Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackArcher101
Wouldn't the company that owns the towers be reimbursed somehow for their usage by the other companies wishing to move into their area? Perhaps a rental fee or something a long those lines? I'm sure they would be forced to invest in infrastructure somehow.
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Ah, except that the government has decided that all the companies also need to have automatic roaming agreements and as such, don't make much money that way. AFAIK, Bell and Telus basically make nothing off using each other's towers. Virgin has an agreement with Bell, but not Telus so Bell gets to see all that profit, not Telus. And yet Telus is also facing additional infrastructure usage.
I'm fairly certain that this is the same problem Telus is having with landlines now that they're deregulated. Everyone else is using them, but since they aren't their lines, only Telus has to repair them. The reimbursment is not what it should be so Telus loses fistfulls of money now. (The reason their landline rates are higher than everyone else's, or at least part of it.)
In any case, when you cut everyone's profit margins in half, there's no way that there is as much money going into network improvements anymore.