February 3, 2011
#UBB Overturned
It seems the Canadian internet using public can breath again … for the moment.
The Conservative government has overturned the CRTC decision to allow Usage Based Billing. Is it because the implementation of UBB would have been seen as one of the largest indirect taxes on Canadians and their businesses since the introduction of the personal income tax in 1917?
Or … is it because the Cons realize that pissing off an entire nation to satisfy the endless greed of Bell and Rogers just may not be a good idea?
Regardless, don’t expect the issue to go away. The folks with Canada’s media companies are slippery and creative. Too bad all that energy is being wasted on finding ways to tax Canadians and not on ways to improve our digital infrastructure!
Here’s a quick post-script: someone was asking me what’s wrong with charging people for what they use. The short answer: nothing.
However, think of this analogy: for more than a decade, Canadians have been paying for first-class seats when all we want is coach. Just a small population demands first class – much like a VERY small population demands 100GB or 200GB in file transfer per month. Once we accept that we’ve been over-charged since the inception of the Internet, then we can come to peace with the country’s big media companies.
With wireless, the companies got smart and charged UBB out of the gate. Of course, their rates are EXTREMELY uncompetitive and the initial minimum amounts are outrageously low, but they at least modified the model to suit them best.
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