Canadian Industry Minister Invites Telco Heads to Explain New Texting Charges

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In response to public outrage at recent announcements of increased service charges from both Telus and Bell Canada, the federal Industry Minister Jim Prentice has invited the CEOs of both these companies to meet with him personally. According to this CBC report,

Prentice, who has sent letters to the heads of the two companies, said the decision to charge consumers without text bundling packages will hurt consumers. The companies must meet with him before Aug. 8.

"While I have no desire to interfere with the day-to-day business decisions of two private companies, I do have a duty as minister of industry to protect the interests of the consuming public when necessary."

As reported by David Silverberg (DJ), both Bell Canada and Telus will now charge subscribers that do not have a texting package $ 0.15 for each incoming text message. Public outrage was immediate and vocal. Subscribers had previously not been charged for incoming text messages. While this may seem an insignificant additional charge, the increase in "push advertising", subscriber updates, and other services has increased received text messages — often in cases where subscribers have no control over their receipt of them. In essence, these national telcos now plan to punish non-package, i.e. pay-as-you-go, only voice service, customers for receiving messages that are often unsolicited – therefore spam.

"Cellphone companies are now charging for spam, consumer confidence sinks lower every quarter and the central bank's quarterly business outlook suggests 42 per cent of businesses in Canada will increase the cost of their goods and services," NDP Leader Jack Layton said in a release.

The National Democratic Party (NDP) go further by encouraging Canadian wireless subscribers to sign an online petition about this issue.

Industry spokespersons justify this increase, saying it will help to offset rising usage of texting that has resulted in rising costs for their network. Said one Telus representative, "Typically customers who send and receive the odd text message, you know, 'Honey pick up milk and eggs on your way home,' that kind of thing." There was no response to the specific concerns over unsolicited incoming text messages. Other industry professionals have discounted these concerns, and opposed survey results, in stating that Canadians are not being overcharged for these services—as compared to US and European subscribers.

Hopefully, Minister Prentice will be able extract more specific reasoning and agreements from Telus and Bell Canada to amend, if not reverse, these "poorly though out" decisions.