The Supreme Court of Canada has given the go-ahead to a $19-billion class-action lawsuit against Canada's major telecom companies over system access fees, Reuters is reporting.

The country's top court refused to hear an appeal by the phone companies of a lower court's ruling that allowed the suit to go forward, the news service reported.

The lawsuit, filed by lawyer Tony Merchant, was certified in a Saskatchewan court some five years ago. The suit targets Bell Canada, Rogers and Telus, among others.

The suit alleges the cellphone companies wrongfully collected the fees, which were in addition to other monthly fees for phone service, from customers. It calls for the respondents to be reimbursed. The allegations have not been tested in court.

Since it was filed, many of Canada's large wireless providers have stopped charging system access fees.

The lawsuit seeks some $12 billion, plus interest, for fees charged to customers for the two decades prior to the wireless providers cancelling their fees. With interest included, that would come around to $19 billion -- a lot of money for Canada's telcos.

"The impact would obviously be huge," Merchant said in an interview some years ago.

With files from The Canadian Press

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    Postmedia was born in 2010, when the bankrupt Canwest media chain was broken up. A consortium led by then-National Post CEO Paul Godfrey bought Canwest's newspaper assets, including the National Post, Ottawa Citizen and Calgary Herald, as well as both English-language dailies in Vancouver.<br> <br> Pictured: Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey<br> <br> <em>*Number denotes latest available revenue figure, for parent company</em>

  • Torstar - $1.48 Billion

    Torstar's flagship property is the Toronto Star, Canada's largest newspaper. It also owns the Metroland chain of weeklies and the internationally popular Harlequin, publisher of pulp romances.<br> <br> Pictured: The Toronto Star building in downtown Toronto.<br> <br> <em>*Number denotes latest available revenue figure, for parent company</em>

  • Shaw - $4.74 Billion

    Western Canadian cable TV giant Shaw entered the media big leagues with the 2010 purchase of Canwest's broadcasting assets, including the Global TV network. The company was founded by Jim Shaw and is still controlled by his family.<br> <br> Pictured: CEO Brad Shaw<br> <br> <em>*Number denotes latest available revenue figure, for parent company</em><br> <br> <em>CORRECTION: An earlier version of this slide stated that Shaw had purchased Canwest's newspaper assets. It only purchased the broadcasting assets. The company had backed out of an earlier attempt to buy three CTV stations.</em>

  • Quebecor - $9.8 Billion

    Founded by Pierre Peladeau and run by his son, Pierre-Karl Peladeau, Quebecor owns the Sun Media and Osprey newspaper chains, as well as cable provider Videotron, Quebec TV network TVA, and a number of publishing houses.<br> <br> Pictured: Pierre-Karl Peladeau<br> <br> <em>*Number denotes latest available revenue figure, for parent company</em>

  • Rogers - $12.1 Billion

    Founded by Ted Rogers, Rogers Communications is a major player in cable TV and wireless services. The company controls Rogers Media, which operates 70 publications, 54 radio stations and a number of TV properties including CityTV and the Shopping Channel.<br> <br> Pictured: CEO Nadir Mohamed<br> <br> <em>*Number denotes latest available revenue figure, for parent company</em>

  • Woodbridge (Thomson Reuters) - $13.8B

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  • Bell Canada (BCE) - $18.1 Billion

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