Bell files support for Telus speed cap appeal

BCE Inc. is supporting Telus Corp.’s request to appeal a decision by the CRTC that temporarily removed a cap on internet download speeds smaller telecoms can provide customers. Telus said in the Federal Court of Appeal last month that the CRTC made a mistake when it temporarily halted a restriction that would not allow smaller telecoms to provide their customers with 100 Mbps-plus download speeds unless they moved to a new regime that the competitors say is currently financially and operationally untenable. In the court filing this month, Bell said it agreed with Telus’s reasoning that the CRTC not only deviated from the standard three-part test known as RJR-MacDonald to make that decision, but didn’t notify and give an opportunity for the telecoms to weigh in on the decision to forgo the long-practiced standard. As such, the CRTC was “in clear breach” of its duty of procedural fairness, Bell said. “The doctrine of legitimate expectations...is based on the principle that procedural fairness takes into account the promises or regular practices of administrative decision-makers,” Bell said in the court filing. According to the standard application of the test, the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC), the small telecom representative that was granted the speed cap relief, would’ve had to prove that its concern is a serious, it meets a “balance of convenience,” including its impact on the public interest, and that if would impose “irreparable harm” if relief isn’t granted. Despite finding that it did not satisfy the harm part, the CRTC ruled in favour of CNOC -- at least until it makes a decision on the rest of its application. The CRTC has yet to set final rates for the new disaggregated regime, which will allow smaller providers to sell fibre services in exchange for providing their own transportation facilities, though the regulator has put in place interim rates in 2017 to kick-start the regime.

Bell files support for Telus speed cap appeal

Brief | May 13, 2019

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Bell files support for Telus speed cap appeal

Brief | May 13, 2019

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