CRTC rejects incumbent delay requests for FTTP and HSA proceedings

The CRTC has denied a request from a number of incumbents, chief among them BCE Inc., to delay the first deadlines in the regulator's new wholesale broadband and fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) proceedings by two months. In the Monday letter, the CRTC pointed to the brand new February policy direction from Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne, which instructs the commission to "conduct its proceedings in a timely manner and to ensure that its framework for fixed Internet competition provides adequate options in terms of speeds and services for competitors on a timely basis," in the CRTC's wording. "To that end," the CRTC added, it has established deadlines in the new wholesale and FTTP proceedings "with the intention of resolving key policy issues as expeditiously as possible." Bell had asked the regulator to push back the deadlines for filing proposed tariffs and supporting cost studies for the CRTC's expedited FTTP proceeding, as well as its arguments on whether those services should be mandated at all, from Apr. 24 to June 6. The incumbent also wanted the commission to push back the filing deadline for the consultation on the existing wholesale rates regime from June 22 to Aug. 8. According to a Mar. 21 letter from Bell, it would not be possible to complete a Phase II costing study for FTTP access within six weeks, and argued that the timeline is significantly shorter than previous similar proceedings before the regulator. A number of incumbents – including Bragg Communications Inc., Cogeco Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp., Shaw Communications Inc., and Telus Corp. – also advocated for a delay in the proceedings. Quebecor Inc. and TekSavvy Solutions Inc. both wrote in their own letters advising against the delay in proceedings. The CRTC wrote that "while filing dates in this proceeding are necessarily shorter than those that have been set in previous proceedings, these deadlines provide sufficient time for parties to prepare their submissions." The commission also pointed out that a particular carrier subject to filing obligations under the notice of consultations submitted that it was able to meet the deadlines, despite being of a "smaller scale" and with a "more limited history with FTTP facilities." In its own Monday letter, the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) wrote that the incumbent requests to delay the filing deadlines "constitute a blatant regulatory gaming tactic designed to delay unnecessarily consideration of the critical and substantive issues raised on this proceeding, after years of uncertainty hanging over the wholesale access regime." Indeed, in its notice of consultation announcing the proceedings, the CRTC wrote that "given the intent to address the issue of mandating temporary FTTP access over aggregated wholesale services on an expedited basis, the Commission considers that procedural requests by interveners that the Commission finds will unduly delay or impede this process will not be granted." Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

CRTC rejects incumbent delay requests for FTTP and HSA proceedings

News | March 28, 2023

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CRTC rejects incumbent delay requests for FTTP and HSA proceedings

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