe international news stations) would be able to hire the aggregators "free-feed" (commercial based) content to you directly - bypassing cable operators. Non-profits, schools, etc. could use public infrastructure to feed community channels directly to the end user as well - for minimal costs. This would allow the diversification of local Canadian content.
Cable operators would become channel aggregators, which would build packages that meet the CRTC requirements (bundling US stations with Canadian stations) and be able to sell packages.
Basically, I think the whole way the infrastructure is provided should be reworked.
