Canada Accelerates Move Towards Reliance On Market Forces In Telecommunications Sector

As reported in the December 2006 issue of The Competitor, the Canadian government recently launched several initiatives with a view to fostering increased reliance on market forces in Canada’s regulated telecommunications industry. In November 2006, the federal Cabinet exercised its power under the Telecommunications Act to vary the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunication Commission’s (the CRTC) 2005 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) decision (see the December 2006 issue of The Competitor). As discussed in more detail below, in December 2006, the federal government tabled telecommunications-specific amendments to the Competition Act (the Act) designed to give the Act more "teeth" should a dominant telecoms provider abuse a dominant position. At the same time, the government announced its intention to vary the CRTC’s local forbearance decision in order to significantly extend local service deregulation, and issued the first-ever policy direction to the CRTC, encouraging