CRTC elevates Rogers throttling complaint to enforcement sector

Rogers Communications Inc. became the first Canadian Internet service provider (ISP) to be elevated to the CRTC's network neutrality compliance and enforcement division this week. In a Thursday afternoon letter to the Canadian Gamers Organization (CGO), the CRTC said it had elevated the group’s mid-summer complaint against Rogers to the commission’s enforcement bureau under its new guidelines for throttling complaints. Section 19 of those guidelines says complaints will be elevated if the commission’s telecommunications branch finds a provider’s throttling practices to be non-compliant with the regulator’s Internet traffic management rules. The enforcement branch now has a number of options available under those guidelines to ensure Rogers brings its throttling practices back onside. Those include sending the company a letter outlining the fixes that must be made, ordering an on-site inspection of the company’s throttling equipment, or moving forward with a show-cause hearing that would require Rogers to defend itself and explain why the commission shouldn’t issue a mandatory order to fix any remaining problems. Rogers could also face more public scrutiny under section 20 of the new guidelines, which state that “ny Commission findings of non-compliance will be published on the Commission’s website.” The commission does not have the ability to impose monetary penalties or fines. In an interview with The Wire Report Friday, CGO co-founder Jason Koblovsky expressed cautious optimism about the commission’s decision to elevate the file. He said he wouldn’t feel truly vindicated until he knows whether the commission will impose sanctions against the company and what those sanctions could be. “There’s definitely a little bit of a victory here, but how much I think we’ll find out in the next communication from the CRTC,” Koblovsky said, who noted that he incurred carpel tunnel syndrome while preparing the group’s most recent report to the commission. “At this point in time we’re hoping for an audit,” he said. Janet Lo, counsel at the Public Interest Advocacy Group (PIAC), called the commission’s decision a “milestone,” but agreed that the real significance would be if the CRTC's compliance and enforcement division decides to impose serious sanctions against the company. “That’s all speculation at this point,” she said. In an email to The Wire Report Friday, Carly Suppa, Rogers’ senior manager of public affairs, said the company will cooperate with the CRTC review. “It’s important to us that our customers are satisfied with their service,” Suppa said. “We believe we’re in compliance with CRTC regulations and we look forward to working with them.” Koblovsky noted that his organization’s members have also reported problems with other service providers and that the commission’s decision to elevate the Rogers file may embolden them to conduct more formal testing of ISPs' traffic management systems—particularly if sanctions are applied. “There’s problems across the board … but we need to know what kind of enforcement is put into place here” Koblovsky said. “If the CRTC puts forth active enforcement to ensure is corrected, then yes, obviously we would be at that point in time interested in putting in more complaints.” nkyonka@thewirereport.ca

CRTC elevates Rogers throttling complaint to enforcement sector

News | October 28, 2011

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