By Ahmad Hathout
Bell subsidiary Maskatel is asking the CRTC for an eight-month extension to comply with new rules requiring service providers to implement a self-service mechanism to allow customers to make changes to their plans without having to go through a live agent.
Maskatel says in its Part 1 application, made public Wednesday, that “new circumstances” have arisen since the CRTC mandated in April that telecoms institute such a mechanism to alleviate friction for customers. The deadline for the implementation is April 2027, but Maskatel, which offers internet, TV and home phone services in Quebec, wants that extended to the end of that year.
“Maskatel’s system modernization is occurring in the context of a much larger system modernization initiative,” the application reads. “Bell is currently undertaking a massive, multi-year systems transformation project that is already underway to modernize our customer systems for certain Bell brands, excluding a number of affiliates such as Maskatel.”
The company said during the proceeding leading up to the CRTC’s decision, “Bell was necessarily focused on meeting the challenging 26 April 2027 deadline by reviewing the many systems used by Bell and its larger affiliates” and that, only recently, “was Bell able to sufficiently advance its assessment of how to achieve compliance at Maskatel and to determine that a self-service mechanism cannot be implemented within Maskatel’s legacy systems.”
In other words, Maskatel says its legacy systems – built on obsolete technology that is limited in functionality – must be replaced altogether. “Specifically, Maskatel’s legacy systems completely lack modern application programming interfaces (APIs) and the online capabilities required to host web-based self-service platforms,” Maskatel says.
Otherwise, Bell and its other affiliates will be able to meet the current deadline, the application says.
Maskatel’s application follows a similar one filed by TBayTel, which requested a full year extension to implement the system.
