CRTC confirms new ISP rates

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) confirms new wholesale rates for independent ISPs will be implemented Wednesday, TeleGeography CommsUpdate reported.

According to the report, large telephone and cable companies will proceed with their proposed implementation plans, except for the Bell group companies. For them, the implementation plan has been modified on an interim basis while the CRTC resolves issues the Canadian Network Operators Consortium has raised.

As an interim measure, independent ISPs that are Bell companies’ customers will have the flexibility to either merge their business and residential Internet traffic or keep them separate.

Last November, the CRTC established how large telephone and cable companies should charge independent ISPs for the use of their networks.

In the case of wholesale residential and business services, the large telcos/cablecos may charge a flat monthly fee regardless of how much bandwidth customers of the independent ISPs use.

The flat-rate model took effect on Nov. 15.