Researchers have said that Canada can do better in terms of its telecommunications service quality and affordability.
The Montreal Economic Institute, an independent public policy think tank, has released its annual telecommunications publication.
The researchers explained that Canada’s high telecom prices are due to the country’s low population density, the investments that are made, and the quality of infrastructure.
“Canada does well despite its regulatory framework, not because of it. The country could do even better,” said Gaël Campan, a senior associate researcher at MEI, in an emailed press release.
It is worth adding that the CRTC released a report that indicated that prices were declining in communications services. The report said that wireless, internet, television and home phone services combined was 11 percent lower in 2018 than in 2016.
However, Campan says in the report that the CRTC appears to be determined to make it harder to operate telecommunications infrastructure.
The report states that regulation tends to delay projects by making it more expensive to run a business or invest in emerging technologies. This, in some cases, could decrease the chances that a project has to be undertaken.
Capman says that the CRTC tends to see the state of the market and competition not as an evolving one, but rather as a fixed one.
This is what causes them to place difficult regulations that end up being a drag on technological innovation, according to Campan.
“It is high time for the CRTC to stop over-regulating the telecommunications sector and penalizing infrastructure investments,” the paper states.
