Also opposes final approval of Northwestel’s tariff application
YELLOWKNIFE — Far north wireless and Internet provider SSi Canada is asking the CRTC to order Northwestel to provide third-party Internet access to its “monopoly cable television and fibre-to-the-premises facilities” and to file associated tariffs and cost studies in an accelerated timeframe.
SSi Canada made the request in a Part 1 application filed with the Commission on December 7. It also asks the Regulator to expedite the proceeding, and to require Northwestel to have wholesale TPIA services tariffs in place prior to granting final approval of Northwestel’s TN 1099 tariff application to offer new Internet packages, including unlimited plans, to residential and business customers in Canada’s north.
In an intervention regarding Northwestel’s application, SSi argues Northwestel is given an undue preference because the provision of the unlimited Internet services would be via access facilities over which Northwestel currently exercises a monopoly — namely FTTP and coaxial cable, which Northwestel also uses to offer cable TV services.
In addition, SSi Canada writes in its intervention, also dated December 7, “the limitations inherent in Northwestel’s only wholesale transport service are such that even if competitors had their own access facilities capable of supporting unlimited internet access services, they would not be able to offer competing services of adequate quality or capacity based on transport provided pursuant to the Wholesale Connect tariff.”
“SSi submits that, before the Commission can give final approval to introduction of unlimited internet access packages by Northwestel over cable, FTTP, or any of the access or transport facilities supported by the CRTC Broadband Fund, the Commission must address the undue preference Northwestel establishes for itself by continuing to deny competitors, such as SSi, access on just and reasonable wholesale rates to the same facilities,” continues SSi Canada in its intervention.
SSi Canada’s position is that all providers should be given “fair” wholesale access to Northwestel’s monopoly backbone so that all customers, not just Northwestel’s, have the opportunity to enjoy unlimited Internet data plans.
“TN 1099 does not address how Northwestel is going to accommodate unlimited use on its transport facility, which presumably does have some capacity limitations. Nor does it explain what transport facilities Northwestel will use to support its proposed terrestrial unlimited internet service,” continues SSi Canada’s intervention.
“However, what is clear is that a competitor reliant upon Wholesale Connect service could not offer ‘unlimited’ retail internet packages with an acceptable quality of service at a price that is even remotely competitive with the TN 1099 offerings,” says SSi Canada.
In its TN 1099 tariff application, Northwestel is proposing to provide a residential Internet 50+ package with 50/10 Mbps speeds and unlimited data for $160.95 per month. The proposed price for its Business Internet 50+ unlimited package is $299.95 per month. The proposed prices are the same whether the service is being delivered over cable Internet or FTTP facilities. Northwestel also proposes higher-speed unlimited packages with prices ranging from $199.95 per month for a residential Internet 125+ (125/12.5 Mbps) plan to a Business Internet 300+ (300/25 Mbps) package for $499.95 per month.
“Delaying consideration of TPIA until a two-stage hearing has been concluded will, in effect, guarantee that competitors cannot offer internet packages sufficiently attractive to compete with Northwestel for years.” – SSi Canada
In its Part 1 application, SSi Canada writes: “We propose that the Commission establish interim rates for Northwestel’s TPIA service, given the importance of providing competitors with access to the ILEC’s cable and FTTP premises as soon as possible in order to respond to the needs of consumers. Consistent with Commission precedent, the interim rate should be set at a discount of 35% from the interim rates approved for TN 1099.”
In addition, SSi Canada asks the Commission not to delay a ruling on its Part 1 application until after the conclusion of the Commission’s recently launched proceeding to review its regulatory framework for Northwestel and the state of telecom services in northern Canada.
“Such a delay will make a foregone conclusion of the Commission’s inquiries, in TNC 2020-367, concerning the state of competition in Canada’s North. Delaying consideration of TPIA until a two-stage hearing has been concluded will, in effect, guarantee that competitors cannot offer internet packages sufficiently attractive to compete with Northwestel for years, with the easily foreseeable effect of eliminating competition altogether. There will simply not be any competition under these circumstances,” says SSi Canada’s Part 1 application.
SSi Canada’s filings with the CRTC come after it made public last month its plea for funding assistance from the government, saying the federal broadband subsidy which has allowed it to offer broadband and wireless in Nunavut has run out, and its appeals to federal and territorial authorities for help have gone unanswered.
As of Tuesday afternoon, SSi Canada’s Part 1 application had not been posted to the CRTC’s website, although its intervention has been added to the now-closed Northwestel TN 1099 tariff application proceeding.
