OTTAWA — With video and music downloads gobbling up Internet bandwidth at an ever-expanding pace, cable company Videotron is pushing for content providers like movie studios to share some of the cost to expand broadband pipelines.
Videotron boss Robert Depatie wants the federal government to slap a transmission tariff on providers — like the music and film industry — so they can shoulder part of the burden.
The Quebec company will invest $300-million this year as its average customer uses four times more bandwidth than just a year ago, Depatie said Tuesday in a speech at a telecom conference.
He called it unfair for studios and companies like Apple and Amazon.com to use that extra service without cost — which he compared to free shipping.
“If the movie studio were to mail a DVD . . . they would expect to pay postage or courier fees,” Depatie said.
“Why should they not expect a transmission tariff?”
With Ottawa looking to deregulate the communications industry, all the major players — from telephone companies, to wireless providers and the cable industry — are lobbying to have their voices heard.
In an interview later, Depatie said he merely wanted to put the tariff idea on the table and offered few clues about how his revenue-sharing proposal would work. It's unclear whether such a tariff would be passed on to consumers through higher download fees.
But Depatie said he's against raising rates for Internet service and that it's only fair for content providers to help foot the infrastructure cost.
“We build the network, renovate the network, spend the money on marketing to get customers, we invoice and service those customers. We pay a great deal of money,” he said in an interview.
“(For producers) it's just a free ride — ‘Let's provide movie downloads. It's the telcos that will pay for it.' “ As for cellphone coverage, Depatie raised his concern that Canada lags far behind in pricing competitiveness and technology because the regulatory regime discriminates against new providers like Videotron.
“We pay 60 per cent more than Americans for services that are less advanced technologically,” he said.
“3G (third generation) services were deployed in Asia in 2001, in Europe in 2002 and even the Americans with a late deployment in 2005 are now way ahead of us.
“How competitive is that? ... Canadian consumers have become two-time losers by having to pay more for less advanced services.”
Videotron recently launched a cellphone service, and Depatie says his company would be prepared to pay more established providers for access to their towers.
Such a system, he said, would benefit all cellphone users by eliminating the gaps in coverage that exist even on the outskirts of major Canadian cities.
Depatie suggested that consecutive minority governments have not helped Canada modernize its communications environment.
Though the Tory government promises to release its telecom review soon, federal politicians are also gearing up for what could soon be their third election in less than three years.
Depatie said the cable TV industry is also crying out for less stringent rules. Videotron agrees with the status quo on Canadian content, he said.
But he lamented the 200 CRTC guidelines that decide what stations he's allowed to offer, that can force him to assign certain channel numbers, and that consume bandwidth by requiring him to offer the same station in high definition, digital and analog mode.
Videotron, a Quebecor subsidiary, is present in 1.5 million Quebec households with about 3.3 million customers for its cable TV, telecom and Internet services. It also provides residential and business telephone services to more than 283,000 customers in Quebec.
