Meme from Open Media (no endorsement sought or given)
January 31, 2023
Appointments to the CRTC are what we call “Inside Baseball,” of intense interest to those who could do with a few more hobbies.
Just before Christmas the federal government appointed Vicky Eatrides to replace Ian Scott as chair. A former Competition Bureau lawyer and Assistant Deputy Minister at ISED, she had an appropriately low public profile.
Not so Bram Abramson, the newly appointed CRTC regional commissioner for Ontario. A well known telecommunications and technology lawyer who started out as one of Peter Grant‘s juniors at McCarthy’s, Abramson’s varied career includes stints at the CRTC and chief regulatory officer at TekSavvy.
The reaction to Abramson’s appointment has been effusively positive from all quarters. The many critics of the CRTC’s telco rulings on Internet and Mobile regulation are especially pleased.
Abramson is replacing Monique Lafontaine (also a former McCarthy’s lawyer) whose background was stronger in broadcasting.
The next two years at the Commission will be a pressure cooker, given public demand for lower Internet and cell phone prices and, on the broadcasting side, the implementation of Bills C-11 and C-18.
The new chair Eatrides has already signalled she wants to speed up implementation of the Commission’s “MVNO” model that allows upstart telcos to expand outside their current wireless footprints through temporary access to existing networks built by their competitors.
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There’s another decidedly non-MediaPolicy take on Eatrides’ appointment as chair worth reading from Peter Menzies, here.
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