CRTC Mandates Self-Serve Cancellation, Removing Telecom Agent Hurdles
Cellphone and internet companies must provide customers the option to modify or cancel their subscription services online, without requiring them to interact with a live customer representative, the telecom regulator has directed.
Companies have until April, 2027, to ensure customers can modify – including upgrading or downgrading – or cancel their plans through a self-service mechanism, such as an app, a website or by e-mail, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said in a regulatory document released Thursday.
The directive falls under the CRTC’s broader objective of increasing competition by reducing barriers to switching service providers. It also follows changes to the Telecommunications Act that came into force last October.
“Our recent decisions make it easier to manage services, shop around and switch plans,” CRTC chair Vicky Eatrides said in a statement Friday morning.
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The self-service requirement will apply to all service providers. Changes made by customers must be effective immediately, and service providers will be required to provide written confirmation for any self-service action customers take.
The CRTC noted that some companies are already providing self-service options.
As part of a public consultation over online cancellations, consumer groups submitted to the CRTC that customers should always have the option of interacting with a live customer service representative if they wish. However, service providers said that requiring them to guarantee that access was beyond the scope of the proceeding.
Earlier this year, the CRTC ordered companies to stop charging fees that prevent customers from switching to another internet or cellphone plan. These fees cost consumers as much as $80 in certain circumstances, and have been on the rise in recent years, though telecoms have started waiving some fees for custo
Also on Friday, the CRTC set final fibre wholesale rates that telecom companies must pay to resell over Telus Corp. T-T and BCE Inc.’s BCE-T networks. The rates are slightly lower than the interim rates, which have been in effect since 2024.
The fibre wholesale regime is intended to improve competition by allowing internet companies to offer services through rivals’ networks in areas where they do not own their own infrastructure. The contested framework has enabled Bell and Telus to expand into each other’s main footprints.
Analysts said the long-awaited final rates are broadly as expected, and the modest change is unlikely to change the pricing strategies of major providers.
TD Cowen analyst Vince Valentini said the final price points “leave minimal room for profit for fibre resellers, in our view.”
The incumbents’ strategies have broadly aimed to expand their internet offerings while bundling in other telecom products, such as cellphone plans.
The regulator’s decision not to lower the access rates further was disappointing to small competitors, said Andy Kaplan-Myrth, vice-president of regulatory and carrier affairs for TekSavvy Solutions Inc., an internet company that uses wholesale delivery.
“In effect, the CRTC has kept the same high wholesale rates it already set years ago. After waiting three years for this decision, it is frustrating that nothing has changed to help increase real competition or lower retail prices for fibre Internet,” he wrote in an e-mail.
He noted that the government has yet to set the rates for wholesale access to cable-based internet.
“TekSavvy urges the CRTC to act quickly to address the remaining rates and halt the shrinking competitive footprint for Internet services in Canada,” Mr. Kaplan-Myrth said.
This article was first reported by The Globe and Mail
