CRTC to eliminate fees when cancelling or switching cellphone and internet plans

Canada’s telecommunications regulator says it will prevent companies from charging customers when they cancel, change or activate plans.

The CRTC said Thursday the move is meant to make it easier for consumers to switch internet and cellphone plans, enabling them to take advantage of better offers without having to worry about unexpected costs.

The new rules will come into effect on June 12. They apply to individual and small business customers of all mobile providers, along with individual home internet customers of mainly large providers.

The CRTC said activation fees have ranged from roughly $30 to $80, acting as a barrier to Canadians being able to take advantage of competitive offers.

The regulator said it will announce additional consumer protection measures in the coming months to make it easier to shop for, compare and choose plans.

In late 2024, the CRTC launched a handful of consultations related to empowering cellphone and internet customers, seeking feedback on potential changes around notifications, self-serve options and fees.

The commission has been considering measures to ensure people know when their plans or discounts are about to end to avoid bill shocks. It’s also exploring potential self-serve options for when customers need to change or cancel their plans.

The proposals came after the federal government made changes to the Telecommunications Act which required the CRTC to put new consumer protection measures in place.

“We are taking action to give Canadians more control over their internet and cellphone services,” said CRTC chairperson and CEO Vicky Eatrides in a news release.

“Today’s decision removes extra fees to activate, change or cancel a plan. This means that consumers can switch to a better deal without having to pay extra just to get the service that works best for them.”

While consumer advocates have called such fees a disincentive to switching cellphone and internet service plans, industry representatives say they help companies generate revenue to maintain high-quality service.

“Today’s CRTC decision is an unwarranted and self-defeating regulatory intervention in a market that’s already highly competitive and delivering historic price declines,” said Eric Smith, senior vice-president of the Canadian Telecommunications Association, in a statement.

“These one-time fees help recover real costs that won’t disappear as a result of this decision — it will only shift how those costs are recovered in a market where switching providers is already easy and at record levels.”

As part of a separate proceeding, the CRTC has also been considering whether service providers should be required to display certain information about home internet plans — such as price and speed — through a standardized label.

The concept has been compared to food nutrition labels at grocery stores, which list information about serving size and calories in a standardized format.

The regulator held a hearing on that proposal last June, where some experts argued the move would help boost consumer literacy when shopping for home internet plans.

In 2024, the CRTC’s American counterpart, the Federal Communications Commission, began requiring that internet providers display standardized labels, both in-store and online, containing information about cost and performance.

However, representatives from Canada’s telecom industry questioned whether the U.S. regulator’s requirements are actually helping consumers, with some companies pointing out they already provide key information that customers need when purchasing a new internet plan.

The commission said Thursday it plans to launch another public consultation to review its consumer protection codes, including the Internet Code and the Wireless Code, with the goal of simplifying and combining them into one code.