OTTAWA – Bell Canada and Bell Aliant plan to appeal a recent CRTC decision not allowing them to implement usage-based billing (UBB) on their wholesale customers until they do so for all of their retail customers.
“This aspect of Decision 2010-255 will be the subject of a forthcoming application to review and vary that decision, which the companies expect to submit in the coming days,” states comments filed to Telecom Notice of Consultation 2009-261.
Bell argues that the Commission’s decision to adopt an all or nothing approach to UBB runs counter to provisions in the Policy Direction that state non-economic regulatory measures are to be “to the greatest extent possible, implemented in a symmetrical and competitively neutral manner.” The company says that 2010-255 established a much more prescriptive regime for its wholesale services than is currently imposed on cable companies’ third party Internet access (TPIA) services.
The telco states the CRTC failed to implement symmetrical regulations on several fronts. In addition to the all or nothing aspect of the decision, Bell says the decision doesn’t allow it offer retail promotions, enforces stricter costing guidelines, and imposes significant regulatory delay and implementation lag. None of these, the company says, are imposed on cable companies’ TPIA services.
Bell states that if the Commission determines that “any of these prescriptive measures are indeed appropriate with respect to the companies’ services, then the Policy Direction demands that corresponding measures be symmetrically applied to the cable companies’ TPIA services.”
Ken Engelhart, senior VP of regulatory affairs at Rogers Communications Inc., agrees that both DSL and cable should be subject to the same rules. “It generally makes sense if you’re going to apply something to DSL to apply it to cable,” he says, adding that the company only uses UBB on its own retail customers.
The Rogers executive still has some questions regarding 2010-255. “I just don’t understand quite what the CRTC means when they say all of your retail customers have to have [UBB]. Is that all of your retail customers for all services? Or is it the retail customers for the equivalent wholesale service?” Engelhart asks.
He suggests there should be a level when UBB can be implemented even if all retail customers aren’t on such plans. “If 5% of your retail customers don’t have UBB, but 95% do, you should be allowed to charge your wholesale customers with UBB,” he says.
