Dev.SN

pbnjoe writes:

"CBC has a report on apparent price fixing by the country's top carriers.

Canada's big three wireless carriers have hiked the base prices for new plans by $5 in most markets over the past two months.

Rogers, Telus, and Bell Mobility now all charge $80 per month for new smartphone plans with a new contract, $5 more than what many of those same plans cost when they were introduced last year. The prices for other smartphone plans with more data cost upwards of $145.

The price hikes affect every province except Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

This exclusion appears to be due to the strong local competition from MTS and SaskTel, respectively; equivalent plans there are $55 cheaper than elsewhere in the country.

The $80 a month plan includes 500 MB of data, unlimited nationwide calling, unlimited messaging, voicemail and call display.

Existing plans are unaffected.

For more, here's Ars Technica's coverage of the story."