CRTC seeks to penalize Bell for support structure access delays

The CRTC has floated the idea of penalizing BCE Inc. after Quebecor Inc. filed a Part 1 complaint with the regulator claiming that by delaying access to its support structures, Bell was granting itself an undue preference, in violation of the Telecommunications Act. In its decision Friday, the regulator determined Bell had indeed violated the Telecommunications Act and agreements between it and Quebecor. Because of this, the regulator’s “preliminary” view is that an “administrative monetary penalty” should be imposed on Bell “to deter future violations and promote compliance with regulatory requirements.” In a separate notice of consultation released Friday, the CRTC is seeking comments on whether or not it should fine Bell and how much the fine should be. The commission has set a deadline for interventions on the fine of May 17. Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron had accused Bell of unreasonable delays in responding to requests for permits and delaying access to its structures, not respecting construction standards, as well as offloading costs to replace outdated or deteriorated structures onto those requesting access. It said Bell is denying access to structures even though it’s using them to deploy its own fibre-to-the-home connections. The CRTC has now found that Bell installed its own equipment on the lines (or structures) during the same period in which Quebecor was denied access. “The Commission considers that Bell Canada cannot rely on arguments relating to the complexity of its own network management system to explain the delays to and the denial of Videotron’s access applications if Bell Canada itself is benefiting from more efficient and timely access,” the CRTC wrote. “When Bell Canada’s handling of a competitor’s formal permit application is delayed by months or even years, and this situation is repeated for that same competitor and other competitors operating in the company’s serving territory, potentially hundreds or thousands of consumers and small businesses are deprived of choosing a provider or innovative telecommunications services." The CRTC is also approving in part Quebecor's application for relief and has directed Bell to complete -- at its own cost -- make-ready work required for two permit applications within 30 days, issue the permits within five days of finishing that work, and to issue permits for another two applications five days after the Friday decision. “With this decision, the Commission sends a clear message to Canadian companies that own poles or other support structures, and it expects them to promote faster and more affordable access for competitors,” the CRTC said in its decision. Quebecor also asked for orders addressing the costs for replacing structures, the processing of access permit applications, and the application of construction standards, which the CRTC has denied “because they raise national issues concerning support structures and the regulatory framework by regulating access,” which are issues to be dealt with through a consultation into potential regulatory measures to make access to poles owned by Canadian carriers more efficient. Other small telecommunications providers, as well as the Canadian Communications Systems Alliance and Rogers Communications Inc., filed interventions last summer supporting Quebecor, saying they had experienced similar issues gaining access. Bell defended itself as well, saying examples cited by Videtron were “exceptions to the rule that did not support a finding that there is any violation of the Tariff or the regulations concerned or that there is a systemic issue.” It argued that only seven per cent of Quebecor's applications have been denied and that only five per cent of all poles and strands required make-ready work, percentages which it said are comparable with other licensees and the denial rate for Bell’s applications to other support structures in Canada. Quebecor, however, submitted that in actuality, 26 per cent of its permit applications were denied, while only three per cent of all poles and strands needed work. Quebecor had also taken its complaint a step further by turning to the Competition Bureau and the court last fall to investigate what it called practices used by Bell “to slow down and, in a number of cases, even block access to its support structures.” The company’s suit in Quebec Superior Court sought damages estimated to be just under $12.5 million. “Everyone is unfairly penalized when Bell blocks access to other service providers in their region, municipality or neighbourhood. It’s simply unacceptable,” Videotron president and CEO Jean-François Pruneau said in a release in September. In that fall release, the company offered an example of Bell’s allegedly delayed process. Quebecor said, “it is difficult to understand why it can take Bell more than two-and-a-half years to process a request for access to a single pole.” “Given that Videotron submitted more than 1,400 access requests in 2019 alone, these completely unreasonable delays are causing considerable harm to the affected communities.” Its complaint to the Competition Bureau was swiftly supported by the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA), which said “the ability to attach high-speed fiber to such poles in an affordable and timely manner is critical to extending broadband to currently unserved or underserved Canadians.” The CCSA said the small telecoms it represents in Quebec have experienced the same delays. Bell and Quebecor have been in a number of regulatory battles in recent years, including over Bell’s treatment of Quebecor’s Super Écran TV channel, permanent roaming, and a long-running dispute over TVA Sports. -Reporting by Hannah Daley at hdaley@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

CRTC seeks to penalize Bell for support structure access delays

News | April 16, 2021

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CRTC seeks to penalize Bell for support structure access delays

News | April 16, 2021

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