A telecommunications company based in Chatham is sounding the alarm about internet fairness, competition, and stability during the COVID-19 crisis.
TekSavvy is calling on the CRTC for emergency relief to ensure all Canadians have internet access during the pandemic. The company said smaller internet providers continue to be at risk because they are still paying inflated fees to the big Canadian telecom companies. The company said services for hundreds of thousands of Canadians who use independent internet providers could be in jeopardy if something isn't done soon.
TekSavvy said never before have so many Canadians relied on their internet as they do now during the COVID-19 emergency while working and studying from home to stay safe.
“Independent ISPs already pay inflated rates but the pressures of COVID-19 have made our costs impossible to meet,” said Andy Kaplan-Myrth, VP of Regulatory & Carrier Affairs at TekSavvy. “The government has the solution right in front of it: the CRTC already calculated more reasonable rates in their August 2019 rate decision.”
TekSavvy said it has always supported fair prices for Canadians and wants the government and the CRTC to enact emergency provisions to put in place the final rates from the CRTC’s August 2019 decision "on an urgent basis" while ongoing appeals play out to ensure Canadians continue to have competitive access to independent internet service providers.
TekSavvy has now clarified what the pressures of COVID-19 are and added it's not facing bankruptcy. Company officials said customer usage is up right now and costs are up as well. They added the cost structure is set up in a way that small internet providers make little to no profit and some even lose money.
