1. 

   I wish the writer would look at reality and not with unthoughtout bias. There is a reason why the carriers in Canada don’t have the the most money and why we charge a little more. Canada has only 30 million and the landmass which could fit China and the Uk easily into. We have much higher labor costs, taxes, regulatory costs and land lease/energy costs. Yes, we will see prices drop a bit with the new players, but the carriers still have bills to pay and they aren’t charities. There is less landmass to cover in the U.S and 10X more people. Therefore we would at least need to spend 10X more per subsciber to equal what the U.S. could spend.

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   Posted by ken | October 20, 2009, 2:55 pm
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2. 

   Thanks for the old canard, KEN.

   This is the same argument we were told decades ago when our telcos were trying to justify our long distance rates. I remember reading a steady stream of stories year after year, about new and more powerful computers making everything more efficient and less costly, yet, prices kept going up every year.

   The moment the industry was deregulated the cost of long distance calls went straight through the floor. The telcos trimmed the fat (i.e., thousands of make work jobs were gone) but survived.

   The fact is that the large majority of our population is within 200 miles from the US border and the density is about the same. Our telcos don’t spend a penny in Nowhereville, Yukon. Heck, Rogers doesn’t spend a penny in 90% of Newfoundland!

   Your argument reminds me of Canadian automobile manufacturers who have been using the same old canard for years. Yet, we’ve all seen on consumer shows those Canadians who buy Ontario made cars in the state of New York, bring them back legally to Canada and after all is said and done with currency exchange, taxes, etc., they save $20,000 on high-end cars.

   I live in New Brunswick where we have the largest gas refinery in the country. The Irving gas you buy at the pump across the street from the refinery costs more than the very same gas after it has been trucked all the way down to the south of Maine! This has been confirmed by CBC on several occasions, again after all taxes and currency exchange are considered. Does the word “ripoff” come to mind? Speaking of which, it was revealed last week that natural gas that comes from Nova Scotia costs twice as much in New Brunswick than the same gas AFTER it’s been carried all the way to Ontario! And I remember that years ago when Volvos were assembled in NS they cost more across the street from the plant, than the same cars AFTER they had been shipped to Montreal. I guess the further they shipped them, the cheaper they cost. They must have been free by the time they reached Vancouver!

   I could go on with examples like this all day. Canadian companies get away with charging a fortune for mediocre service because: we don’t have enough competition; we don’t have enough consumer protection laws and most Canadians are just suckers. We put up with $99 airline tickets that cost $477 and made up fees designed to hide the real cost of services such as SAF, 911 fee, etc. End of story.

   This reminds me of this CEO’s statement years ago:

   “Sure we can have a monopoly without being greedy. But what would be the point?”

   Disclosure: I have personally been involved in class action suits against cellcos including this one:

   http://www.merchantlaw.com/cellular.html

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   Posted by toyandme | October 20, 2009, 4:17 pm
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3. 

   toyandme +1.

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   Posted by Nuelo | October 21, 2009, 10:53 am
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4. 

   Any provider only needs to cover the big 10 cities in Canada to get 90% of the population.

   It’s not like we’re all living in igloos in the middle of nowhere.

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   Posted by luke | October 21, 2009, 1:11 pm
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5. 

   There is some truth in the “population density and landmass” argument. Sure, if you look at TO or Montreal on their own, you might think we’re comparable. But then realise that the QC-Windsor corridor (the most urban and dense section in the country) has about 17Million souls

   Now, NY has 19, Mass 6.5, Penn 12… just these 3 states come up to nearly double, with less territory to cover.

   I’m not saying we’re paying alot… but would never expect to see the same rates that american carriers, or european carries. Keep in mind as well that americans have 4 national carriers, we have 3 (wind is still regional). Not a significant diffence that likely doesn’t affect the competitive picture.

   Will prices go down? They already have to an extent. Are they going to go down more? Maybe for the “bargain talk and text” carriers will see more of a fall as “basic services” are where the gap is the biggest. But premium services (like data) likely won’t fall by as much as people expect… they’re already closer to US rates.2

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   Posted by Hugo B. | December 30, 2009, 9:37 am
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