In a significant win for Canada’s big internet service providers (ISPs), the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has ruled that Bell Canada and Bell Aliant can charge both retail and wholesale customers based on how much they download each month.

The CRTC has approved the plan, initially presented last fall, to bill internet customers by the gigabyte.

This is an important win for the big providers, as usage-based billing is one way to control and manage demand on networks, often caused by heavy downloading or bandwidth intensive applications like P2P file sharing.

The CRTC is letting the service providers introduce usage-based billing whether a customer gets internet access from Bell or from the smaller ISPs that get wholesale access to Bell's lines.

Some ISPs opposed the plan, saying the scheme wouldn’t allow them to differentiate their product offerings from Bell's under such a scheme.

The CRTC noted that it also received a number of individual comments, mostly opposed to the proposal. The regulator also approved an additional speed option.