Don’t lift 100 Mbps wholesale speed cap: big telecoms

Canada’s large internet service providers say granting the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) request to lift the CRTC’s speed cap of 100 Mbps for wholesale internet would eliminate the motivation for providers to adopt its disaggregated wholesale regime. “If granted, CNOC’s requested interim relief would remove any incentive its members have to invest in facilities or move to the Disaggregated service. This would perpetuate the ongoing regulatory uncertainty and instability in the market,” Shaw Communications Inc. said in its intervention. The debate centers on the aspect of the 2015 decision instituting the disaggregated regime that said competitors who don’t configure to the new regime by the time the final rates come out won’t be able to serve their customers speeds of 100 Mbps download or more. As part of a wider request to reconsider aspects of that regime, which it says is too expensive and untenable, CNOC is asking the CRTC to eliminate that cap, which it said could lead to smaller providers being left out of delivering higher speeds. The regulator has decided to address CNOC’s application in two phases, first dealing with the speed cap issue, it outlined in a letter in November. Interventions in that phase were due Monday, while the deadlines for the second phase have not been set yet. Rogers Communications Inc. also said granting CNOC’s request would undermine the establishment of the disaggregated regime, and would result in it being dismantled entirely. It argued that eliminating the cap would negatively affect both big and small providers, including “reduced demand forecasts for disaggregated service negatively impacting incumbents’ cost studies, impacted internal budgets and changes to resource deployments.” Telus Corp. agreed, saying CNOC’s request “ jeopardizes the Commission’s intended purpose of the transition plan to encourage competitors to move to the disaggregated... service.” The big telecoms also took issue with how long it has taken CNOC to dispute that July 2015 decision -- which was initially lauded by small providers. “The 100 Mbps+ speed cap has been coming for over three years – yet CNOC members have apparently taken no steps to prepare against it. CNOC did not seek to review and vary these findings until this last minute application,” Bell argued. Shaw also said in its intervention that CNOC members “have no grounds for suddenly claiming surprise” over how complex the move to the disaggregated system is or on the effect the speed cap would have on businesses that don’t configure to the new regime. But the application also garnered support from small providers, including those represented by the British Columbia Broadband Association (BCBA). It noted that several of its members currently offer speeds in excess of 100 Mbps through Shaw. The disaggregated regime will be implemented at a later date outside of Quebec and Ontario, meaning the cap doesn’t apply to providers in those provinces yet. However, if it was implemented, the BCBA said the loss “of access to these speeds would result in significant harm to these competitors, without any benefits to Canadian consumers.” — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca

Don’t lift 100 Mbps wholesale speed cap: big telecoms

News | January 8, 2019

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Don’t lift 100 Mbps wholesale speed cap: big telecoms

News | January 8, 2019

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