GATINEAU — The CRTC today denied an application by Xplornet to review and vary the Commission’s 2019 decision which created the Internet Code, specifically regarding the policy covering the conditions under which Internet service providers can disconnect customers.
In the Internet Code (Telecom Regulatory Policy 2019-269), the disconnection conditions set out by the Commission say an ISP can disconnect customers who fail to pay a past-due account only if the amount owing exceeds $50 and if the account has been past due for more than two months.
During the proceeding which resulted in the Internet Code, the Commission initially drafted a working document which said ISPs could disconnect customers if either condition was met (either the amount owing exceeded $50 or the account had been past due for more than two months). This mirrored the language of both the Wireless Code and the Deposit and Disconnection Code governing home telephone services.
However, based on arguments presented during the Internet Code proceeding, most notably by l’Union des consommateurs and Réseau Fédération de l’Âge d’Or du Québec (FADOQ), the Commission changed the final wording of the Internet Code to make the conditions for disconnection by the ISP cumulative (meaning both conditions needed to be met before ISPs could disconnect customers).
In its R&V application, Xplornet asked for the Internet Code to revert back to the language used in the working document and therefore remove the cumulative standard for customer disconnection. Bell Canada and Eastlink submitted interventions in support of Xplornet’s application.
In its decision today, the Commission denied Xplornet’s request and has also ordered Xplornet to pay l’Union des consommateurs $2,645 to cover l’Union’s costs for participating in the R&V proceeding.
The Commission says it finds Xplornet has not demonstrated there is substantial doubt as to the correctness of the Commission’s determination in the Internet Code Policy stemming from errors in law or in fact.
“Accordingly, there is no change to the disconnection conditions, which state that an Internet service provider can disconnect a customer who fails to pay a past-due account only if the amount owing exceeds $50 and if the account has been past due for more than two months,” writes the Commission in today’s decision.
