In a decision published Tuesday on its website, the CRTC has denied an April 2024 application from the Regional County Municipality of D’Autray that sought to have Bell refund costs associated with corrective work to its poles that the telecom had charged to the municipality as part of its pole access agreements.
Although a February 2023 telecom regulatory policy made the costs for corrective work on poles the responsibility of the pole owner, the CRTC determined in this week’s decision that the revised support structure tariff pages filed by Bell in April 2023, having not been approved by the commission until now, had not yet come into effect. Therefore, all of D’Autray’s permit applications processed before Tuesday were governed by the previous tariff, which permitted Bell to charge for corrective work, the CRTC said in its decision.
“Charging for corrective work was not prohibited by the tariff and, as such, Bell Canada did not violate the tariff in effect at the time by doing so. However, any applications processed after the publication of Telecom Order 2025-21 are subject to the terms and conditions of the revised tariff,” the CRTC wrote.
