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Meanwhile, Greece with its telecom cartel is a few spots from last, with such good company as Turkmenistan, the Virgin Islands and, for some reason, Canada. I

Meanwhile, Greece with its telecom cartel is a few spots from last, with such good company as Turkmenistan, the Virgin Islands and, for some reason, Canada. I might as well get a SIM shipped to me from Italy every three months or so, it'll be lots cheaper.

t- 6y ago
Canada also has a telecom cartel. The CRTC, which is the gov't regulatory body (and which is controlled by the telecoms), limits access to the market.
- throw0101a 6y ago
  > The CRTC, which is the gov't regulatory body (and which is controlled by the telecoms), limits access to the market. The CRTC does not limit access to the market, the elected government does. For national security purposes foreign ownership is restricted: > As it stands now [in 2018], foreign ownership of a telecommunications company is limited to no more than 20 per cent of a company’s voting shares and no more than 33.3 per cent of the voting shares of a carrier’s holding company, and an effective total limit of 46.7 per cent (as long as the foreign entity doesn’t have control). On top of that, at least 80 per cent of the board members must be Canadian citizens. * https://financialpost.com/telecom/tight-reins-leaves-our-telecom-sector-open-to-criticism-but-sadly-not-competition https://financialpost.com/telecom/tight-reins-leaves-our-tel... See Telecommunications Act, Section 16. That dictates only domestic companies can really do much, which is the incumbents of Bell, Telus, Rogers, etc. Reduce foreign operator restrictions and foreign operators may come into the market and provide more competition.
  - voisin 6y ago
    Yes, “national security” is used to justify all manner of protectionism in this country. We sure love our oligopolies.
    - noarchy 6y ago
      >Yes, “national security” is used to justify all manner of protectionism in this country. We sure love our oligopolies. That and outright monopolies created by the government itself.
    - rapind 6y ago
      You know, with the amount of data some companies and governments are slurping up it might almost be justified... of course as a 5 eyes nation it's also pretty damn hypocritical.
      - throw0101a 6y ago
        > You know, with the amount of data some companies and governments are slurping up it might almost be justified Which is why Bell Canada not peering at TorIX (and other Canadian IXPs) really annoys me. (Rogers, Telus, Cogeco, TekSavvy, etc, do.) * https://www.cira.ca/improving-canadas-internet/initiatives/canadas-internet-infrastructure-internet-exchange-points https://www.cira.ca/improving-canadas-internet/initiatives/c... Even major cloud hosting companies (AWS, Digital Ocean, OVH) have Canadian build-outs for folks that are sensitive to domestic/international issues, and yet if connect with Bell your traffic tends to go to Chicago and then back.
- baybal2 6y ago
  Canada also has a government monopoly on milk, and wheat out of all things.
spapas82 6y ago
What's more funny to the Greek mobile internet comedy (or maybe drama for us greeks) is that before 1 year, after the elections, the new prime minister asked nicely the telecom operators to offer cheaper mobile internet. The operators agreed of course. The result? There were some mocking offers in the form of double GB for the same price right after the meeting (ie instead of 10 euros/1 gb you'd get 10 euros/2 gb). After 1 year nothing more. The telecom operators think that we are in the 2000 where mobile internet is something that only company executives need... I think the time has come for the government to stop asking nicely for cheap mobile internet and force the operators to align with the rest of Europe.
- StavrosK 6y ago
  They should just break up the cartel and let them compete normally, that would take care of everything else. How to break up a cartel of the richest people in a corrupt society is a different issue...
- simonklitj 6y ago
  What's the possibility of buying a cheap data SIM-card in Bulgaria (or somewhere else) and using the EU-roaming laws to get cheap data in Greece?

t- 6y ago

Canada also has a telecom cartel. The CRTC, which is the gov't regulatory body (and which is controlled by the telecoms), limits access to the market.

throw0101a 6y ago
> The CRTC, which is the gov't regulatory body (and which is controlled by the telecoms), limits access to the market. The CRTC does not limit access to the market, the elected government does. For national security purposes foreign ownership is restricted: > As it stands now [in 2018], foreign ownership of a telecommunications company is limited to no more than 20 per cent of a company’s voting shares and no more than 33.3 per cent of the voting shares of a carrier’s holding company, and an effective total limit of 46.7 per cent (as long as the foreign entity doesn’t have control). On top of that, at least 80 per cent of the board members must be Canadian citizens. * https://financialpost.com/telecom/tight-reins-leaves-our-telecom-sector-open-to-criticism-but-sadly-not-competition https://financialpost.com/telecom/tight-reins-leaves-our-tel... See Telecommunications Act, Section 16. That dictates only domestic companies can really do much, which is the incumbents of Bell, Telus, Rogers, etc. Reduce foreign operator restrictions and foreign operators may come into the market and provide more competition.
- voisin 6y ago
  Yes, “national security” is used to justify all manner of protectionism in this country. We sure love our oligopolies.
  - noarchy 6y ago
    >Yes, “national security” is used to justify all manner of protectionism in this country. We sure love our oligopolies. That and outright monopolies created by the government itself.
  - rapind 6y ago
    You know, with the amount of data some companies and governments are slurping up it might almost be justified... of course as a 5 eyes nation it's also pretty damn hypocritical.
    - throw0101a 6y ago
      > You know, with the amount of data some companies and governments are slurping up it might almost be justified Which is why Bell Canada not peering at TorIX (and other Canadian IXPs) really annoys me. (Rogers, Telus, Cogeco, TekSavvy, etc, do.) * https://www.cira.ca/improving-canadas-internet/initiatives/canadas-internet-infrastructure-internet-exchange-points https://www.cira.ca/improving-canadas-internet/initiatives/c... Even major cloud hosting companies (AWS, Digital Ocean, OVH) have Canadian build-outs for folks that are sensitive to domestic/international issues, and yet if connect with Bell your traffic tends to go to Chicago and then back.
baybal2 6y ago
Canada also has a government monopoly on milk, and wheat out of all things.

spapas82 6y ago

What's more funny to the Greek mobile internet comedy (or maybe drama for us greeks) is that before 1 year, after the elections, the new prime minister asked nicely the telecom operators to offer cheaper mobile internet. The operators agreed of course. The result? There were some mocking offers in the form of double GB for the same price right after the meeting (ie instead of 10 euros/1 gb you'd get 10 euros/2 gb). After 1 year nothing more. The telecom operators think that we are in the 2000 where mobile internet is something that only company executives need... I think the time has come for the government to stop asking nicely for cheap mobile internet and force the operators to align with the rest of Europe.

StavrosK 6y ago
They should just break up the cartel and let them compete normally, that would take care of everything else. How to break up a cartel of the richest people in a corrupt society is a different issue...
simonklitj 6y ago
What's the possibility of buying a cheap data SIM-card in Bulgaria (or somewhere else) and using the EU-roaming laws to get cheap data in Greece?