By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has turned down a 2023 application that asked it to align the rates competitors pay Bell for disaggregated and aggregated fibre access.
Quebecor’s application, which hoped for an update to rates established in 2017, was opposed by Bell and Rogers for a reason that the CRTC would adopt Tuesday: the regulator is already reviewing how to update the disaggregated regime, which forces competitors to get their own transport/traffic facilities to obtain access to the fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) portion of the legacy telcos’ network.
“The proceeding initiated by Telecom Notice of Consultation 2023-56 will address both the future of the disaggregated wholesale HSA model and the associated rates,” the CRTC said in its decision. “The Commission therefore considers that it would be premature to address access rates for Bell Canada’s wholesale disaggregated FTTP services on a stand-alone basis, as requested in the application.”
When the CRTC temporarily and then permanently instituted mandated access to both those facilities together (aggregated), it found that the disaggregated regime – implemented in 2015 – wasn’t doing its job. Competitors had complained that the disaggregated regime was economically unviable because they had to connect to many more interconnection points.
“The Commission has previously deemed access to FTTP facilities to be essential to support competition; however, it previously determined that it was appropriate to limit fibre access to disaggregated wholesale HSA services in order to encourage an industry transition toward those services,” the CRTC said in the 2023 decision. “Over seven years have passed since that determination was made, and competitors still do not have viable access to FTTP facilities given the issues and delays that have affected the current wholesale HSA service framework.”
Quebecor did not respond to a request for comment.
In a dissenting opinion on Tuesday, Ontario Commissioner Bram Abramson said the CRTC should have acted on Quebecor’s application in 2023 and should have acted in this decision.
“Leaving the 2017 rates in place, despite a record that casts doubt on their continued reasonableness, is not consistent with our obligation to ensure just and reasonable rates,” said the commissioner, who’s become a frequent dissenter in recent CRTC decisions.
He noted that, unlike the disaggregated regime, the rates for its aggregated counterpart reflect lower costs from amortization and development. And while he said the review currently underway is “the appropriate venue for long-term structural questions,” the CRTC must still address the “just and reasonable” part of its obligation.
“Maintaining rates known to rest on materially deficient cost inputs is not cost-free,” Abramson added. “Interim regimes shape incentives and commercial decisions while they persist. To insist on perfect alignment across all proceedings before making any interim adjustment is to allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good.”
