There’s an interesting piece by Michael Geist in the Ottawa Citizen about the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’s policies on Canadian internet service providers, and the effect they have on competition in Canada.

One particularly interesting point to note is that Tim Denton, chair of the CRTC, pointed out that newcomer ISP’s, even if they can match prices, are still at a disadvantage because they “will be required to pass along all the network limitations (such as traffic management practices and bandwidth caps) imposed by the incumbents.”

Considering the government has already backed down on the previous decision to force incumbent ISPs to no longer hobble the speeds they provide to the newcomers, Canadians shouldn’t hold their breath for the government to step in and remove the traffic shaping and bandwidth cap limitations that ISPs impose on their customers.