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Why is mobile data in Canada so expensive?
(lemmy.ca)
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this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
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No Stupid Questions
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I may have once worked for one of these companies, and they aggressively lobbied the government to prevent MVNOs from happening in Canada. An MVNO would be able to compete with the big telcos, and force them to lower prices. What kills me is that the big companies have "discount brands" that are only a tiny bit cheaper, and then they use their existence to claim that there's lots of competition in the market!
Some of the crap I saw... So glad to have gotten out!
Came here to say the same thing from slightly different perspective.
I worked at a company that provided Value Added Services to all the carriers. Somehow (lobbying, I guess) all the revenue share we received was treated by them as R&D money, even though it was pure profit. In short, they were making a ton of cash, sharing some of it with us, and then not re-investing it back into their networks like they were legally required to do.
They are an exercise in failed capitalism
No, it's absolutely lobbying and regulatory capture. When I worked in the telco space, back when long distance competition came to Canada, the CRTC was a constant revolving door of lawyers and company VPs from the telcos. The running gag in our office was that if a decision didn't go our way, that the C-Suite would have to fire someone for the failure, so they could go work at the CRTC and influence the next decision in our favour.
But it wasn't a gag. Three of my co-workers from that time ended up taking their turns at the CRTC as analysts and commissioners.
Not mobile, but I remember TekSavvy blasting the CRTC head for having some pints with his buddy, the CEO of Bell. You know, as the head of an impartial regulatory body should.
https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/2021/06/24/teksavvy-blasts-crtc-chair-for-having-beers-with-bell-exec-at-pub/