Cybersurf issues Statement today Mar. 24thCYBERSURF Responds with Cautious Optimism
08:30 EST Friday, March 24, 2006
to Telecom Policy Review Report
FSC / Press Release
CYBERSURF Responds with Cautious Optimism
to Telecom Policy Review Report
Calgary, Alberta CANADA, March 24, 2006 /FSC/ - Cybersurf Corp. (CY - TSX Venture), one of Canada's leading independent Internet service providers, issued the following statement in response to the release of the Final Report of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel:
"The Company is pleased with the Report's acknowledgment that mandated wholesale access to essential facilities and ancillary services at regulated prices and regulatory oversight of interconnection arrangements are essential features of a viable telecommunications policy framework. Cybersurf has been seeking the development of a more rational, responsive and predictable wholesale regime for a number of years.
The Panel's recommendations with respect to a regulated wholesale regime could foster more significant and fairer competition at the retail level if such a regime is implemented carefully, with due regard to the technological and economic realities of markets for telecommunications services. Cybersurf urges government decision-makers to proceed cautiously and carefully in implementing the Panel's recommendations in this area. An unduly narrow definition of what constitutes "essential facilities and ancillary services" could make such a regime unworkable, leading to a duopoly between the incumbent local exchange carriers and cable companies. The danger of the development of a duopoly is exacerbated by the Report's emphasis on greater deregulation of telecommunications services at the retail level. A duopolistic market structure would not benefit consumers or the Canadian economy as a whole.
The Company endorses the Report's recommendation that local resellers who adhere to all of the obligations imposed on competitive local exchange carriers should also be entitled to all of the corresponding benefits. This approach, coupled with a vibrant wholesale regime, will serve to accelerate the development of competition in local exchange services, both through traditional circuit-switched and newer voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologies.
Cybersurf is also pleased with the majority of institutional reforms recommended by the Panel, which are in line with the submissions made by Cybersurf during the Panel's consultation process. Adoption of those recommendations can be expected to make telecommunications policy-making and regulation more effective and efficient."