The Canadian Radio-Television & Telecommunications Commission has voted to end the monopoly held in long-distance telephone service by BCE Inc’s Bell Canada and provincial telephone companies. Third parties will be permitted to buy bulk long-distance capacity and resell it to individual subscribers as well as businesses, and among the companies queuing up to do so are Unitel Communications Inc of Toronto, controlled by Canadian Pacific Ltd and Rogers Communications Inc; and BCRL, a joint venture of BC Rail Ltd and Call Call-Net Telecommunications Ltd. The quirk of the Canadian system is that long-distance service, 50% more expensive than in the US, is used by all operators to subsidise local service to the point where local calls are free in Canada; the third parties will be required to contribute part of their revenues to the subsidy on local service. The decision to liberalise the market was regarded as essential because the exorbitant cost of long-distance telephone service was forcing large companies to relocate their businesses in the US.
