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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Bell, Shaw refuse to back down on billing

By: Julian Beltrame

Posted: 02/11/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies) | Last Modified: 02/11/2011 1:34 PM | Updates

OTTAWA -- Canada's big Internet providers are sticking to their demand that they be allowed to charge heavy users more than other customers, even if the controversial usage-based billing system is not the answer.

Officials from Bell Canada and Shaw Communications came under heavy fire Thursday from MPs over the practice, which the Harper government has all but pledged to stop.

But in a heated exchange at a House committee hearing, officials said the basic principle that heavy users should pay more must be maintained.

And Bell's senior vice-president of governmental affairs, Mirko Bibic, went so far as to warn that Canada's place in the new global communications economy might depend on it.

Bibic said there may be other ways to approach the issue, but the end result must remain that billing should reflect usage or else the vast majority of Internet clients would wind up footing a bigger bill on behalf of a few.

Citing the billions of dollars needed to increase network capacity, Bibic said only the large providers are capable of keeping Canada at the forefront of the digital age.

"If Canada is to continue to be a world leader (in Internet technology), it's companies like Bell, Rogers and Shaw that will do it by investing," he said in a heated exchange with Liberal MP Dan McTeague.

McTeague responded that Bell and the other big providers are behaving like monopolies and stifling innovation. He said their proposals to charge smaller, independent service providers, so called ISPs, on a usage basis is far beyond what it actually costs to expand networks.

"Their charging far exceeds the investments," he said. "The best expertise we have is that these costs may be just pennies (per user), instead we're seeing charges of $1.50, $2.50 for every gigabyte you use. It amounts to a giga-gouge."

He blamed the Conservative government's deregulation policies for stopping new players from being able to compete against the incumbents. "These ISPs and consumers are at the mercy of a handful of competitors who do not compete against each other on price."

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 11, 2011 A16

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Updated on Friday, February 11, 2011 at 1:34 PM CST: Spelling correction.

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