By David MacDonald T hey know all the old standards. Your first three months is half off. Maybe your first month was even free. You can bundle and enjoy unlimited service for 25 percent off for the first six months on a one-year contract if you get two additional receivers or the home phone. Quite simply put, consumers are used to, they even expect, the swipe of the double-edge sword that big telecoms have been wielding since the dawn of dial-up internet in the early 1990s – or even pager-use in the 1980s. And now, more than ever, staying connected is vital – and they know it. As the demand increases for fast and reliable internet across Canada, so too does the price. Rogers was the first major internet service provider to hike their rates. On March 12, they raised the price of all plans by CDN 8 dollars.
internet rates increase by CDN 5 dollars a month while those in Quebec saw a monthly increase of CDN 3 dollars.
While Telus hasn’t been so direct about their participa- tion in the most recent price gouging in memory, they’re not without sin. In January, they put a stop to their bundle discount. This is all in the wake of a CRTC report that found that the big Canadian telecoms’ internet- specific revenues sky- rocketed 10.2 percent in 2016 when compared to 2015’s numbers, according to the CBC’s Sophia Harris. The big three have all cited necessary and pending infra- structure upgrades as the driving force behind the price increase.
Bell followed suit on April 1. Customers in Ontario saw their
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • MAY 2018
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