TORONTO – Rogers is asking the Governor In Council to tweak a CRTC decision allowing Bell to use deferral account funds to expand broadband services to underserved communities in Ontario and Quebec.
In the decision, the CRTC approved a proposal by Bell Canada and Bell Aliant to use $306.3 million in deferral account revenues to extend broadband service to 112 approved locations using high-speed packet access (HSPA)+ wireless broadband technology. But Rogers has asked that this amount be reduced by the deferral account revenues required by Bell to cover “the uneconomic portion” of its cost to serve the 15 approved locations that Bell committed to serve in the first year (2011) of its four year roll-out plan.
Rogers is also proposing that the decision be varied to allow for a “competitive bidding process” in the remaining 97 approved communities, in which carriers would bid for the minimum level of subsidy they require to serve these locations with the same (or better) level of broadband service within the same (or shorter) timeframe proposed by Bell. The CRTC would then select the carrier requiring the lowest level of subsidy to provide specified level of service to the 97 locations in question.
Rogers was quick to throw its hat the ring, claiming that that it can provide an identical service to Bell to the same communities using the same HSPA wireless technology for at least $50 million less than Bell has proposed.
“The fact that Rogers can guarantee this pricing and these timelines to the Governor in Council using the same technology as Bell and offering precisely the same service underscores the fallacy of the CRTC assumption that a regulatory process could replicate the outcome of a competitive bidding process”, reads Rogers’ submission.
Noting that the CRTC’s public process has been underway for almost five years without service being extended to any of the approved communities, Rogers did suggest that Bell be permitted to proceed to roll out its HSPA network to the original 15 communities, while the CRTC’s competitive bidding process for the other 97 locations is underway.
– Lesley Hunter
