Bell’s version of price competition before the government made wireless prices and competition a priority.

After years of acute bill shock afflicting those who didn’t bother to check the breathtaking cost of using a Bell cell phone abroad, Canada’s largest phone company announced today it was cutting in half the prices it charges for mobile data, voice, and text roaming plans for customers headed to the United States.

“During the summer, Canadians told the federal government that they support wireless competition and strongly believe the wireless rules should be the same for all carriers, Canadian or international. But Canadians also told us that they want to use their smartphones a lot when they travel, and they want the price to come down,” said Bell Mobility president Wade Oosterman in a statement. “We heard you, and today Bell is cutting in half the cost of mobile roaming where Canadians travel the most: the U.S.A.”

The new, discounted rates begin Tuesday and cover the following plans:

• 30-day travel bundle: $25 (was $50) — includes 50MB of data, 50 anytime minutes in the U.S. or to Canada, unlimited incoming text messages, 200 sent text messages.
• 30-day travel add-ons: $20 each (formerly $40) — 100MB of data, or 100 minutes of voice calling, or unlimited incoming and sent texts.

Bell officials said the company is not stopping with the United States and plans further cuts in joint roaming rates in conjunction with their global telecom partners.

Some Canadians wonder what took the company so long.

“When you can just casually drop the price of something by half, I can only imagine how much profit you are actually making on it to begin with,” commented Mark Winn.

Analysts speculate Bell’s move is designed to preempt, or at least soothe “competition fever,” now rampant in the Conservative Harper government. Officials in Ottawa were reportedly disappointed that a rumored entry by Verizon Wireless into Canada never came to fruition. Opposition critics have labeled the current ‘all competition, no regulation’ government policy impotent. Some have also pointed the finger at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Canada’s telecommunications regulator, criticized as being too cozy with incumbent market leaders.

“Viagra couldn’t grow competition in this country,” said Sally Pearson, a consumer advocate fighting to broadly open Canada’s wireless market to foreign-owned competitors. “Years of government policies that favor Bell, Rogers and Telus and flaccidity at the CRTC has given us the level of competition telecom lobbyists intended all along.”

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/CP With Verizon out whats next for Canadas wireless space 9-3-13.flv[/flv]

With Verizon out of the picture, there are no obvious candidates to take on the big three Canadian wireless providers. Canadian Press reporter Steve Rennie considers how this will impact the Harper government, its telecom policies and the telecom industry. Will Canadian consumers demand something better when Parliament returns in the fall? (2 minutes)