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“It’s not just about broadband versus voice, it’s about choice versus monopoly, it’s about competition,” said Bram Abramson of TekSavvy, a provider that serves more than 250,000 customers from its base in southwestern Ontario.

The “agenda-setting” decision sets up changes to the entire regulatory framework as part of a pivot from voice to broadband, Ambramson said. Equally important was the CRTC’s decision not to mandate a skinny Internet service. Abramson views that as an endorsement of the wholesale pricing model as the way to more affordable access. TekSavvy, which buys wholesale access to major providers’ networks, recently increased its data caps and lowered its monthly prices for all customers by $2 to $10 after the CRTC drastically lowered wholesale rates.

“We have a model for low prices, it’s called retail competition,” Abramson said. “Network competition drives prices down towards their cost.”

Iristel, a provider of voice over Internet protocol services as well as wireless and Internet in the North through Ice Wireless, called the decision to open up the subsidy to competition a “great win” for independents and all Canadians.

“I believe the CRTC sees that the status quo is simply just not working and some major regime changes need to happen, and that’s exactly what that is,” Iristel president Samer Bishay said.

He believes the poor telecom services in the north are proof that the millions of subsidies spent by incumbents over the years could have benefitted from competition. His company intends to apply for funds once the mechanism is sorted out, he said, adding the CRTC should “make sure it doesn’t go back in the hands of the people that have set us back.”