Lack of clear CRTC industry data is an obstacle: small ISPs

TekSavvy Solutions Inc. has filed a complaint with the CRTC flagging a concern that the regulator’s latest data report doesn’t provide a clear picture of the industry, which could make it more difficult for ISPs to present accurate info in future proceedings and to the panel reviewing Canada’s communications laws, according to companies and an academic. The Chatham-Ont.-based internet service provider (ISP) said in a Wednesday letter to the commission that information including internet resellers’ total share of communications revenues, wireline revenue market share, investments, and some pages of data on the wholesale telecom sector were omitted from the latest Communications Monitoring Report (CMR). The previous year’s report, Teksavvy added, includes much of this information, whereas now much of it is scattered in its open data sets and out of the public-facing report. “What we don’t know is, what else they changed, what other numbers or information they omitted from the report,” Andy Kaplan-Myrth, TekSavvy’s vice-president of regulatory affairs, said on the phone. “What we’re seeing is other researchers are starting to come forward and say, ‘yea, we know there seems to be other information missing,’ so we might see some of that raised in the coming days.” CRTC spokeswoman Patricia Valladao said in the email that the regulator “will be closely examining the TekSavvy letter and will respond in due course.” Kaplan-Myrth said the lack of clear, transparent data should concern incumbents, too, as it’s a “question of clear, reliable data from a public agency.” All major incumbent telecoms did not return a request for comment. He added that it’s the parties’ responsibility to bring the relevant data in front of the CRTC in hearings and consultations, “so this makes it harder for us to do that.” The letter comes during the government’s review of the country’s broadcasting and telecommunications laws (BTLR). Having clear information to present to the panel overseeing the review is equally important, according to Kaplan-Myrth. “I think it affects the quality of evidence that parties could put before the BTLR,” Kaplan-Myrth said. “Most, maybe all, would have looked to the CMR and pulled information that was presented there,” he said, adding that it's “unlikely that very many of them went to the open data to dig for information that wasn’t in the report.” Dwayne Winseck, director of the Canadian Media Concentration Research Project and professor of at the school of communications and journalism at Carleton University, said on the phone that the BTLR review is the “bigger context” of the “travesty” that there are pieces of information not laid out in the report. The CRTC has yet to release the broadcasting section of the annual report. In light of the review, he said it’s “very urgent” for the CRTC to address the gaps, though he added it’s in some ways “too late.” “This stands very much at odds with the Liberal government’s commitment to open data and a public consultation,” said Winseck, who on several previous occasions raised the issue of the timely release of CRTC data, including sending a letter to the regulator about the delay in the release the latest CMR. The telecom section was released in late December, and the CRTC said the full version of the report will follow some time this year. In comparison, the full report last year was published in November, and the full editions of the previous three years in October. TekSavvy also raised concern about outdated information. For example, parties in proceedings in late 2018 would’ve had to rely on data from the 2017 report, which pulls data from as far back as 2016. It is asking for the CRTC to provide more information about the methodology used in the 2018 report compared to past reports, which it said was consistent; explain omissions and changes, and issue an “amendment or supplement to the 2018 report that presents all omitted data and analysis in as transparent and granular a manner possible.” Winseck said the data gaps create information asymmetry, where some get different information than others, while also taking “away the capacity to identify problems,” including seeing access, adoption and affordability levels at certain tiers of internet service. In that case, the latest CMR does not plainly break out adoption rates of internet speeds of 100 Mbps or more download, as it did in last year’s report. This concern comes during a proceeding in which smaller providers are worried that the move to a new regime that will allow resellers to deliver fibre -- but at costs and with logistical problems that they say are currently untenable -- will force those providers out of the market because they won’t otherwise be able to offer 100 Mbps download speeds or more in the new framework. Those smaller players are saying that the number of Canadians taking up 100 Mbps speeds is accelerating at a rapid pace. TekSavvy, to bolster its argument, noted in its letter that it did not submit some evidence for faster speeds on Jan. 7 to CNOC’s application because the data was omitted from the report. Matt Stein, CEO of Distributel Communications Ltd. and head of the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC), said in a phone interview the CMR is “so valuable to us all in the industry and unfortunately, when it’s changed, and all of a sudden we’re left scrambling to try and figure out where data has moved or how to get the answers that we need in order to really explain ourselves, the CMR is the ultimate source of data, so we really rely on having the data.” Stein said those providers use the data for planning purposes and to understand how the markets are changing. “The data is still available, but it’s no longer being presented the same way as it was before,” Stein said. “It just means it causes us to do a whole lot more hunting and scrambling for the data. And that’s the concern...it’s not the easiest to navigate. If it’s going to get moved, there really ought to be a thorough description of where the data moved to.” He said CNOC plans to “indicate to the commission how important this is” to the organization, but could not say in what way it plans to do that. TekSavvy also noted a second major concern with the CMR, which is that it bundles together separate categories of providers -- resellers and other facilities-based service providers, such as a larger player like Xplornet Communications Inc. -- into the “independent ISPs” category, thereby obscuring statistics. Stein said that’s not a fair comparison. — With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Lack of clear CRTC industry data is an obstacle: small ISPs

News | February 13, 2019

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Lack of clear CRTC industry data is an obstacle: small ISPs

News | February 13, 2019

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Related Stories

Google $1B news initiative won’t stop new legislation, gov’t says

Gov’t to introduce web giant, CanCon, news legislation in fall: Guilbeault

Advertising market in ‘modest recovery’: Corus

BTLR recs could see U.S. tariff levies under USMCA: Geist

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us