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Last week, the CRTC

that larger providers such as BCE Inc.’s Bell Canada unit and Rogers Communications Inc. must lease out space on their networks to smaller providers at a 15% bulk discounted rate. The ruling, the Commission’s fourth and final decision on the matter of usage-based billing, effectively ended the ability of smaller ISPs such as TekSavvy Solutions Inc. to provide unlimited downloads to their customers.

The decision to apply the UBB model across the entire industry has been attracting criticism from New Democratic Party digital issues critic Charlie Angus for weeks. On Tuesday morning, the official opposition Liberal Party also condemned the UBB regime.

Mr. Angus welcomed the call for a formal review on Tuesday, though he questioned the sincerity of the government’s claim to be doing so on behalf of Internet consumers’ best interests.

“Canada used to be a world leader in terms of access and speed,” Mr. Angus said. “If the CRTCs decision is not overturned, Canada is in danger of becoming a digital backwater.”

jberkow@nationalpost.com, with files from Paul Vieira

