Rogers supports wireless code, moves to curb ‘bill shock’

New roaming rates, the ability to “unlock” a smartphone to let it run on other cellular networks sooner and other consumer-friendly measures have been swiftly introduced by mobile giant Rogers Communications Inc. in recent weeks.

All it took was some nudging from regulators.

The country’s biggest wireless carrier, with more than nine million subscribers, said Tuesday it has made a number of changes for customers ahead of a scheduled appearance in front of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in Gatineau, Que.

Like rival Telus Corp., which appeared before Rogers at the week-long hearings at the CRTC, Rogers said it was in favour of a so-called code of conduct for wireless contracts and services.

“Rogers supports the CRTC’s objective of giving Canadians worry-free wireless service,” Ken Engelhart, senior vice-president of regulatory affairs, told the commission.

Regulators are holding hearings with mobile carriers, consumer advocacy groups and individual Canadians who want to air their grievances before the new code comes into effect. Each camp is aligned in its desire to have a set of common, national guidelines established.

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Consumer groups argue rules limiting contract lengths and certain fees are needed to curb gouging by carriers. The carriers meanwhile support a national code to replace a patchwork of local rules that have popped up in individual provinces in recent years, like in Quebec and Manitoba.

“Having multiple wireless codes is a concern,” Rogers’ Engelhart told regulators, noting that legislation in certain provinces has added to the carrier’s costs.

Among other measures, advocacy groups want the traditional three-year contract that carriers typically lock subscribers into peeled back to no more than 24 months, a move that would free up subscribers to jump between operators and spur more competitive pricing.

While Rogers said it supports many proposals in a draft code released by the CRTC before the hearings, term contract lengths should be determined by market forces.

Carriers like Rogers and Telus have moved in recent quarters to alter the standard three-year contract so that it allows customers to pay low upfront costs for a new phone, then pay the device off over time.

Fat mark-ups on subsidized devices have largely been phased out due to competition, carriers say.

If a customer at present wants to leave the operator, their only responsibility before doing so is to pay off the balance on their device, Engelhart said. “There’s not a problem here we need to solve for,” he said.

Comments from consumers filed with the CRTC suggested otherwise, CRTC commissioner Candice Molnar said. Before the hearings, scores of complaints were filed with regulators by wireless customers saying they felt trapped by the contract plans.

“While it doesn’t appear to you as a problem, consumers say there’s a problem,” the commissioner said.

Rogers, which said last week it will introduce new roaming data plans this spring for outside of Canada – a prime source of so-called “bill shock” for wireless customers – said it will promptly comply with whatever rules are codified.

The country’s largest carrier has also introduced a new 90-day policy that will allow customers to unlock devices, allowing them to leave the carrier if they so choose. Rogers asked however for a staggered implementation.

The CRTC is eying a six-month window to have a code implemented. Rogers said the most complex requirements such as new notification alter systems that demand deep technological changes to the network, need at least 18 months to implement.

BCE Inc, the country’s second-largest carrier, as well as smaller providers like Wind Mobile and Mobilicity are scheduled to appear later in the week.