INST Committee Report

APPENDIX 2
MAJOR EVENTS IN CANADIAN
TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Year                Policy change

1978                Initiation of a cost inquiry to establish uniform approved costing methodologies to be used, among other things, for the identification of cross-subsidies. This concluded with Phase III 1985.

1979                Telephone companies’ monopoly on private (leased) lines connected to PSTN ended (Telecom Decision CRTC 79-11).

1980                Liberalisation of telephone set and customer premises equipment markets.

1984                Regional duopolies in mobile cellular market set up.

1985                CRTC denies request to interconnect with incumbents by CNCP for the provision of long distance competitive services. Concluded that benefits would not be sufficient.

1989                Supreme Court confirms Federal jurisdiction over Provincial telephone companies.

1992                Market for public long distance voice services opened to competition (Telecom Decision CRTC 92-12).

1992                Pre-selection for long distance introduced and framework for subsidy (contribution) from long distance to support local residential service rates formalised (Decision 92-12).

1993                Telecommunications Act passed.

1994                Establishment of new regulatory framework: Review of Regulatory Framework (Decision CRTC 94-19).

1995                Competitive wireless Personal Communications Systems licensed.

1997                Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced regulatory framework for competition in local telephone services (Decision CRTC 97-8).

1998                CRTC liberalised public pay telephone service market (Decision CRTC 98-8).

1998                Price Caps implemented (Decision CRTC 98-2).

1998                The Government of Canada liberalised the facilities-based international

                        telecommunications market.

1998                Regulatory framework for international services established
(CRTC 98-17).

1999                The CRTC required cable carriers to provide discount Internet service to other ISPs (Decision CRTC 99-11).

1999                Resellers provided with access to central office switches through competitive co-location facilities (CRTC 99-1107).

2000                Telesat Canada’s monopoly on satellite telecommunication carriage ended.

2000                Long distance competition introduced in the areas served by Northwestel (mainly Northwest Territories, Yukon, Nunavut and northern British Columbia) (Decision CRTC 2000-746).

2001                Changes to the Contribution Regime (universal service funding) come into effect (CRTC 2000-745).

Source:      OECD Reviews of Regulatory Reform: Maintaining Leadership Through Innovation Canada, 2002, p. 109.