Is there enough competition between internet providers?

Canada’s competition watchdog is questioning whether there’s enough competition among internet providers.

The Competition Bureau announced Thursday it will conduct a market study of the broadband internet industry, a process that will seek ways to foster competition in a market that’s critical to the digital economy.

“There are few products more vital to Canada’s economic future than broadband. We want to shine a light on potential competitive issues in a sector at the heart of our daily lives,” Commissioner of Competition John Pecman said in a statement.

It noted that most homes are served by two networks, owned by the local cable and telephone companies.

“This limited choice leads to obvious questions about competition; when consumers have only two options, can we be sure that market forces will deliver the low prices and high levels of innovation that are characteristic of competitive markets?” the bureau stated.

The move surprised the industry, given longstanding regulatory oversight by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, particularly in light of its past efforts to boost competition.

In 2015, the CRTC forced the large telecom companies to sell smaller competitors wholesale access to their high-speed internet networks. BCE Inc. fought the decision, arguing it would stifle investment, but Ottawa upheld the ruling in 2016 in the name of competition. Since then, lengthy proceedings have sought to set fair wholesale rates.

More than 550 internet firms offer alternative services across the country, but the bureau noted that 87 per cent of consumers purchased internet from traditional providers in 2016, even though resellers’ prices are up to 30 per cent lower.

The limited uptake of services from independent internet providers has the bureau questioning their ability to deploy service effectively. It wants to study their offerings and why consumers aren’t biting. It will examine awareness of resellers, as well as industry practices such as contracts and bundled offerings.

It also intends to study whether investment levels have changed since the establishment of a resale market and how other countries regulate broadband competition.

The Big Three providers — Bell, Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. — have all invested heavily in broadband networks over the past few years, spending billions to improve connections as consumers demand more and faster data.

When Telus chief executive officer Darren Entwistle heard the news on a conference call with analysts, he said there has already been an “extremely robust, data intensive” process regarding the sale of wholesale wireline access.

“This part of our industry is extremely healthy and competitive,” Entwistle said.

Canada’s fibre networks are a “massive success story” when compared to other G20 countries given the heavy investments, he said.

“What we have done on the fibre front has not been done easily … we’ve used our balance sheet to do the right thing for our investors, the right thing for our customers, but also the right thing for our country.”

In a statement, Rogers touted its investments in its networks and noted it has plans that range from $9.99 for low-income families to top tier gigabit-speed services.

But the surprise was a positive one for Matt Stein, vice-chair of the Canadian Network Operators Consortium and CEO of Distributel, an independent internet provider.

“We certainly welcome the study,” Stein said.

He said it’s difficult for small competitors, given high wholesale rates and incumbents’ ability to separate their offerings through targeted discounts or equipment requirements.

“There are bursts of competition in the market here and there, but by and large it’s a very difficult market for competitors to compete in,” he said.

Bram Abramson, an open web fellow with the Mozilla Foundation, noted the Competition Bureau chose to study this at a time when digital issues such as big data and platforms are getting a lot of political attention.

“That underscores how basic an issue broadband competition is for Canadians,” he said.

The bureau expects the study will enable it to make regulatory interventions on steps that other “regulators or policymakers could take to further support competition in the broadband industry.”

It expects to publish a final report by spring 2019.