From: CBC.ca —

Canadian cell phone service provider giant Rogers Communications Inc. is expected to drop the controversial ‘system access fee’ from its Fido discount service.

As CBC.ca reports, Rogers will relaunch Fido today, with a new logo and a new service package structure. Insiders say that, under the new rate structure, the hated (C)$6.95 ‘system access fee’ will no longer be charged on prepaid Fido plans.

Industry observers say the move, by one of Canada’s largestr cell providers, may signal the end of system access charges all together.

“It’s the number one complaint about cellphones,” said John Lawford, counsel for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. “People are getting a little more traction with their pushback in a lot of telecom issues now. … We just might see the end of [system access fees]. We’ll see them slowly disappear.”

BC-based Telus was the first Canadian cell provider to scrap system access fees, for pre-paid users of its discount Koodo service, last March.