Perry Hoffman
OTTAWA – Bell Canada says it’s patently wrong for Rogers Communications to suggest that the CRTC can adopt a competitive bidding process for the rights to roll out broadband networks in Bell’s deferral account communities and not experience any further delays.
In its April 18 comments, Bell highlights where the delays would come from. First, if the CRTC opted for an auction now, it would have to conduct another public consultation to determine the auction framework. “Based on prior experience, this, in and of itself, would be a very lengthy exercise which would involve many parties and competing proposals which very likely could entail multiple rounds of CRTC interrogatories,” notes Bell.
Two other aspects will assuredly lead to delays, says Bell. Given some modifications to its year one rollout plans, the CRTC would have to conduct yet another review, which will have an impact on the determination of costs for the first year deployment. And assuming the Commission can establish an auction process and determine the amount of money available, the CRTC will have to ensure that a bidder can deliver broadband services under the same terms and conditions and extent as Bell. Both of these elements will lead to more delays in rolling out broadband to the rural deferral account communities, says Bell.
The telecom and media giant is responding to a petition to Cabinet filed by Rogers earlier this year in which Rogers argued that Bell should only be allowed to use deferral account money to deploy networks in 15 communities – those covered under the first year of Bell’s four-year plan – with service to the remaining 97 communities made available in through competitive bidding.
Rogers adds that the CRTC could establish a bidding process similar to previous broadband programs and conduct the auction this year, leading to no further delays. As well, it notes that it could roll out networks to those 97 communities for $50 million less than Bell and do it in the same or shorter time frame than Bell has proposed. The process would be open to alternative broadband providers and the one who meets certain criteria and bids the lowest amount of subsidy to compete the network rollout would win.
Bell, which has also launched action in the Federal Court of Canada against Rogers’ petition, filed its comments under protest. Bell says that it believes Rogers’ petition “is not legitimate” because it deals with competitive bidding rather than wireless technology (the subject of the decision Rogers is seeking to have Cabinet vary) and that it is trying to reverse two earlier CRTC decisions that turned down requests for a competitive auction.
Telus agrees with Bell that the petition would introduce additional delays in rolling out broadband to deferral account communities and is trying to reopen a debate twice rejected by the CRTC and then again by Cabinet.
The petition is nothing more than “a belated attempt by Rogers to reopen an issue that has twice been rejected by the CRTC and, furthermore, has also been expressly considered and rejected by the Governor in Council,” states Telus in its comments.
Xplornet, EastLink and Wind Mobile all supported Rogers’ petition. Wind notes in its comments though that competitive enhancements need to be made to Rogers’ auction proposal such as ensuring open access to the spectrum. This would all wireless service providers to offer service over the network.
