GATINEAU — Having been denied access to a multi-dwelling unit (MDU) building currently under construction in Saint John, N.B., and therefore unable to offer services to incoming residents, Rogers Communications is asking the CRTC to order the developer to grant it access to the building, on a expedited basis.
In a Part 1 application filed May 6th and posted on the Commission’s website today, Rogers says Iron Gate Developments and its owner, Stephen Brittain, refuse to provide Rogers with access to a property known as Telegraph Square, located at 29 Canterbury Street in Saint John.
Rogers says in its application it first reached out to Brittain in October 2020 to obtain access to the property, which began construction in spring 2020, and had further exchanges with him between February and March 2021.
“Mr. Brittain has consistently advised us that he refuses to provide Rogers with access to the property,” reads Rogers’s Part 1 application.
According to Rogers, this isn’t the first time Brittain has denied Rogers access to buildings he owns. In the previous case of two other buildings in Saint John, Brittain said he was satisfied with having Bell Canada as the sole service provider in those properties, says Rogers in its application.
“It is Rogers’ understanding that the installation of wiring and other facilities in the [Telegraph Square] property by Bell has already taken place or will soon take place within the next 30 days. As a result, it is imperative for the Commission to issue a determination within this timeframe, on an expedited basis, such that we can obtain access to the property during the construction period and provide choice to the residents upon occupancy,” says Rogers’s application.
Rogers is asking the Commission to issue the following:
- a declaration that Iron Gate is denying timely access on reasonable terms and conditions to the property contrary to the Commission’s MDU access framework;
- an order that Rogers be granted timely access on reasonable terms and conditions to the property and to Iron Gate’s future developments for purposes of installing, operating, maintaining and replacing transmission facilities and ancillary telecommunications equipment;
- an order that no other carriers would be permitted to provide services to the property or Iron Gate’s future developments unless Rogers has also been granted timely access under reasonable terms and conditions; and
- any other relief as the Commission may consider just and reasonable in the circumstances.
Rogers’s Part 1 application is posted here and intervenors have until June 9, 2021 to submit comments. UPDATE: The Commission has decided to expedite this process and the new deadlines can be found here.
This is certainly not an unknown issue across the country, as Novus Entertainment, for example, can attest.
