Canadians support more competition among wireless service providers: poll

If you believe greater competition among cellphone providers would be good for Canadians, you’re not alone.

According to a recent poll, 60 per cent of Canadians support new regulations to promote greater wireless competition, which would require Canada’s largest carriers to share their infrastructure with smaller providers.

The findings come as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) begins a two-week-long hearing on the status of Canada’s wireless market.

One of the options the CRTC is weighing is whether they will mandate wholesale network access, so mobile virtual network operators–which are providers such as Ting or Google Fi that do not operate their own spectrum network and instead buy access to unused space on existing networks to sell service–competitors can enter the Canadian market.

Additionally, according to the findings, 86 per cent of respondents said universal access to high-speed internet is important for Canada’s overall economic growth and prosperity.

Further, 80 per cent of respondents said it’s important that Canada’s internet service providers and online service companies invest in building up internet infrastructure inside Canada’s borders.