Re. your article “IP Centrex pricing causes confusion,” July 25, 2003, p. 15: After more than 20 years in the Canadian telecom industry – most of those years spent with competitive equipment providers – I take exception to the suggestion that the sole purpose of regulation is to prevent the incumbent telephone companies from charging too much. The CRTC is also concerned with maintaining sustainable competition in the industry. IP Centrex must be regulated to ensure the big guys don’t use it to wipe the smaller industry players off the map.
Moncton, N.B.
An artificial business
Re. your article “GT wins controversial Centrex deal,” July 11, 2003, p. 8: So Group Telecom was able to win by buying Aliant Centrex Services wholesale, shave their margin and beat Aliant because the retail tariff is higher. It wasn’t clear in the article, but I imagine this is actually what happened. This is competition…keeping the incumbents honest?! Sounds like an artificial business created by regulation that adds no value. Why not just require the incumbents to keep the retail pricing where the CRTC thinks it should be?
Donald Armstrong
Toronto