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Maker said the CCTS had been advocating account-level notifications since 2013, when the original code went into effect, and noted that the CRTC adopted that approach in the revised code.

He said the CRTC has also noticed a trend towards more complaints about internet services and is now studying the possibility of a separate internet code of conduct, in addition to its wireless and TV codes.

But Maker cautioned against just looking at raw numbers in the CCTS annual report.

It’s important to consider how a provider performed compared with the overall industry this year, how has it performed over time and how well has it resolved disputes before they get to the CCTS, he said.

“And what’s the size of their customer base? Because if you have 30 per cent of the complaints and you have 50 per cent of the customers, maybe that’s not so bad. But if you have 10 per cent of the customers, then maybe that’s a problem.”

As in recent years, Bell Canada continued to receive the biggest number of complaints, 4,734 or 33.2 per cent of the total — not counting 847 directed at its Virgin Mobile flanker brand or its Bell Aliant (229) and Bell MTS (135) regional affiliates.

Bell noted that it is Canada’s largest communications provider by far, with more than 22 million customer connections, and so it’s not surprising that it received the largest number of complaints (33.2 per cent of total.)

“It’s important to note that Bell’s share of the total continued to decline for the third year in a row, and decline more quickly than for our largest competitors,” the BCE subsidiary said in a statement.