If B.C. Tel has its way, many thousands of rural and small-town customers can forget about access to the “information highway”. They can forget about access to basic telephone service that Vancouver residents have long taken for granted, according to Jim Quail, a lawyer with the B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
B.C. Tel has filed an application with the CRTC to restructure rural phone rates. “At first blush, it looks like good news,” Quail commented. “They have offered to eliminate their ‘mileage charges’ for outlying customers. But there is a huge catch buried in the application. In return, they want to drop any accountability for upgrading areas served by outmoded, lowgrade equipment.”
Continue Reading »