Surge in demand slowed service for small ISP customers, cablecos say

The “rapid growth” in the number of customers who ordered cable-based Internet services from small Internet service providers (ISPs) this summer slowed the ability of incumbent cablecos to connect those customers and to respond to service outages when they occurred, Canada’s largest cablecos said. In a joint submission to the CRTC filed Friday, Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc., Cogeco Cable Inc. and Videotron Ltd. said they don’t prioritize their own retail customers over those of the small ISPs, which lease access to the cablecos’ network infrastructure to offer their retail services. The companies said the CRTC should dismiss an application by the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC)—representing the small ISPs—which said the cablecos give their own services and customers an “undue preference,” and which asked the commission to impose new rules to govern how the cablecos deal with the small ISPs and their retail customers. “he allegations of discriminatory treatment are based on complaints that relate largely to the installation and repair of TPIA services drawn from a very narrow time frame of June to September 2013,” the cablecos said. “Some of the instances occurred during a period of rapid growth in the volume of the TPIA customers’ end-users.” CNOC said in its September application that the cablecos provide “vastly inferior” services to the small ISPs in contrast to services for their own retail customers, which “unfairly affects” the reputation of the small ISPs. The application said the large cablecos delay the small ISPs’ requests to start offering services in new markets, unfairly delay fixes for network problems affecting the small ISPs’ customers, and use the delays to try to win over those customers with promises of more reliable Internet service. Videotron Ltd., a Quebecor Media Inc. subsidiary, said in a separate submission to the CRTC Friday that the summer months, which were the focus of the CNOC application, are traditionally the busiest time of the year for new Internet installations because many Quebecers move in June and July. During those months, the company said, customers often face “unusually long setup delays,” particularly if they ask for an installation in the busy weeknight evening time slots. This year, the company said, that busy period coincided with “a marked increase” in requests for new small ISP customer connections, causing further delays. It did not state what caused that increase. In their joint response, the cablecos said CNOC didn’t provide evidence that the small ISPs’ customers were unfairly affected by service outages, or that they unfairly discriminated against those customers. The companies said that their own retail customers use the same network infrastructure as the small ISPs’ customers, “and rely on many of the same operational systems.” They said CNOC’s application failed to justify the need for the new rules it proposed to govern the cablecos’ relationship with the small ISPs. The cablecos also said that any benefits those rules would provide to the small ISPs’ customers would be outweighed by the “significant technical and resource hurdles” those rules would impose. Marc Gaudrault, chief executive of small ISP TekSavvy Solutions Inc., told The Wire Report in October that cablecos often seem to delay their response to small ISPs when they request repairs to their customers’ connections. He pointed to his company’s experiences this summer, as upgrades to Rogers’ network resulted in Internet service disruptions for more than a thousand TekSavvy customers. In many cases, Gaudrault said, TekSavvy reported problems to Rogers and did not hear back for up to six days, leaving customers without service and TekSavvy without an explanation. “If a customer went offline we would not get a response back from for up to six days,” Gaudrault said. “Even simple things such as switching up a modem is taking weeks, which has led to some of our customers being offline for as long as a month at a time.” As part of its application, CNOC asked the CRTC to require the cablecos to adhere to certain “quality of service” requirements when dealing with the small ISPs, and to provide rebates to those small ISPs if they fail to maintain those standards. In their response, the cablecos said service requirements and a rebate-based system would be inefficient, and would be contrary to a 2007 policy directive in which the government told the CRTC to ensure its wholesale Internet policies are technologically and competitively neutral. Incumbent telcos that offer wholesale Internet services do not currently face those types of requirements, the cablecos noted. “The Policy Direction requires that regulatory measures, where used, be efficient and proportionate to their purpose and that such measures be implemented in a symmetrical and technologically and competitive neutral manner,” they said. Incumbent telcos BCE Inc. and Bell Aliant Regional Communications Inc., which also lease wholesale access on their network infrastructure to the small ISPs, said in a submission that the cablecos should be given time to improve the service they provide to the small ISPs. They said it was understandable that the cablecos would have difficulty keeping up with service demand as they start making new services available to their wholesale customers. “he Companies can attest that the launch and initial period of offering any new, wholesale service is often a period during which service provisioning issues have to be ironed out,” the companies said. “ certain amount of growing pains can be expected both for the party offering the new service and for its wholesale customers.” In its own submission to the CRTC filed Friday, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) said small ISPs play an important role in Canada’s Internet service market by competing against the incumbent cableco and telco providers. It said the commission’s previous efforts to support small ISPs could “all be for nought” if the wholesale services those small providers rely on “alienate” the retail consumers they are trying to “win over.” PIAC said the CRTC should form a working group, or a similar body, to “address the service problems” identified in CNOC’s application. “We also agree that a quality of service regime may be needed to ensure that TPIA service providers have adequate incentives to deliver services which meet ISP customer needs,” PIAC said. —With reporting by Nicholas Kyonka at nkyonka@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Surge in demand slowed service for small ISP customers, cablecos say

News | December 2, 2013

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