OTTAWA and GATINEAU — Having determined last year Bell Canada violated the Telecommunications Act by denying Videotron access to Bell’s support structures such as telephone poles, the CRTC announced today it has imposed a total of $7.5 million in penalties on Bell for three violations of the act.
“The CRTC found that Bell Canada denied permit applications for access to its telephone poles from Videotron, its main competitor in Quebec. As a result, Videotron was not able to access Bell Canada’s poles, which delayed its network deployment and created a competitive advantage for Bell Canada,” reads a CRTC press release.
In its decision issued today, the CRTC set the penalties for Bell’s three violations at $2.5 million each.
“It is vitally important that the market for telecommunications services be fair and competitive so that Canadians can enjoy a range of services from different providers. Today’s decision underscores this point and demonstrates that we will not hesitate to use the tools at our disposal to take action to promote compliance when a company’s actions violate these principles,” said Ian Scott, CRTC chairperson and CEO, in the press release.
The pole dispute between Quebecor’s Videotron and Bell dates back several years. In June 2020, Videotron filed an application asking the CRTC to intervene in the matter, citing examples of Bell’s denial of Videotron’s pole access requests going as far back as February 2017.
When it issued its April 2021 decision finding Bell had violated the Telecommunications Act, the CRTC also launched a consultation to determine what monetary penalty, if any, should be imposed on Bell.
Under the act’s administrative monetary penalty framework, the CRTC had the power to impose a penalty of up to $10 million for a first violation and up to $15 million for subsequent violations.
Shortly after the CRTC launched the monetary penalty consultation, Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau said he did not think a $10 million fine for a first violation would be enough, as Cartt.ca reported here.
When contacted by Cartt.ca via email for comment on the CRTC imposing a $7.5 million fine against Bell, a Bell company spokesperson responded to say: “We are reviewing the decision and have no comment at this time.”
No word yet from Quebecor about how it views the amount of the fine imposed on Bell.
A CRTC spokesperson told Cartt.ca via email this is not the first time the Commission has imposed penalties on one of the country’s major telecoms.
“The CRTC has reached agreements that include payments with certain large telecommunications companies, including Bell Canada and Rogers Communications for violations related to the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules and Canada’s anti-spam legislation,” the spokesperson said.
“Moreover, in 2019, in response to a finding of non-compliance with its regulatory obligations, Northwestel voluntarily entered an undertaking to invest $5 million in the building or upgrading of network infrastructure in its operating territory.”
This is, however, the first time the Commission “has imposed monetary penalties on one of the large telecommunications companies under the general regime for AMP found in the Telecommunications Act,” said the spokesperson. (Although the CRTC has used this power before, in 2017 when it imposed a $15,000 penalty on Alberta-based VOIS Inc. when it was expelled from CCTS for failing to cooperate.)
