Liberals’ infrastructure plans could extend to telecom: lawyer

TORONTO — The newly elected Liberal government has indicated infrastructure will be a priority, and that could include telecom infrastructure, said lawyer Chris Tacit during a panel discussion at the Canadian ISP Summit in Toronto on Wednesday. Tacit, a lawyer for the Canadian Network Operators’ Consortium (CNOC), which organized the conference, said that “there is a likelihood, with this government’s focus on infrastructure, that they might actually turn their focus in a much more meaningful way to broadband infrastructure.” He added: “If they see that as part of their infrastructure mandate, and not just building physical roads but also building digital roads, we could potentially see an area of renewal, and that would dovetail really nicely into the kind of discussion that’s going on in the basic-service-obligation proceeding.” The CRTC is currently reviewing its definition of basic telecom services, including issues like acceptable Internet upload and download speeds, the need for funding mechanisms, and the proper role of the CRTC, the government and industry players in the market. It will hold a hearing in April next year. Overall, there are few indications of what approach the new government, which was sworn in last week, will take on telecom issues, said University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist during the panel discussion. “I don’t think anybody really knows what the future holds, at least the immediate future holds, with respect to this government around telecom, digital strategy and those kinds of issues,” Geist said, noting those topics didn’t come up in the election campaign, short of discussions about a “Netflix tax” early in the campaign. “I don’t think anyone has a really good sense about where the new Liberal government stands on many of these issues. I think they’re just reading the tea leaves or guessing like anyone else.” Given that the Liberals didn’t make many promises related to telecom, Geist said he doesn’t expect such issues will be an immediate priority for the new government. He noted that the public release of mandate letters each new minister has received, which the government has promised, might “provide some sense of where things might go.” People shouldn’t make the mistake of expecting the new government to be the same as previous Liberal governments, he said. “Quite frankly, these are not the Liberals of the ‘90s or early 2000s. It’s quite clearly a rebuilt party with a lot of new personalities and a lot of new leadership,” he noted. Thus far, the government has made it clear “that its tone and approach is going to be different” from the previous Conservative government. “So that suggests to me that some of the kind of tone that we saw over the last few years, where the government seemed to revel in the prospect of taking on some of the large telcos and sort of defending the consumer interest, and really seeing an adversarial relationship as potential political gold, is likely to go away,” Geist said. The previous Conservative government emphasized a pro-consumer stance, and in the summer of 2013 waged a PR battle with Canada’s biggest wireless companies over the rules of the 2014 700 MHz spectrum auction. “I don’t know that the policies will necessarily change,” Geist said, though what might disappear is the “notion that there’s something to be had in being seen as standing up for the consumer interest or the little guy, so to speak, and doing so in a way where on the opposite end” are large telecoms like BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. Geist noted that those consumer issues didn’t come up during the election campaign, “but, frankly, I don’t know that they ever worked anyway as really painting the Conservatives as being pro-consumer. Many people that were attuned to these issues didn’t necessarily find themselves aligned with the Conservatives anyway.” Tacit said that the new government will likely continue being sensitive to consumer priorities. “And I think it will continue because of the presence of social media, which can mobilize consumers so quickly to act in the face of decisions that are considered to be adverse to consumers,” he said. “So I think any government today of any political stripe has to be attuned to that reality of the digital age, and be responsive to that, if there is a real groundswell of opposition to an important issue.” Geist said that he while doesn’t expect any significant action on telecom or media issues, he suspects “there are smaller, easier, somewhat less contentious issues, ones that provide obvious wins and reassurances” that the government might try to take action on. One way to do that is to spend more money on cultural initiatives, like funding for CBC/Radio-Canada, a promise the Liberals made during the campaign and which new Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly reaffirmed last week. “That’s a lot easier to do than to go and change copyright law, for example,” he said. “So I suspect we’ll see more of the spending money than policy changes, for example.” What might drive new policies might be the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, which will affect issues like copyright, Internet and telecom, he added. “To the extent that the TPP advances domestically, it seems to me we’re likely to see that being a bit of driver for government,” he said. “If we think of other, easier winners, my guess would be that the simultaneous substitution issue around the Super Bowl might be one that gets jettisoned in time,” he said in reference to the CRTC forbidding the use of simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl broadcast, which Bell is currently appealing. “It’s one that doesn’t sit well with many in the conventional cultural communities, it doesn’t sit well obviously with some who are directly affected in the broadcast community,” he noted. Jonathan Daniels, vice-president of regulatory law at Bell, said during the panel that he agreed with Tacit’s point about government policy infrastructure and telecom. He also noted that the government’s move to rename Industry Canada to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is an indication of the government’s stance. “It was meant to be a statement and we’re actually encouraged by that statement,” he said. The panel, which focused on regulatory issues, also covered the CRTC’s recent wholesale wireline decision. Bell, which is appealing aspects of the decision relating to mandated access to fibre-to-the-home, was asked to respond to criticisms that while it told the government mandated FTTH access would affect investment, it said to investors the decision would not have a material financial effect on the company. “So if that’s true, I don’t see why they need a cabinet appeal,” Tacit said. Daniels responded there is no contradiction. “The comment we’re making is about not our competitive position. We’re talking about Canadians in smaller communities getting access to the service. Yes, for this big company, that statement holds true … but it’s going to impact our decisions on investments,” he said. “That’s what our argument is. If you read our appeal, we don’t say that we’re financially going to have a disaster, but we said we’re not going to invest in some communities that otherwise would get the investment.” Tacit responded that the CRTC found that Bell has no choice but to roll out FTTH in areas where it competes with cable companies, “and if there are … some very small places where you can’t do it, you’re not likely to do it anyway.” He added: “What I don’t think we can do is sacrifice the whole Canadian economy on this theory that Bell may not go into a few small towns.” Chris Seidl, executive director of telecommunications at the CRTC, said in a session earlier that afternoon that the appeal or the review-and-vary requests filed regarding the decision won’t affect the CRTC’s implementation of the wholesale wireline decision. “There’s no stay request, so we’re moving forward with the implementation,” he said. Seidl added the CRTC will hold a forum in the spring of 2016 to talk about the mechanics of costing under the new “disaggregated” wholesale wireline model imposed by the CRTC in that decision. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Liberals’ infrastructure plans could extend to telecom: lawyer

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