Industry Committee on Dec. 2nd, 2024

[Tony Staffieri]

We will table that and provide it to the committee.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you.

Here's my last thing: Is this how Ted Rogers would have done business? Like, honestly, is this the ethos that Ted Rogers would have done business under?

[Tony Staffieri]

It's in Rogers' DNA. It always has been. It continues to be today. It's to build a business focused around the customer.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

What is? Do you mean providing complicated contacts and having high fees?

[Tony Staffieri]

There's a reason that more Canadians choose to do business with Rogers than with any other telecom provider.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I think I can hear Ted Rogers screaming from somewhere. Hopefully we'll be able to do him justice if you can't.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Thank you, Ms. Rempel Garner.

MP Turnbull, the floor is yours.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to all the witnesses.

Mr. Staffieri, the government made clear in budget 2024 that there should be no surprise fees and no surprise increases. This came after Rogers and Bell announced fee increases in January. Last week, the CRTC launched the process to make sure that telecom companies are transparent and honest about their fees.

Can you guarantee that there will be no increases this coming January?

[Tony Staffieri]

We're always reviewing all of our prices, how they are in the marketplace and also, importantly, what the costs of our inputs look like. One of the important things that haven't been highlighted is that the costs of inputs continue to go up. We—

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Mr. Staffieri, I don't want to be disrespectful to you, but that's not an answer to my question. The answer was “no”, basically, because you skirted around answering it directly, sir. I understand that your input costs are fluctuating and may be going up, but that doesn't necessarily justify increases to the customer when you're a highly profitable Canadian company.

I'm going to move on. The letter from the CRTC says, “Service providers should not be surprising their customers with price increases beyond the price they had originally agreed to.” My question is this: During the current context of affordability challenges that families are facing in Canada, shouldn't Canadians be able to count on a fixed-price contract being actually stable and fixed, with no surprises?

[Tony Staffieri]

Our TV programming commitments are fixed and stable. That's one thing we do that isn't widespread in the industry. You heard from our competitor today that they don't lock in prices during that term commitment. That is one thing we do guarantee.

As I said, we make it clear as to what's included and what's not included—

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Mr. Staffieri, I'm sorry to cut you off again. I don't mean to be disrespectful to you personally, but I have to say, that's not what we've heard. The CBC article lists many of your customers. I've talked to many of them in my riding of Whitby, and I have been one of your customers who've been deeply dissatisfied with your services and the increases that seem to always creep into the contracts that people have with you. It's not just you. It's Bell as well.

Canadians, I think, deserve price certainty and a high-quality customer experience. That's how you build a loyal customer base. I'm sure I don't need to preach that to you, but in this case, it seems like I do. The CBC article says that many of your customers are calling these price increases “infuriating”. They've called them “shady”. They've called them “a cash grab”. They've said that they feel like they've been “bamboozled”.

How many complaints like this do you get from your contracts and customers, who are continually complaining, it seems, about the price increases that are thrust upon them as a surprise? Can you give us the number of complaints that you receive in a given year?

[Tony Staffieri]

There are a couple of comments I would make.

As I said earlier, the majority of our Ignite TV customers were not impacted by the price change. I think that's important to highlight.

In terms of customers who were impacted and who have reached out to us, we've been working with every one of those customers, trying to look at what their needs are and whether the TV app is a more cost-effective way—

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Sir, again, I'm sorry to cut you off, but I do feel like you're not really answering the question. You're saying that you wait until customers complain and then you work with them after the fact. They've already had a price increase that they weren't anticipating. They come back to you because they didn't read the very fine print in the contract that they signed, and they have a set-top box increase.

What is the justification for increasing the fees for those set-top boxes? I mean, the article from the CBC says that they can go up from $7 to $12, as I understand it. If you have three or four of those boxes, that's a pretty significant increase per box that you are subjected to, after having signed a fixed contract. That comes as a big surprise to a Canadian family that can't afford to pay an extra $50 for their TV package.

What is the justification for increasing those fees? How do you justify that to your customers, without sidestepping it by giving them some other option or saying that they signed that contract? How do you justify the increase in fees for a piece of equipment that they've already been using?

[Tony Staffieri]

The primary determinant in price adjustments is the cost of inputs. When it comes to set-top boxes in particular, there are investments that are made in terms of software and the functionality—Bret talked about those earlier and went through those—as well as additional features.

[Bret Leech]

Yes, I'd like to just highlight—

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Bret, I'm sorry. I'm cutting you off because I'm almost out of time and I want to ask one more question. We already heard you give us an explanation of that.

Regarding consumer protection codes, do you think, Mr. Staffieri, that you need additional regulatory safeguards in place to protect consumers? Do you think that Rogers, as the largest market share telecommunications company in Canada, needs more regulatory safeguards in order to protect its own customers?

[Tony Staffieri]

I made the point earlier that competition drives us all to do what's best for the customer. We have to earn their business. Customers have choice in every market. We have to compete with alternatives. It's not just other telecom players, but we're competing with alternative technologies as well, whether it's an over-the-top streaming app or any other way that consumers want to view their content.

Competition is healthy, and competition drives us to continue to do better for the customer.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

I'll take that as a “no”. You don't need regulatory safeguards in place because you're saying competition is better. I would disagree, because we have very limited competition and it seems that Canadians have a large number of complaints about those price increases.

Thank you for your testimony.

It's back over to you, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Thank you, Mr. Turnbull.

Mr. Savard‑Tremblay, the floor is yours.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would now like to turn to Mr. Graham.

I'm going to quote you, Mr. Graham, but correct me if I'm misquoting you.

You said earlier that there had been no increase in the price of set-top boxes.

Is that what you said?

[Mark Graham]

Yes, that's correct—in the price of an additional set-top box.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Okay. You were talking about a price increase for additional set-top boxes.

Does Bell anticipate an increase in the short term?

Please answer yes or no.

[Mark Graham]

You can see a clear trend in prices over time going down, and our experience over the last five years is that those prices have not increased.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Is it fair to say that, much like at Rogers, your customers are simply paying for the rental of necessary infrastructure and access to a service that they've already contracted for in a first contract?

Is that correct?