The CRTC begins public hearings today on the traffic-management practices of Internet service providers, in a review that may help determine the speed of Canadians' access to online content.
ISPs currently use a range of technologies to direct and prioritize traffic on an increasingly congested Internet.
"We're hoping that the CRTC sets out a principled framework for figuring out what kind of practices are okay, and which are not okay," said Jacob Glick, Canada policy counsel for Google, who will appear before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission tomorrow as a representative for the Open Internet Coalition, a group that also includes Amazon, Skype and eBay.
"I think that's a mistake," said Kenneth Englehart, senior vice-president of regulatory affairs for Rogers. "I think the Internet is so new that it's better to look at individual practices on a case-by-case basis."
The review comes out of a complaint raised last year by the Canadian Association of Internet Providers. The group, which represents small and independent ISPs, alleged that Bell was reducing and regulating, or "throttling," transmissions.
Bell handles the online traffic for many smaller ISPs. The company argued it was necessary to place some limits because a relatively small number of users using peer-to-peer networking were taking up more than half of the network's capacity, slowing service for regular customers.
The CRTC dismissed the complaint in November, but initiated a review to look at the traffic-management practices of all ISPs.
"The Internet has always been managed, first of all," said Mirko Bibic, senior vice-president for regulatory and government affairs at Bell. "Second, the traffic-management practices we utilize have been reviewed extensively, and the CRTC has said they are appropriate."
The CRTC will be looking at a range of practices, from different charges based on time of day or quantity of usage, to "application-based throttling," or the limiting of access for certain file types and applications that provoked the original complaint. Under the Telecommunications Act, the commission has the power to regulate how ISPs run their networks.
The hearings conclude next Mondaywhen the large Internet Service Providers appear.
With a report from The Canadian Press
