OTTAWA – Bell filed Wednesday a letter of support for the Supreme Court of Canada to review a Federal Court of Appeal decision affirming that the CRTC does not have jurisdiction over wireless attachments on municipal structures.
The one-page letter supporting Telus’s application includes a copy to Rogers, Cogeco, Quebecor, Xplornet, Ice Wireless, the province of British Columbia and opponents of the argument, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Electricity Canada.
Telus filed the appeal to the high court last month, which has yet to decide if it will hear it. The Vancouver-based telecom argued that the appeal court’s fixation on the dictionary definition of “transmission line” under section 43 of the Telecommunications Act to include only hard wires made it unappreciative of the fact that those wireless signals have to route back to hard lines that go back to the provider’s network.
Telus argues that Parliament had intended the legislation to encompass the entirety of the telecommunications system, including wired and wireless technology, and lawmakers intended for there to be malleability with its interpretation.
Telus said there are many more small cells that need to be installed on municipal structures to power the next generation 5G wireless network compared to the number of large towers powering the existing network.
Bell and Rogers supported Telus during the appeal court hearings.
