Hey CRTC - Don't let monopolies squeeze out the little guy!!

MTS, small ISP take internet fight with Bell to court

Reprinted courtesy of CBC NEWS

MTS Allstream and independent broadband provider Acanac are asking a court to overturn a CRTC decision that grants Bell Canada the right to impose new internet charges on wholesale customers.

The companies, respectively based in Winnipeg and Toronto, have filed a notice of motion with the Federal Court of Appeal that says the regulator made an "error of law" by allowing Bell to go ahead with its usage-based billing plan.

Under the plan, Bell will institute new charges on wholesale customers — companies that rent parts of its network to provide their own internet services, including MTS and Acanac — based on their monthly bandwidth consumption. Bell will set each end user's monthly allowance, then charge extra for every gigabyte above the limit.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission provisionally approved the usage-based billing plan in early August. A few weeks later, the regulator asked Bell to justify the prices it intends to charge.

In their filing, MTS and Acanac say the CRTC is bound by the Telecommunications Act to ensure that rates for services it regulates are just and reasonable at all times. But since Bell doesn't have to pay itself those rates, the filing says, they are in fact unfair.

"Nowhere [in the order] is there any indication that the commission considered a usage-based charge to be just and reasonable and if it did, what evidence on the record it considered in coming to such a conclusion," court documents say.

Jacqueline Michelis, a spokesperson for Bell, said the regulator made the right decision.

"There is no error in law that would justify the court granting leave," she said.

Companies are able to file appeals with the courts over CRTC decisions if they believe the regulator has made an error in law, or if it has acted outside of its jurisdiction.

MTS and Acanac are part of a campaign started last week to overturn another CRTC decision, which limits wholesale competitors' access to the broadband infrastructure owned by the likes of Bell and Telus. MTS is looking to have that decision, which the CRTC made last December, overturned by cabinet.

The Coalition for Competitive Broadband seeks to muster public support for the appeal, which cabinet must act on by Dec. 11. The government can overturn the CRTC's decision, and send it back to the regulator for a review, or reject the appeal.

Industry analysts have said the access ruling and the usage-based billing decision have left MTS, which sells internet service to businesses across Canada, and smaller wholesale ISPs fighting for their lives.

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Bank of Canada keeps key rate unchanged

Reprinted courtesy of CBC NEWS

The Bank of Canada left its key overnight interest rate unchanged Thursday as it again warned that a high Canadian dollar poses a risk to economic recovery.

The target for the overnight rate will remain at 0.25 per cent. Economists had expected no change.

The central bank also reiterated its commitment to leave the key rate at that level through the middle of next year as long as inflation remains in check.

The central bank said growth for the remainder of the year will likely be higher than it forecast earlier this summer.

"Combined with recent information on inventory adjustments and automotive production, this suggests that GDP growth in the second half of 2009 could be stronger than the bank projected in July," it said in a release.

The central bank said it still expects inflation will remain low and will return to its two per cent target in the second quarter of 2011 "as aggregate supply and demand return to balance."

Housing affordability improves, RBC says

Reprinted courtesy of cbcnews.ca

It's becoming easier to carry the costs of home ownership in Canada, but a survey by RBC Economics on housing affordability suggests this may be as good as it's going to get.

Home ownership became more affordable in the second quarter, the bank said Wednesday. It was the fifth straight quarter that the measure improved, it said.

"The national home affordability level has been restored to pre-housing boom levels," senior RBC economist Robert Hogue said in a statement.

But he warned that consumers shouldn't expect affordability to improve much more.

"The recuperative phase of the affordability cycle seems to be drawing to a close, with housing prices firming up in many parts of the country, and mortgage rates no longer trending downward," Hogue said.

Most banks lowered their mortgage rates in the last week, reversing this summer's earlier rate hike. A five-year fixed closed mortgage can now be obtained at 4.19 per cent at many banks and as little as 3.99 per cent at a few smaller financial institutions.

The RBC affordability study measures the percentage of pre-tax household income needed to service the costs of buying a home (mortgage payments, utilities and property taxes).

Housing affordability - bungalow
City	Q2/09 (% of pretax income needed)	Q2/08
Vancouver	63.4	76.8
Calgary	35.7	46.2
Edmonton	33.8	41.8
Toronto	46.5	54.2
Ottawa	38.6	42.4
Montreal	37.3	41.4
CANADA	39.1	45.4
Source: RBC Economics

The study found that it took an average of 39.1 per cent of income to pay for a detached bungalow in the three months ending in June — down from 39.7 per cent in the first quarter.

The priciest market continued to be Vancouver, where it took 63.4 per cent of pre-tax income to service a bungalow purchase.

Nationally, the RBC study found that affordability also improved for two-storey homes, townhouses and condos.

Despite predictions that home affordability is levelling off, RBC economists say the recent bounce-back in the housing market is not likely to wane any time soon.

"Supply of properties for sale is dropping as demand bounces back, which is working to heat up prices again in many parts of the country," RBC's Hogue said.

Figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association showed that 50,270 homes changed hands in July via MLS — a record for any July.

The average residential resale price rose 7.6 per cent from a year ago to $326,832.

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