When Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice meets with the big-wigs of Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility next month to hear their explanation for hiking the price of text messages, consumers should hope that he takes his cue from across the Atlantic.
Imagine if the CRTC put their foot down and demanded that the telcos rescinded the new fee for incoming text messages. What's more, they added regulation that would stop travelling texters from coming back home and suffering from a case of "bill shock" - capping the price of text messages while roaming at one-quarter the current cost.
Such actions might seem like a wonderful dream that harried Canadian cell phone users might have before waking up to a harsh reality where regulators prefer a hands-off attitude to the marketplace - even one ruled by an "oliogopoly." But in Europe it's no dream, but a reality. The European Union's telecommunicaitons commissioner has stepped in to curb text message pricing. She's imposing a cap of 18 cents per message, down from about 46 cents charged per message sent when a customer is abroad. What's more, the eventual goal is to bring it down to just 6 cents a message!
Bell is hiking their roaming fee for text messages to 60 cents a message. Now it's just one more way Canadian wireless customers are getting shafted in comparison to their European and U.S. counterparts.
When Prentice is done looking at incoming text message fees, he should take stock of the roaming fee situation that is getting out of hand in Canada.