Industry committee  I think that's correct, yes.

Industry committee  I think, objectively, in looking at what the proposed order of the minister is, it is a very exceptional order, and it seems to be offside of the standard thinking in relation to the behaviour of regulatory bodies, both within this country and externally. You'll note in my submi

Industry committee  Mr. Carrie, if I may, I'll interject here. I think we have to be clear about what in fact we're talking about in relation to the forbearance order. The telephone companies have always been able to compete with their new-entrant competitors. They have the ability, for example, wit

Industry committee  I also don't believe, particularly in the areas where cable has penetrated the local telephony market, you're going to see re-monopolization. In areas where there has been no new entrant penetration, you may see a reluctance to get on board. It's more likely that you will see a p

Industry committee  I have to look to the wireless example in Canada, where effectively we attempted to start off the digital networks by licensing Microcell and Clearnet and had them end up being gobbled by the same providers they were supposed to compete with. It is a big problem, because, in eff

Industry committee  I can speak to your three points. First of all, I think the appropriate mechanism is to make sure there's independent, accurate information associated with the industry and the state of competition in any of the different local forbearance areas, and that it's maintained and bro

Industry committee  Quality of service was a matter that the commission found in CRTC decision 2006-15 could be looked to by competition. The problem may well be that the individual providers may take more care in the provision of service to their high-volume customers than to their low-volume custo

Industry committee  I think essentially that's correct. The TPRP report is a comprehensive document and has within it a whole series of checks and balances and objectives that are much to be preferred. The effect of the government action in this case is to take a couple of different measures that s

Industry committee  In my estimation, we're starting off with circumstances where most of the incumbent telephone companies sell about a 90% share of residential markets. If you're starting off implementing reforms that effectively free them up to make greater inroads presumably in that market share

Industry committee  I think you're right that it would be very difficult for new entrants or small competitors to compete in an effective way with the incumbent telephone companies and the cable companies. Once again, the best prediction of the future is probably the past in that regard. There's bee

Industry committee  Well, our submissions, particularly before the CRTC in this forbearance decision, were based upon the expert advice that was furnished to us by witnesses who were skilled in both competition and in the telecommunications industry, that effectively what you needed to have was prob

Industry committee  Sure. Right now, the rates for local phone service charged by the large local telephone companies (Bell, Telus, Aliant, Sasktel, etc.) have to be approved by an independent commission appointed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (the “CRTC”).

Industry committee  I don't understand that last question.

Industry committee  Yes.

Industry committee  We thought it was, particularly since, notwithstanding the advice of our pollster, we put in the magic negative word of “CRTC” in the question to ensure that it was completely fair and objective. As you may know, when putting “CRTC” in a question that effectively supports their a