Thank you very much.
As I said, the data I referred to with respect to lower pricing for long distance service in Canada beginning in 1998 are from the CRTC's 2001 Annual Report. I'm referring to chart 4.7. It's a diagram showing average long distance rates in Canada, and it clearly shows how prices dropped when deregulation occurred. The CRTC says that resale of long distance services began in the late 1980s, and facilities-based competition in 1992, but it was in 1998 that rate regulation diminished.
It is very important to make a distinction between rate regulation and the arrival of new market players. New players began to enter the long distance market in 1992. Despite the fact that there were new players operating in the market, rates remained relatively high at about 25¢ to 30¢ a minute. Now that there has been price deregulation—that is what we have now; we can make the comparison—we have new players in the market place which are the cable operators. Cable companies are able to offer local telephone service and secure market share previously held by former monopolies. So, we have new players who have been operating in the market for quite some time now.
We have now reached the point where it is time to deregulate prices, just as the CRTC did back in 1998 with long distance service. That was when we saw the impact on consumer pricing, and I hope we will see the same kind of impact on the pricing of local telephone service, so that consumers have better choices and benefit from more competitive prices. Based on the example we have with long distance service here in Canada, I am optimistic and I do believe we will see more competitive pricing in the coming months.