The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications commissions (CRTC) recently passed a bill that would allow for Bell and Rogers to charge companies who lease from them on a per-byte basis. The bill forced the smaller companies to revise their service plans, effectively ending 'unlimited' bandwidth plans in Canada.
In recent developments, the Canadian government has stepped-in to protect consumers and small businesses. According to The Globe and Mail, the CRTC must overturn their decision, or the Harper government will do it for them. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, posted a comment on Twitter yesterday to have the decision reviewed:
During the short few days after the original announcement to end 'unlimited use' Internet plans, a massive backlash from consumers everywhere across Canada, and even around the world, forced the government to step-in and request the CRTC overturn the decision.
One website titled "Stop the Meter" asked for users to sign a petition, which gathered over 357,000 signatures to stop the bill. The CRTC said that it has received thousands of complaints about the decision, a strong sign of displeasure among Canadians.
This news will be well received by Canadians, where many started to worry about the Internet cap usage shrinking from as much as 200GB down to a mere 25GB per month.
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