The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) today filed a submission to the Governor in Council supporting Data On Tap Inc.’s (DoT) petition to the government to reverse a decision of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that will prevent more wireless competitors from offering service in Canada
PIAC’s submission supports DoT’s petition to open Canada to true “mobile virtual network operators”, or “MVNOs” which are new cellphone competitors seeking to serve Canadians across Canada.
“The CRTC issued a ‘fake MVNO’ decision to favour only existing cellphone companies and to stop innovative wireless providers like Data on Tap from entering the Canadian market,” stated John Lawford, PIAC’s Executive Director. “But the Rogers-Shaw merger blew up this fiction and showed how fragile the expensive Canadian wireless market is and how far the regulator had to go to prop it up,” he added.
Data On Tap’s application asks the federal Cabinet to overturn the CRTC’s restrictive MVNO definition and to allow true MVNOs, like DoT and many others that could bring Canadians cheaper wireless service now, which the government, recently returned after an election, claimed to support.
PIAC’s submission in support of DoT’s petition is found here and is also posted on the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic’s “Spectrum and Telecommunications – Petitions to the Governor in Council“.
For more information, please contact:
John Lawford (he/him)
Executive Director/General Counsel
Public Interest Advocacy Centre
285 McLeod Street – Suite 200
Ottawa, ON K2P 1A1
jlawford@piac.ca
613-562-4002 ext 125 [new!]
@CanadaPIAC
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