Canadians are still paying too much for telecom services, the industry minister said Thursday, one day after Rogers Communications said it was raising the cost of some of its wireless phone plans.Toronto-based Rogers Communications said Wednesday it would hike the cost of some of its wireless plans for non-contract customers.
"That is why, last year, I issued a policy direction to the CRTC to make sure that competition, affordability and consumer rights would be at the core of CRTC decisions."were attached to Rogers's merger with Shaw Communications, including reducing costs for customers, when Champagne announced the deal's approval in 2023.
At the time, Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri pledged in an interview that prices would go down for customers.The hikes can be viewed as a sort of "disciplinary intervention," said Vass Bednar, executive director of the Master of Public Policy program at McMaster University in Hamilton. But she points out that there aren't many alternatives for customers who are fed up with wireless providers raising their prices.