By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – Quebecor’s Videotron has a new beef with Bell, and it relates to prices charged by the latter for wholesale access to its fibre and transport services.
Videotron is alleging in a Part 1 application filed to the CRTC Friday that Bell is forcing the company to accept a long term contract for access to the services that serve to deliver traffic to the last mile or face “abusive monthly price increases” that are in areas where Bell allegedly has a “dominant position or a quasi-monopoly.” The charges are redacted from the application.
The company is alleging that when it came to renew a transport agreement with Fibrenoire, the business it purchased in 2016, Bell said Videotron would need to pay a minimum annual amount over several years or else it would impose prohibitive monthly increases for access to its network. Videotron alleges these stipulations don’t even apply to some of its own contracts with Bell for the same transport points.
While the CRTC does not regulate prices where it finds competition to be sufficient, Videotron is alleging Bell’s pigeonholing of the company contravenes section 27(2) of the Telecommunications Act “by giving itself an undue preference insofar as Videotron is unable to honor its contractual commitments to its own customers, which prevents effective competition in the retail market and subjects it to an undue disadvantage.
“In fact, in regions where Bell is in a quasi-monopoly situation, Videotron customers will have no choice but to use the only other services available, namely those of Bell, thereby eliminating all sorts of competition, cause irreparable damage to Videotron, in particular the loss of its customers,” Videotron said, adding this allegedly affects urban and rural parts of Ontario and Quebec.
Videotron said enough time has elapsed since the CRTC forebear from regulating prices in this area and that it is now time for it to review it again.
As such, Videotron is asking the commission to force Bell to freeze those rates in areas it allegedly has a dominant position until the CRTC completes its review of the wholesale internet framework. It is also asking for the commission to launch the wholesale review proceeding without delay.
“By continuing to forbear from regulating wholesale fiber access and transport services, particularly in single-provider locations, the Commission is clearly unable to meet” its policy objectives, Videotron said, “which enjoins it to ensure a balance between: fostering competition; promote investment in high quality networks; improving consumer choice; supporting the delivery of innovative services; and encourage the provision of services at reasonable prices for consumers.”
In 2018, Iristel brought an application to the CRTC alleging Bell was charging high prices for transport access, which the CRTC denied on the basis that Iristel didn’t prove its case.
The latest complaint in the long-running Videotron-Bell drama covers the wireline episode, as Videotron has already accused Bell of delaying on negotiations to access its wireless network as mandated by the CRTC.
