No cheering Fort McMurray ruling

Bell Aliant Regional Communications believes the CRTC missed a prime opportunity this week to advance regulatory parity between telcos and cable providers in Canada when it decided that Telus Corp. still had to meet competitor quality of service indicators (CQoS) before it would be deregulated in the Alberta city of Fort McMurray. Denis Henry, VP of regulatory affairs at the country's largest regional telecommunications service provider, panned the decision as missing the mark. "Despite the way it was pitched as granting forbearance, it didn't do anything of the kind and really just reinforced the commission's old framework, which is flawed in our view," he says. It's frustrating, Henry tells Network Letter, because the commission doesn't seem to understand the concept that cable companies - the biggest threat to telcos - don't require access to ILEC networks and therefore the requirement to meet (CQoS) indicators doesn't make sense. He describes this concept, first put forward in Telecom Decision 2006-15, as "one of the most egregious things in the decision," adding that it's "illogical and incomprehensive to me and has been from the time they issued it." Henry says Halifax is a perfect example where the cable company doesn't need access to ILEC facilities. EastLink, which has already captured more than 25% market share, has its own network and needs access to Bell Aliant facilities only in a few isolated cases. Suggestions that the CRTC had no choice but to follow the rules were rebuffed by Henry when he noted that the commission could have stepped back from requiring Telus to meet all 14 CQoS indicators. "In circumstances where there's such obvious competition, I think they can always step away from whatever hard and fast rules they have, so I think they could have granted ," he explains. While most competitors agree that less regulation is better for the industry, it's not surprising they don't share the same view on the CQoS requirements. Joe Parent, VP of business development at Vonage Canada, isn't surprised by the ILEC response, but questions the validity of it. There were rules in place and the ILECs shouldn't be surprised that the commission is enforcing them, he says. "What they're trying to do is say that since , the minister has come out with this policy direction that has not yet been implemented but they're railing against the CRTC for not applying rules that have not actually been adopted yet," Parent says. "So it's really not fair for them to be complaining about this and they shouldn't be surprised that they're being held to the regulations that were in place." Looking toward April 6Next Friday - one week from today - Industry Minister Maxime Bernier will have to make a decision with respect to his proposed order varying the CRTC's local forbearance ruling. If he opts to adopt the order and replace the commission's existing regime, incumbent telephone companies can expect to be deregulated in certain major markets before the end of the year.

No cheering Fort McMurray ruling

News | March 30, 2007

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