[Chapter-delegates] ISP concentration: a viable topic?

[Evan Leibovitch]

Hello everyone,

I come here asking for advice.

As you may know, the Canada Chapter is one of the newest, and we are still
surveying our membership and finding who is interested in what issues.

Recently, some local events have happened that caught my attention:

Canada has some of the highest mobile costs in the world, and the field is
essentially controlled by a three-company oligopoly of Canadian-owned forms
(Bell, Rogers, Telus) which have identical plans. When one changes its
plans, up or down, the other two follow suit. The only competition between
them appears to be in the selection of phones they each support.

A few years ago some upstart newcomers came on the scene, trying to inject
some competition. Based on aggressive (and some would say predatory)
focused attacks by the Big Three, they have foundered, losing money, and
been for sale.

The recent news is that US giant Verisign (45% owned by Vodaphone) is
making noises about buying the upstarts and bidding on spectrum.

At one level this is a very high-visibility issue. The Big Three have been
relentless in the media telling us that Armageddon will happen should
Verizon be let into Canada, Nobody seems to be speaking up in favour of
greater competition.

(Now, I have no great faith that Verizon has the interests of Canadians in
mind in its expansion, and it has vcertainly engaged in its share of bully
tactics in its home market in the US. But I personally believe that
competiton certainly can hurt and has the potential for positive change.
(Certainly Verizon is in no mood to collude with the Big Three given the
campaigning they've done against it, at least in the short term).

This is ultimately a regulatory issue, for a change in ownership such as
this would require approval of the appropriate communications regulator, in
Canada's case the CRTC. It will also affect future allocations of mobile
radio frequencies.

What I would like to know is:

   - Is this (the subject of telco/ISP competition/collusion) something
   ISOC or chapters have addressed at a policy basis before?
   - Have any other chapters engaged in "consumer" type issues like this?
   Or is it considered out of bounds, even if it's anout telcos and ISPs?
   - What are the benefits risks in a public campaign favouring of more
   competition?
   - Is Verizon sufficiently evil in its current activity to prevent
   supporting it in Canada?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

-- 
Evan Leibovitch
Toronto Canada

Em: evan at telly dot org
Sk: evanleibovitch
Tw: el56
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