Liberal Industry Critic Regan comes out in support of Stop The Cell Phone Squeeze Campaign

The Liberal Party's Industry Critic Geoff Regan is the first parliamentarian to express support for the Stop The Cell Phone Squeeze campaign. This is a great step forward, and we're glad to have the Liberals on board so early in the campaign. In an open letter posted to his website, Regan spelled out his concerns about the high price of cell phone use in Canada: In Canada the cost of wireless plans continues to remain significantly higher than in many other developed countries. Canada also lags many of those countries in terms of wireless penetration. Both of these facts suggest that our wireless marketplace still requires more companies providing more competition. Regan went on to support Canadians' demand that spectrum space, which is crucial for cell phone providers, be set aside for start-ups and small businesses.

The letter is a little sparse on details, but that's understandable considering how quickly this statement came out. It is important that we provide a level playing field for affordable cell phone choice through a wireless spectrum set-aside from the Big Three, but the specifics of that set aside make a big difference. Both the amount of spectrum and the quality matter a great deal. The government could set aside a small portion of crappy spectrum and the independents would still be shut out of the future of cell phone service. The set aside must be high quality block that next generation devises use. That means a minimum of 10MHZ paired (i.e., 20MHz total) of the high quality portion of spectrum is necessary.

We look forward to a more detailed and specific position after the Liberals have more time to mull over the issue.

We at OpenMedia.ca are very happy to recognize the Liberals as the first federal party to support the Stop The Squeeze campaign, and we hope the other parties (including our Conservative government) soon heed the call of the over 35,000 Canadians who have signed the petition at http://StopTheSqueeze.ca to date.

If you haven't already, take a moment to sign the petition yourself and spread the word to your friends, family, and community. As you read this, Conservative Industry Minister Christian Paradis is preparing to announce the rules for the upcoming spectrum auction. This holds the key to the future of cell phone access, and choice in Canada—we have no time to lose we know raise our voices together works.

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