By Ahmad Hathout
Independent internet service provider CIK Telecom filed a Part 1 application with the CRTC earlier this month requesting that it reduce the interim rates for aggregated last mile fibre access and to clarify that the large telecoms cannot access the regime.
The telecom claims that the rates set by the regulator for interim access to Bell and Telus facilities going to the premises in Ontario and Quebec are still higher than what those telcos charge in the market, meaning third parties cannot be competitive.
It’s an argument that has been made by other telecoms, including those under Quebecor and TekSavvy.
CIK Telecom would also like the CRTC to clarify whether it allows Bell, Rogers, Telus, and Quebecor to access the last mile facilities of other telecoms. If the regulator does intend that to be the case, it said it wants the CRTC to vary the November decision – which is being challenged by Bell in court and to cabinet – to exclude them.
Bell’s petition to cabinet this week asking it to rescind or send back the CRTC’s decision on the claim it stifles investment in networks and therefore disrupts the policy objectives of the government also said the incumbents should be excluded from access to the regime within or outside of their own territories.
Cogeco has argued that access to the wholesale internet framework shouldn’t be granted to the incumbents on the basis that the deeper-pocketed giants can easily take market share in competitor strongholds if allowed access.
“In the Decision, the Commission acknowledged independent competitors are in decline, and we are continuing to decline and may disappear without Commission action,” CIK Telecom said in its application.
“The launch of FTTP-HSA on 7 May 2024 can either help stem this decline or make it worse,” it continued. “Right now, if Bell, Rogers, Videotron and TELUS are able to use the interim service, we risk the situation being even worse. Denying Bell, Rogers, Videotron and TELUS access in the interim will not cause longterm harm.
“If the Commission elects to allow Bell, Rogers, Videotron and TELUS to have access, it can do so in the final decision,” it continued. “In contrast, allowing Bell, Rogers, Videotron and TELUS to have access in the interim makes it much harder to withdraw access in the final decision.”
Late last year, Quebecor filed a Part 1 application with the CRTC asking it to align the higher rates for access to the last mile facilities under the disaggregated regime to those of the lower aggregated access rates that came from the November decision.
However, Bell and Rogers argued that the application is outside of the normal process because the CRTC already has a live file on the issue and has already received comments on the matter.
