August 18, 2024

Welcome to Letters from CAMP, a newsletter on anti-monopoly activity in Canada and abroad, brought to you by the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project. In this installment we have:

• How Canadians stand to gain from U.S. antitrust victory against Google in search
• Canada’s telecom regulator lays the foundation for more vibrant internet competition
• CAMP talks competition and the future of news at the University of Calgary

Let’s dive in.

Canadians Should Celebrate U.S. Victory Against Google

The landmark U.S. court ruling against Google’s search monopoly is a victory for markets around the world, and one Canadians should wholeheartedly embrace. As CAMP Executive Director Keldon Bester argued in the Toronto Star this week, this decision paves the way for a more vibrant digital landscape on both sides of the border. Responding to critics who wrongly claim the ruling will stifle entrepreneurship and innovation, the piece highlights that the decision defends the fair competition that allows for challengers to emerge and fuels the innovative process.

But Canada cannot solely rest on the actions of our peers, and the decision is an opportunity for Canada to build on our own burgeoning antitrust moment. Canada’s Competition Bureau has already expanded its investigation of Google’s ad tech practices as a result of action in the U.S. and should extend that vigilance to the markets for search at the heart of the recent ruling.

This is critical as the U.S. Google search case moves to the remedy phase, where the presiding judge will determine the appropriate response to Google’s monopolistic conduct. While a bold set of remedies will have global consequences, it cannot be taken as given that the remedy will apply to Canadian markets. Accordingly, Canada must stand ready to take equally bold action to ensure the future of our markets are not beholden to a single gatekeeper.

The ruling is a reminder both of the progress of the global antitrust movement and the hard work remaining at home and abroad. Canada must chart a bolder course in digital markets, one that prioritizes innovation, dynamism, and the contest of markets that underpins a healthy economy.

CRTC Moves on Fibre Access, But Questions Remain

In welcome news for the future of internet competition, this week the CRTC, Canada’s telecommunications regulator, released its new framework for wholesale high-speed internet access. At its core, the ruling mandates that major telcos like Bell and Telus must provide competitors access to their fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks nationwide, expanding on the temporary mandate in Ontario and Quebec. This broader access could potentially inject a much-needed dose of competition into the high-speed internet market, allowing wholesale competitors to offer comparable services they had sorely lacked in recent years.

But the devil is in the regulatory details. While existing fibre assets are included, a five-year “head start” exemption for new fibre builds risks leaving some Canadian internet users in the slow lane for home internet competition. The limited fibre footprint of cable companies like Rogers and Videotron are exempted from the requirement to offer wholesale access, but the same companies will be able to make use of the system to compete outside their home territory.

But most critically, the rates at which this wholesale access will be available to competitors remains to be determined. These yet-to-be-set rates will ultimately make or break the effectiveness of this new framework. If set too high, they’ll stifle competition before it can take root. But if calibrated appropriately, they could usher in a new era of innovative internet offerings for Canadians.

While CAMP welcomes this step towards increased competition, the CRTC must follow through with truly pro-competitive rate-setting to make the effort worthwhile. After years of waiting, Canadians deserve nothing less than a genuinely open and dynamic internet market.

CAMP on Campus: Competition, Mergers and Media at the University of Calgary

One of the most important policy discussions of our time is how to foster a vibrant news media ecosystem able to undergird a healthy democracy. Even before the rise of the digital giants, Canadian media markets have been on a decades-long decline characterized by consolidation, vertical integration and the shuttering of local news outlets.

To move this important discussion forward, this week CAMP Executive Director Keldon Bester will be joining columnist David Moscrop and founder of The Line Jen Gerson for Competition and Culture: Discussions on the Economics of News Media and Mergers in Canada at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.

The event promises to be a wide-ranging discussion covering the topics such as the history of consolidation and vertical integration in Canadian media markets, the need for action against the giants that make up the foundation of the news business today, and the progress and pitfalls of policy action taken to date in Canada.

While there will be diverging views on the correct path forward, continuing the status quo is not likely to be one of them. We encourage Calgarian CAMPers to turn up and add their voice to the discussion.

If you have any monopoly tips or stories you’d like to share, drop us a line at hello@antimonopoly.ca

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