Quebec ISPs say Bell approach to pole access still ‘anti-competitive’

A trio of Quebec internet service providers released a statement Wednesday claiming that BCE Inc. continues to impede their access to its poles. Quebecor Inc., Cogeco Inc., and non-profit regional provider Maskicom issued the joint statement, which says that even after a number of “regulatory easements” that Bell recently announced, only 13 per cent of approximately 300 planned high speed internet projects will be able to go ahead. Bell announced new measures to simplify access to its poles by recipients of Quebec’s rural broadband program in October, at the same time as the CRTC launched a consultation on improving access to telecom companies’ poles. According to Wednesday’s joint statement, engineers and experts from Cogeco, Videotron, and Maskicom agreed that Bell’s “easements” would change little for the companies, because they were either in place (or partially in place) before Bell made its announcement, or because they were ineffective. "This is another operation orchestrated by Bell for the sole purpose of convincing Quebecers that it is finally prepared to change its ways," said Videotron president and CEO Jean-François Pruneau in the statement. Maskicom president Robert Lalonde said his organization had “faced persistent foot-dragging by Bell,” even after the provincial government arranged a committee to help coordinate access to poles between the ISPs, Bell, and Hydro-Québec. Lalonde noted that Maskicom had already achieved “good results” with access to Hydro-Québec infrastructure, in contrast to Bell. In response to these allegations, Bell said that a clear majority of pole access requests were completed in an appropriate timeframe. "As the cable companies know, there are CRTC technical, safety and other regulatory requirements that Bell must follow, " a Bell spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. "About 90% of pole access requests are completed within the regulated timeframe, while the remaining 10% are either non-compliant or require additional work."

Quebec ISPs say Bell approach to pole access still ‘anti-competitive’

Brief | November 25, 2020

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Quebec ISPs say Bell approach to pole access still ‘anti-competitive’

Brief | November 25, 2020

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