Smaller Internet Providers In Canada Just Got A Big Win In Court

Pig Hogger (Slashdot reader #10,379) writes:In August 2019, Canadian telecom regulator CRTC ruled that ISPs must lower their wholesale rates (for other independant ISPs) retroactively to March 2016. Big telecoms (Bell, Rogers, Cogeco, Videotron, Shaw & Eastlink) appealed, which suspended the rate decrease immediately. Now, a year later, the Canadian Federal Court of Appeals ruled that the CRTC decision stands, and that they must also pay the legal fees paid by the independent ISPs. For now, the big ISPs have 30 days to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Huffington Post reports:"This is a massive win for Canadians," said Matt Stein, chair of the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) and CEO of Distributel, one of about 30 CNOC members. He said that the court's decision ends a "pivotal chapter" in a fight that challenged "Canada's longstanding practice of appropriate oversight to ensure fair pricing and competition." The court's 3-0 ruling concluded by saying the award of costs to TekSavvy and CNOC reflects the fact that the appellants were not successful in convincing the three judges on any of the issues they raised. IT World reports:The respondents, consisting of the independent ISPs, said the appeal should be dismissed as it had nothing to do with law or jurisdiction and simply advanced a tax argument. "It seemed very clear right off the bat that they were not raising legal or jurisdictional grounds," said Andy Kaplan-Myrth, vice-president of regulatory affairs at TekSavvy. "All of their grounds for appeal were really factual matters or policy matters, and they were dressed up as legal or jurisdictional issues that they could argue to the Court...." Although the stay has been lifted, the new wholesale rates are not yet instated. However, independent ISPs have renewed confidence that the new rates will come into effect soon.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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