Videotron ‘diving’ like a soccer player over gigabit internet: TekSavvy

Quebecor Inc.’s cancellation of its gigabit internet service is akin to a soccer player diving, or feigning injury to draw a penalty, TekSavvy Solutions Inc. is arguing in an intervention to the CRTC. Quebecor’s Videotron said in October that it was axing its 1 Gbps speed offering without explanation, after first launching it in 2016. The CRTC told Videotron later in October that it couldn’t unilaterally cancel a service without filing a new tariff application. “Vidéotron is reminded that, until such time as the Commission renders a decision regarding the withdrawal or destandardization of the TPIA Giga Service, Vidéotron’s TPIA tariff remains unchanged and the service must be provided in accordance with the rates, terms and conditions laid out therein,” the regulator said in an Oct. 22 letter. In its third-quarter conference call earlier this month, Quebecor said it couldn’t keep offering the gigabit service in the wake of the CRTC’s new wholesale aggregated internet rates. “With the new regime, we can’t afford it,” Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau said on the call. “It requires investments…we have to take decisions. We’ve taken that decision — it’s probably the most material one that we’ve taken so far, but it’s going to be followed by others,” he said. Now TekSavvy, which took the step of lowering its internet prices after the new wholesale regime was announced, has said its comments filed as part of that tariff application process, that Quebecor’s claims are not borne out in their own financial returns. Citing filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, TekSavvy points out that Videotron reported increases in revenue in both mobile telephony and internet access services, as well as increases in average billing per unit (ABPU) and subscriber numbers. “Surely,” TekSavvy writes in the filing, “if put such a strain on Videotron’s finances that it was required to remove this service from the market, that would merit some mention in its financial statements.” “The fact that it did not merit a mention suggests that there may be an ulterior motive behind Videotron’s Application,” the ISP writes, going on to suggest that Videotron’s cancellation of gigabit internet amounts to a “feigned injury (like a soccer player diving) to create the impression of some harm, or at worst an anticompetitive meaneuver designed to punish competitors and consumers for the Commission’s order” on wholesale rates.

Videotron ‘diving’ like a soccer player over gigabit internet: TekSavvy

Brief | November 27, 2019

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Videotron ‘diving’ like a soccer player over gigabit internet: TekSavvy

Brief | November 27, 2019

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