According to a recent article in the New York Times, American cable and satellite companies lost more than 600,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2015, marking the biggest decline the industry has ever seen as more and more people “cut the cord” on their cable subscriptions, looking instead to online entertainment services like Netflix.
As consumer preferences move to online services, competition between service providers is becoming a critical issue for consumers. In North America, most households can only get broadband Internet service from one or two providers – usually large cable and phone companies. Ontario is no exception. Without adequate competition between service providers, there is the potential risk of telecommunications giants to artificially inflate the price of Internet services to compensate for their loss of cable and satellite revenue.
This is why it’s critical to invest in an infrastructure model like SWIFT, which will provide open-access broadband Internet service is available to all providers and users with publicly published rates to ensure competition and full transparency and generate more selection, better services, more choices, and lower prices for consumers.
To learn more about the SWIFT model, please read the published objective third-party review that underscores the importance of SWIFT for ensuring everyone in Western Ontario has access to affordable, ultra-high-speed fibre-optic Internet connectivity.
