One of Vicky Eatrides’ first priorities as the new chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) appears to be the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) regime.
The CRTC published the rules governing MVNO agreements in October. According to Cartt.ca, Eatrides’ wants telecom providers to inform the commission of updated negotiations.
“We are going to follow up soon to figure out where those negotiations are between the larger players and the regional providers,” Eatrides’ told the publication.
MVNOs will function in addition to existing mobile networks and requires network infrastructure and spectrum investment from regional providers to gain access.
Internet pricing also appears to be a priority for the new chair. “What we’ve done on the internet side is clearly not having the desired effect that we wanted, and so we’re looking at coming up with a better model with respect to… wholesale access,” she told Cartt.ca.
In 2019, the commission said internet rates needed to be lowered and introduced a proposal to do so. However, it backtracked in 2021, stating the decision had errors.
Eatrides takes over the role from Ian Scott.
Source: Cartt.ca
