GATINEAU, Que. -- A federal regulator has rejected applications from Bell Canada (TSX:BCE) to charge people more for payphone calls.
At the same time, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has launched consultations on the role payphones play in Canada.
The regulator also wants to know whether phone companies should be prohibited from removing the last payphone in a community.
The applications asked the CRTC for the ability to boost the price of a local call to as much as $1, compared with the current price of 50 cents.
Bell and its subsidiary Bell Aliant Inc. also asked the regulator for permission to double the cost at non-cash payphones -- ones that take credit or debit cards -- to $2 from $1.
In their submissions, the companies said that without a rate increase, they would be forced to get rid of their least profitable payphones.
They argued that payphone usage has been steadily dropping as more people turn to cellphones.
