INUVIK, NWT – The CRTC began its public hearing today to review the regulatory framework and proposed modernization plan for Bell-subsidiary Northwestel.
“This review will attempt to strike the right balance between market forces, network investment and regulatory intervention to meet these goals for the North,” CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais said in his opening statement.
“As we study Northwestel’s modernization plan, the hearing panel will be looking at the degree to which it will provide northern Canadians with access to services that are comparable to the rest of the country.”
In 2011, the CRTC expressed concern with the level of network investment by the company and the level, quality and reliability of telecommunications services available in the North. The Commission asked the company to develop a plan to address these concerns and to modernize its aging network for the benefit of all northern Canadians.
The company has since filed a plan in which it proposes to invest more than $200 million in capital expenditures during the next four years in the following ways:
- upgrade equipment in order to support enhanced calling services, such as call display and call waiting, as well as local number portability and local network interconnection
- upgrade and expand its high-speed Internet service offering
- extend wireless services to many additional communities
- replace its satellite voice network with an Internet Protocol-based network, and
- make various other improvements to its network.
“We have heard from our customers and our mission is to deliver as much as we possibly can to meet their needs and satisfy their wants,” Northwestel president and CEO Paul Flaherty said in a release from the company.
Flaherty noted that 50% of Northerners already have access to broadband speeds of up to 50 Mbps and more than half have access to 4G wireless. Northwestel’s operating area covers more than four million square kilometers, and its population density is the lowest in Canada.
The panel will also consider the current status of local competition and how it may be expected to develop. The Commission, which opened the North to local telephone competition in 2011, will look into whether any changes are needed to the current practice by Northwestel’s competitors to purchase services from the northern carrier in order to serve their own customers at the retail level.
Canada’s infrastructure across the North will also be examined during this hearing to ensure timely delivery of services and greater choice to Canadians.
Also on the agenda is a regulatory framework review regarding Northwestel’s basic telephone services, including a look into the existing subsidies that Northwestel receives to provide local telephone service in areas where costs are higher, such as in small and remote communities. The panel will also review the need for subsidies for other services, such as transport and broadband, as suggested by several parties.
The hearing continues in Whitehorse this Wednesday and Thursday.
