GATINEAU – The CRTC has denied a request from SaskTel to deregulate business telephony in Regina.
In its submission, Sasktel argued that Regina’s existing telecommunications service providers, Access and MTS Allstream, were capable of serving the area and that the market was therefore competitive enough for deregulation.
However, Access noted in its submission that it does not provide a business service that is capable of serving at least 75% of the number of business local exchange service lines in the exchange. SaskTel claimed that Access meets the competitor presence test, and, in support of this claim, SaskTel conducted a survey of buildings in the various business districts of Regina to determine whether Access had entrance and distribution facilities in the buildings, and could therefore serve business customers in the buildings.
The Commission ruled however that the SaskTel survey did not prove that Access could serve the Regina region because of the small sample size and the methodology used in the survey, as well as the conclusions drawn from the survey, and because there is an absence of corroborating evidence on the record.
MTS Allstream submitted that it has co-location facilities in Regina. However, the Commission found that according to the information on the record, most of which was filed in confidence by the parties, MTS Allstream is not capable of serving at least 75% of the number of business local exchange service lines in the exchange.
The Commission concluded there is no other independent, facilities-based, fixed-line telecommunications service provider capable of serving at least 75% of the number of business local exchange service lines that SaskTel is capable of serving in this exchange.
