Telus has a history of rewarding shareholders with dividend growth, according to Yield Hog panelist Tony Demarin of BCV Asset Management.SHAUN BEST
The federal telecom regulator should not apply the "obligation to serve" principle to broadband Internet, Telus Corp. said in a submission Monday.
The regulatory model that allowed former telecom monopolies to provide rural Canada with landline telephone service has been eroded by competition and technological change, Canada's second-largest telecommunications company told the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in opening statements filed ahead of hearings into the issue this fall.
"The idea of an obligation to provide broadband is really a solution in search of a problem," Michael Hennessy, Telus's senior vice-president for regulatory and government affairs, said in an interview. "To the extent some Canadians in remote or rural areas don't have service, the cost of providing service tends to be prohibitive and the commission's framework for meeting those obligations don't adequately cover the costs."
The CRTC is holding hearings in October to determine, in part, whether to extend to high-speed Internet the "obligation" many former monopolies have to provide rural Canada with landline phone and basic dial-up Internet.
The regulator is concerned that as urban areas race ahead with high-speed and secure wired connections such as fibre-optic cable, rural Canadians without access to such networks will fall farther behind.
Telus has long argued - along with its partner Bell Canada - that their new national wireless network provides adequate broadband service, and that it covers 93 per cent of the population.
For areas beyond that, or in areas where hills or trees inhibit wireless signals, Telus said next-generation satellites being launched in the next few years should provide quality Internet. Currently, satellite service is considered by many to be unreliable and slow, though some analysts concede it may be the only solution for certain areas.
"Since satellite, cable, copper, and wireless options will, in combination, provide 100 per cent broadband coverage, all without regulation, there is clearly no need to revise the [basic service obligation]to include broadband," the company said in its filing.