CNOC asks CRTC for interim framework on fibre resale rates

Frustrated with what it said is the deteriorating state of competition in the provision of retail broadband services, the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) Friday filed a Part 1 application calling on the CRTC to implement a "retail Internet service resale" (RISR) framework for fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) services. In the filing, CNOC called on the regulator to require incumbent telecom companies to make the retail internet offered to end users over FTTP access facilities available to wholesale competitors at a 25 per cent discount from the cheapest retail rate in a given market, at least until the outstanding proceedings involving newly regulated wholesale rates and the disaggregated regime are concluded. CNOC president Matt Stein wrote in a statement email to The Wire Report that the proposal is a stop-gap measure designed to induce a level of competition into the broadband market for the highest speeds available. "This Part 1 proposes a simple framework based on tools the Commission has successfully used before, and outlines an easy way to give Canadians immediate competitive options right away, while the full methods are worked out," Stein wrote. In the statement, he also pointed out that the "simple-resale" model proposed by the Part 1 -- in which a reseller is only able to sell essentially the same packages and products offered by incumbents -- "limits competitors' abilities to support their customers, and most importantly, innovate." "On a temporary basis, this is a reasonable way to start, and fill the gap," Stein wrote. In the filing, CNOC said the RISR framework can be done quickly, and "would end the Incumbents’ regulatory holiday and create opportunities for entry in market segments that have been starved of competition for the better part of a decade," referring to the first incumbent FTTP rollouts in 2010. The RISR framework, CNOC argued, would allow competitive resellers to catch up to the technological advances made by the incumbents, as a "there is no prospect of a stable and workable FTTP access regime in the near future." In comments filed in October on the CRTC's consultation on the disaggregation regime, CNOC called for the regulator to reintroduce a level of aggregation into the disaggregated regime. The CRTC announced the disaggregated regime in 2015; though initially supported by CNOC, the group sounded the alarm that the system had turned out to be “unworkable” in 2017, and asked the regulator to reconsider aspects of the regime. The CRTC then acknowledged that the level of disaggregation may need to be reconsidered, initiating a consultation in June and suspending its proceeding to set final rates for the regime. "It will likely be a minimum of at least two to three additional years before any workable solution, if one is possible, could materialize," CNOC acknowledged in Friday's filing. CNOC said the regulator should impose a RISR framework swiftly, because of the gap between incumbents and competitors on fibre. "There is no basis on which the Commission can forbear from its duty to ensure that the Incumbents do not confer an undue preference on themselves by providing retail at speeds that only FTTP will support, while denying their competitors the same capability," CNOC wrote. — Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that CNOC had called for the reintroduction on a level of aggregation in an October Part 1 application. In fact, CNOC did so in comments on a CRTC consultation.

CNOC asks CRTC for interim framework on fibre resale rates

News | January 8, 2021

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CNOC asks CRTC for interim framework on fibre resale rates

News | January 8, 2021

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