GATINEAU – TekSavvy is asking the CRTC to update the approval processes for competitor tariff filings, which it says are causing a widening gap between when new service speeds are offered at retail by incumbent carriers and when wholesale competitors gain access to those same speeds.
“Because of the tariff application process currently in place, competitors are left to wait for Commission approval for access to new service speeds,” a Part 1 application from TekSavvy posted to the CRTC’s website last week says.
“Meanwhile, incumbent carriers immediately begin offering the new speeds to their retail customers, insulated from any wholesale competition, for periods in some cases exceeding a year.”
TekSavvy argues the “service limitations significantly prejudice competition in the provision of retail Internet service, depriving Canadian telecom consumers of the very benefits that competitive wholesale access was mandated to provide.”
The Internet service provider says the Commission’s new Speed-Banding Approach to wholesale rates is promising but points out its tariff application processes have yet to be updated to give effect to the efficiencies promised by the approach.
Under the Speed-Banding Approach, incumbent carriers can “introduce new service speeds within an established speed-band without filing an associated cost study,” TekSavvy’s application says.
This system was established partially “to lessen the regulatory burden associated with introducing new wholesale HSA services and to expedite the final disposition of tariff applications within the established speed bands.”
TekSavvy, however, argues despite this, “incumbent carriers continue to file tariff applications to introduce new speeds within those speed bands and the Commission continues to treat these tariff applications as requiring full approval.”
The service provider is therefore asking the Commission to clarify “no tariff approval is required to introduce speed tiers that fall within an approved speed-band associated with an approved rate,” its application says.
It is also asking the Commission to approve all “outstanding tariff applications introducing speed tiers which would fall into the foregoing category.”
Another issue TekSavvy’s application raises is with regards to rates for speeds outside of the established speed bands.
Where a proposed new wholesale service speed is outside of the established speed bands, “the rate charged for that speed must be supported by a cost study before the new service speed can be approved on a final basis,” TekSavvy’s application says. In cases where a cost study is not provided, the Commission determined an appropriate interim rate would be the rate used for the next existing lower speed.
TekSavvy argues even still, these tariff applications “also see extended delays for interim approval.”
TekSavvy is asking the Commission to put in place “a default interim approval mechanism for competitor tariff filings that introduce new speed tiers or otherwise deviate from existing speed bands, whereby the tariff filing is approved on an interim basis on the 15th calendar day after the filing date, using either a cost study or, if none is provided, the established proxy approach to rate-setting.”
The deadline to file interventions related to this application is June 2, 2022.
