OTTAWA – The CRTC has ordered Bell Canada to publicly disclose information about the level of congestion on its network in conjunction with a dispute with ISPs over the company’s traffic throttling practices.
The commission is giving Bell until June 23 to release the data, which it provided to the regulator in a May 29 filing but wanted to keep confidential for competitive reasons.
“…Commission staff has determined, based on all the material before it, that no specific direct harm would likely result from disclosure, or that the public interest in disclosure outweighs any specific direct harm that might result from disclosure, of the information specified,” Paul Godin, director general of competition, costing and tariffs in the telecommunications division of the CRTC, writes in a June 19 letter.
In a June 6 letter, the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP) asked that the CRTC release the information.
The CAIP filed a complaint with the CRTC in April over Bell’s decision to limit speeds on peer-to-peer Internet applications such as BitTorrent.
The commission also extended until July 3 its deadline for public written commentary on the throttling case.
