United Kingdom wisely bans three-year telecom contracts. Will Canada follow suit?
As the U.S. has already done, the U.K. has banned telecom companies from issuing three-year contracts to clients, capping the length at 24 months.
The move, made by U.K.'s independent communications regulator OfCom, further demands that “consumers and businesses also be offered a choice of contract lasting no longer than 12 months."
Why? We all know it: “Shorter contracts are likely to promote competition and enable consumers to switch providers more easily to benefit from better prices and services."
Canada could took a page out of this book, still allowing the likes of Rogers, Telus, and Bell to subsidize phones only on three-year terms with death-grip termination fees and a claustrophobia-inducing lack of flexibility. However, no official plans are in the pipeline, at least not publicly.
