Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to address the committee today.
Accompanying me is George Burger, adviser to TekSavvy.
We're here to speak to an issue that has galvanized the Canadian people to a remarkable degree: usage-based billing. However, we would also like to frame UBB in the context of a far greater issue, which, if unaddressed, will have long-lasting, adverse effects on Canada's ability to (a) provide its people with a first-rate, affordable Internet experience, and (b) ensure that the Canadian digital sector is able to innovate in the most dynamic industry.
I started TekSavvy in 1998, initially providing web-hosting services in Chatham, Ontario. My brother Marc, an engineer, joined in 1999, and my third and last brother, Eric, joined three years ago after ending a distinguished nine-year career as a naval lieutenant in the Canadian Armed Forces.
Since 1998, TekSavvy has built its customer base and has expanded its services into voice-over-Internet phone services and residential and business Internet services. We are now a major business in Chatham, with over 100 dedicated and skilled employees in offices in Toronto and Sudbury.
TekSavvy has become a Canadian leader as an Internet service provider. We rank as Canada's number one ISP on DSLReports.com, and we have for the last six years running.
Mirko Bibic, spokesman for Bell, has said that we ride on its networks. In fact, we purchase access to telecom and cable backbones, all in accordance with regulation, and we pay substantial amounts--tens of millions of dollars--at CRTC-set wholesale rates, to companies like Bell for that access. Sadly, despite its market dominance, Bell's key objective is to minimize competition to maintain its pricing power.
Mr. Bibic's predecessors made similar arguments 20 years ago when they tried to stop the introduction of competition in long distance services. At the time, Canadians paid $1.50 per minute for a call between Toronto and Montreal. Today such calls are pennies, if not free, and suppliers still profit.
This fight is no different. If Canadians lose, we'll be paying the equivalent of $1.50 per minute for good for Internet usage that costs pennies.