CRTC chairman Jean Pierre Blais during a new conference in Gatineau, Que., in October, 2012.Dave Chan/The Globe and Mail
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission says independent, high-speed Internet providers must get a straightforward bill from the big telephone and cable companies with rates the regulator has set.
The CRTC says it has established the rates for wholesale high-speed Internet and a single billing model.
As a result, the CRTC says some independent Internet providers will see significant reductions in the wholesale rates they pay to rent space on the large providers' networks.
The CRTC says some large companies had charged independent Internet providers different rates under different billing models for wholesale and residential business services.
The CRTC doesn't regulate Internet prices for consumers, but expects that the wholesale rates it has set will have a favourable impact on prices charged in the competitive retail market.
The CRTC says the final wholesale rates are based on the large telephone and cable companies' costs, plus a reasonable markup.