TekSavvy files complaint against Rogers and Bell

TekSavvy Solutions Inc. is accusing Bell Canada and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. of anti-competitive activities related to internet service providers.

Canada’s largest independent internet service provider has filed an official complaint against Rogers and Bell with the Competition Bureau.

In the complaint, TekSavvy accuses the other two media giants’ wholesale divisions of driving up competitors’ costs, while their retail divisions target those competitors with “fighting brand” retail prices below their wholesale costs–which Bell and Rogers inflated.

Additionally, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) found that Bell and Rogers deviated from its wholesale rate-setting rules 56 times between 2016 and 2019, systematically inflating rates for their retail competitors by as much as 900 per cent in some cases.

Neither Bell nor Rogers have contested the CRTC’s findings, but they have petitioned the federal cabinet to overturn the CRTC’s order for them to correct their inflated rates and return amounts unjustly extracted from their competitors.

So far, more than 150,000 Canadians have supported the CRTC’s decision, and are urging the federal cabinet to support lower Internet and cell phone bills.

“These companies must be held accountable for their anti-competitive activities” Andy Kaplan-Myrth, VP Regulatory and Carrier Affairs for TekSavvy, said in a news release.

“Cabinet should not only reject their petitions, but take action to bring down Internet prices while the CRTC opens up the mobile sector to competition too,” he continued.