Traffic management and UBB practices should target peak times, locations, Liberals say

OTTAWA—Liberal industry critic Marc Garneau is calling on the CRTC to verify the incumbent Internet service providers’ (ISP) reports of network congestion. And if congestion is an issue, ISPs’ traffic management and usage-based billing practices should target specific times and locations where congestion exists, he says. “If congestion exists, investment in network capacity is not possible and traffic management is the only recourse, measures must be location specific,” Garneau wrote in a submission to the CRTC, which he announced at a news conference on Parliament Hill Monday. “If congestion is occurring in downtown Toronto, users in Saskatoon need not pay … If congestion occurs between the hours of 7 and 10 p.m., it is neither justified nor efficient to force users in non-peak, non-congested hours to pay.” But the Liberal party’s submission says that, before the CRTC decides how it will manage network congestion, it must first confirm that congestion is a problem. “Congestion should not be taken on the faith of the incumbents,” Garneau wrote. “The first question must be: is there congestion? If not, then the solution is simple: the toll is unnecessary … Applying a congestion fee to all users, irrespective of if congestion exists or not, is inefficient and economically flawed.” The commission continues to receive submissions for its review of its usage-based-billing policy to determine the scope of the hearing. Parties have until March 28 to submit comments for the review and members of the public have until April 29. Reply comments are due April 29. The CRTC is seeking comments on how to ensure ordinary customers served by small ISPs do not subsidize the heaviest bandwidth users and how to ensure that small ISPs can remain competitive against large providers. The incumbent ISPs, which lease network infrastructure to small, reseller ISPs, have expressed concern that increased Internet usage leads to congestion on networks, resulting in decreased speeds. That position is the basis for the CRTC’s controversial usage-based billing policy, which would impose the incumbents' monthly retail bit caps on wholesale customers, preventing the reseller ISPs from offering unlimited usage plans. Critics say the incumbents haven’t demonstrated that their networks suffer from congestion caused by the resellers' traffic levels. Speaking at the press conference, Garneau said he disagrees with commission chair Konrad von Finckenstein’s statement that Internet service is analogous to public utilities like electricity or water services, which are billed by usage. But unlike utilities, data is not a finite resource, Garneau said. “Data over the Internet is unlimited. While the size of the pipe may be constrained, the amount of data is not,” Garneau said. He told reporters that any plans to manage congestion must be transparent and that “anti-competitive” measures, such as some approaches to usage-based billing, should not be permitted. Garneau also criticized Industry Minister Tony Clement for being vague about the CRTC's role in ensuring fair and transparent Internet service practices when he appeared before the industry committee meeting last week. Clement responded to Garneau’s submission on Twitter, saying, “Last week the Liberals attacked me for announcing policy on Twitter. This week they accuse me of not having policy.” Clement also suggested Garneau’s policy submission to the CRTC was “cheeky” because it “brazenly cribs” from Clement’s earlier remarks. Clement told the House of Commons industry committee last week that he wants to see evidence that small, reseller ISPs are causing network congestion for the incumbents and proof that a usage-based billing policy would improve network traffic flows. “If you’re downloading Netflix at 3 a.m. and you go over your cap, there is no congestion at 3 a.m. So why are you paying more at 3 a.m. because you’ve gone over your cap?” Clement said. Garneau said that, on the issue of usage-based billing, the Liberal party has aligned itself with Internet advocacy organizations the Canadian Network Operators Consortium, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, the Canadian Association of Internet Providers and OpenMedia.ca. Garneau also asked Canadians to co-sign a petition to the CRTC online. asmith@thewirereport.ca

Traffic management and UBB practices should target peak times, locations, Liberals say

News | March 7, 2011

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