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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
BCE withdraws proposal for usage-based Net billing
TORONTO -- After facing a public backlash, parliamentary hearings and a stern rebuke from the federal Industry minister, BCE Inc. has withdrawn its proposal to federal regulators to impose usage-based billing on its wholesale Internet customers.
According to a statement, Bell Canada has opted to pull its plan to impose a usage-based billing scheme on its wholesale Internet clients and instead has presented the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission with a proposal for a different pricing model known as "aggregated volume pricing," or AVP. Bell has withdrawn its wholesale UBB proposal.
"The model provides wholesale (Internet service providers) with complete pricing flexibility on a per-customer basis," Bell said in a statement.
"It offers wholesale ISPs the flexibility to develop their own pricing approaches, while supporting the fundamental principle that those who use less network capacity do not subsidize those that use the most. By enabling wholesale ISPs to purchase network capacity based on overall volume of usage, rather than on a per-customer basis, the new model gives wholesale ISPs greater flexibility to offer service packages based on their own business objectives and requirements."
While Bell characterized its new proposal as a compromise, one that will allow it to reinvest billions of dollars in its broadband network, critics of Bell's initial usage-based billing proposal claimed victory.
OpenMedia.ca, an organization that opposed the CRTC's ruling and launched a populist campaign to overturn the decision, characterized Bell's response as bowing to public pressure.
"We're pleased that Canadians will now have the option to use indie ISPs like Teksavvy and Acanac to access the unlimited Internet," OpenMedia.ca's executive director Steve Anderson said in a statement.
"This is a giant step forward for the Stop The Meter campaign."
-- Postmedia News
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 29, 2011 B7
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