Has the time come to make broadband a basic service?

As the CRTC is set to reconsider what constitutes a basic telecommunications service, some voices are saying that it’s about time to include broadband Internet in that definition. Under current rules, basic service includes a telephone line “with capability to connect via low-speed data transmission to the Internet at local rates,” according to the commission’s website — a definition set in 1999 that includes services such as “Touch-Tone dialing” and “a copy of a current local telephone directory.” “We think it’s long since past the time to be recognized as a basic service, and, as far as we know, the technical barriers such as they are or were are pretty much gone,” John Lawford, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), said in a phone interview. Lawford said he expects the CRTC to announce a review of its basic service objective by September at the latest. The basic service objective, referred to in the CRTC’s most recent three-year plan as “basic telecommunications services,” outlines specific services that incumbent telephone providers must make available to their subscribers. In its most recent three-year plan, the commission said it would undertake a “comprehensive review to determine what services (e.g. voice and broadband) are required by all Canadians to fully participate in the digital economy and whether there should be changes to the subsidy regime and national contribution mechanism” and implement any new measures coming out of that review in 2016-2017. In a June 8 speech, Peter Menzies, the commission’s vice-chairman of telecommunications, stated the commission plans to begin that review process this year or next, according to speaking notes. “The time has come to take another look at our policy for basic telecommunications service and whether broadband speed targets will be achieved,” he said. Len Katz, a former CRTC vice-chairman of telecom, said in a phone interview that the last time the commission looked at the issue in 2010-2011, it decided not to include broadband as a basic service, but set speed targets instead. The CRTC’s latest plans and priorities document, released earlier this year, called for 100 per cent of households in the country to have access to broadband with speeds of at least 5 Mbps for downloading and 1 Mbps for uploading by the end of this year, though the commission later clarified in an email that target should have been 95 per cent. “When I was at the commission, we basically felt it was premature to change the basic-service objective, notwithstanding the fact that we realized that the existing objective, which was dial-up, was old, antiquated and outdated,” Katz explained. “But at the same time, technology was changing so quickly that we didn’t have a good handle on what speed was the most logical speed to mandate,” he said, adding that “nor did we know how to cost it out.” Four years later, circumstances have changed as the technology has evolved, he said. “When the commission does hold its hearing ... it’ll be in an excellent position to decide where the shortcomings are with regard to rolling out service to those uneconomic of the country,” he said. “They’ll be able to cost it out as well, and decide at that point in time whether there needs to be a subsidy regime created in order to incent investment in those rural and remote, uneconomic areas of the country.” In the North, telecom infrastructure has lagged and pricing is higher than in other areas on the country. Oana Spinu, executive director of the advocacy group Nunavut Broadband Development Corp., said in an email that her group supports mandating broadband as a basic service. “Broadband should be recognized as an essential service under with long-term, stable and scalable funding,” she said, adding it should “support reasonable minimum service level for all Canadians, regardless of location or the backbone technology, subject to oversight and regulation by CRTC.” Curtis Shaw, Northwestel Inc.’s vice-president of consumer markets, said the company hasn’t given “a lot of thought” to the idea of including broadband as an essential service and is focusing on its modernization plan. Northwestel, a BCE Inc. subsidiary, offers telecommunications services in the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Nunavut and northern British Columbia, according to its website. Shaw added it’s too early to say how mandating broadband as a basic service would affect the company, and that it depends on the specifics. “It depends on whether we become the provider of last resort. It would depend on there an affordability target. ... Is it just straight providing 5 Mbps 1 Mbps ?” he said. “We really don’t know how this is going to play out,” he added, noting another factor is whether there will be subsidies to provide service in uneconomic communities. Bill St. Arnaud, an independent telecom analyst, said in a phone interview that making broadband a basic service would improve Internet access across Canada. “Including broadband in the basic service definition would be great for the whole country and not only the North,” he said. “I think it should be one of our basic regulated services — it’s far more important than, now, even telephony or anything else. Why it isn’t included seen as a basic utilitarian service, I don’t understand.” St. Arnaud added he was skeptical the CRTC would, at the close of the review, end up including broadband in the basic service objective. “The pressure from the incumbents would be so intense, I just don’t see it happening,” he said. “I’d be surprised. It would almost take an act of legislation to make that happen.” He said that if it was included, broadband would become a regulated service and its quality, parameters and cost, among other factors, would come under the CRTC’s jurisdiction. “That’s what the incumbents would hate. It would be like the old days of basic telephony,” he said. “Even though there would be many social groups and many economists and others to say this is a good thing, I think it would be a major hurdle for the CRTC.” BCE and Telus Corp. did not return requests for comment for this story. Rogers Communications Inc. spokeswoman Patricia Trott said in an email: “We support the CRTC’s universal target speed for broadband internet for all Canadians. All the Internet packages we offer our customers exceed that speed. The CRTC looked at this in 2011 and we think that decision was the right one.” — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Has the time come to make broadband a basic service?

News | June 18, 2014

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Has the time come to make broadband a basic service?

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