Can Someone Please Sit Prentice Down and Explain to Him how to be a Conservative
July 31, 2008 · By Greg Farries
Recently Telus and Bell both decided to charge for incoming text messages. I personally think it’s a poor business move on their part, but it’s a move that is entirely within their discretion. However, in a typical knee jerk reaction, Industry Minister Prentice demanded they reconsider the new charges:
Prentice moved swiftly to condemn the move, summoning the chief executives of both companies to Ottawa to discuss the matter.
On Thursday, the industry minister said he met recently with Bell Canada CEO George Cope, but has yet to have talks with Telus CEO Darren Entwistle.
Prentice knows he doesn’t have a leg to stand on – Telus and Bell can charge whatever they want for the services they provide. However, here comes the threat:
Prentice described the meeting with Cope as a “healthy exchange.” However, he made it clear the government wants the companies to eliminate the charge.
“At the end of the day, the cellular industry currently is an industry where we don’t have heavy regulation . . . That’s something that we’ve tried to maintain in Canada,” said Prentice.
This brings up a number of questions?
- Is the Conservative government going to get into the business of telling private companies what to charge for specific non-essential services?
- Is the Conservative Industry Minister going to continue to demand meetings and threaten companies every time he personally disagrees with their actions?
and finally,
- Is this Conservative government going to act like a real conservative government (one that actually applies conservative economic principles to their policies and or actions), or are they content to be just marginally right of the Liberal Party
<> When free market fails – the government has the right (and the duty) to intervene. And this is the situation when a free market fails.
First of all – because cellphone market is nowhere near a free market. It’s a virtual monopoly. The very common arguments such as “if you don’t like it – choose another provider” doesn’t really work here. If you go to another provider – you must buy a new phone because you can’t use Bell or Telus handset with a SIM card from Rogers. Each phone is hard-coded to only work with the SIM card of the specific provider. Acquiring a new phone from a new provider – it’s a $100-$200 expense, plus the airtime you spend to let all your friends know that your phone number is now different.
Another thing: text messages could be sent from a website or even using e-mail. A “bot” or a mail bomb could easily send thousands of them in a few minutes time. A pay-as-you-go subscriber would “only” lose all of his account balance (and promotional rate – if any). A monthly plan subscriber would be hit with a three-four digit cell phone bill for incoming text messages that he didn’t request.
So I don’t believe Jim Prentice’s initiative is unconservative. In my opinion, even a Conservative government has the duty to ensure everyone is playing by the rules.
This is just window dressing. Prentice just called them in to represent the public’s outrage, and he has no interest in doing anything about it.
I agree with Leonard. As tory blue as I am, I have no control over this aspect of telecommunications, namely who text messages me. As a result, I think an intrusion by the government this time is warranted.
My time is far too valuable to wait on the phone for 15 minutes at a time with a Telus customer service rep just to to get 15c taken off my bill. And out of spite, I’ll do it too just so Telus doesn’t get what they shouldn’t be owed anyway.
“As tory blue as I am, I have no control over this aspect of telecommunications, namely who text messages me. As a result, I think an intrusion by the government this time is warranted.”
A REAL blue Tory would say that the situation you describe would lead to service cancellations, putting the onus on the service provider to come up with a solution as opposed to triggering a regulatory intervention.
While I’m sure this is just empty posturing, there *is* the issue of these companies unilaterally altering existing contracts by adding the charge. Enforcing contracts is a function of government supported even by the most libertarian among us. OTOH, that doesn’t seem to be what Prentice is doing.
In this country, unfortunately, there is no such thing as a truly “free” market. For example, Bell controls the telephone towers and the lines. When you decide to go with Rogers or another provider, indirectly you are paying a surcharge (no doubt hidden) into the renting of Bell equipment. This has slowly changed with cell phone providers, but a truly free market does not exist here. Sometimes the government has to step in and tell these companies where to go.
In a perfect world, there would be a hell of alot more privatization in this country, specifically in the province of Ontario. For example, I still think the privatization of the CBC federally and the LCBO and Toronto Hydro in Ontario (unfinished business of Mike Harris’ Common Sense Revolution) needs to be carried out.