Fibre wire access scheme already exists, PIAC argues

CloudWifi Inc.’s application for small internet service providers to be able to access fibre in-building wiring (IBW) until a new tariff is set is unnecessary because a system to do so already exists, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre has argued in an intervention. In documents filed with the CRTC responding to CloudWifi’s review-and-vary application, PIAC argued the regulator had already “inadvertently, perhaps” ordered access to in-building fibre wire in multi-dwelling units (MDUs) and “confirmed” the existing rules around access to copper in-building wire applied to it until a new set of tariffs were created. “Therefore, the Applicant’s application can be ‘granted’ or ‘dismissed’ or ‘moot’ but the result that they seek is already in place and there is no basis upon which nor any other LEC in control of MDU IBW, whether fibre or copper, can deny access or charge an access fee to another LEC, unless and until that ruling is changed,” the PIAC said in its intervention. PIAC executive director John Lawford said in a phone interview that his argument was a very “technical legal one” that the CRTC had, in finding that the existing MDU in-building wire access framework applied to fibre in its response to Bell’s review-and-vary application, set a tariff for access to fibre wire. “Therefore they’ve, without realising it, magically waved their wand and said the tariff is $0 and you have to have access and that’s what the tariff says to begin with,” Lawford said. “If the CRTC said that fibre access is the same and is covered by the first decision, then I don’t think they can then contradict their decision and say therefore we suspend it.” In its Jan. 3 application, CloudWifi argued competitive local exchange carriers should continue to have interim access to fibre inside wiring in multi-unit dwellings where no other wiring already exists, until the new tariff structure is in effect. The CRTC announced a halt on in-building fibre wire access in MDUs in December while it consulted on what would constitute a fair price for doing so, meaning no competitive local exchange carriers had authorization to access in-building wire. But it upheld an earlier ruling from June that allowed CloudWifi to continue accessing Bell’s in-building wiring in multiple MDUs while the consultation took place. CloudWifi’s access to Bell’s in-building wiring in a Toronto condo initiated the proceeding in 2018. Incumbent local exchange carriers Bell, Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. all filed interventions opposing CloudWifi’s application, arguing it failed to establish that the CRTC had made an error in its original decision. In a 25-page intervention, Bell argued CloudWifi’s arguments for interim relief were invalid and adopting CloudWifi’s proposed regime would be “tantamount to reintroducing the bifurcated, asymmetrical patchwork type of consultation process the Commission wished to avoid.” Quebecor Inc., which this month launched a campaign against Bell’s bid to purchase Groupe V Media Inc.’s TV network V. filed an intervention in French saying it supported CloudWifi’s intervention. In July, it filed an intervention to a review-and-vary application from Bell, arguing that Bell’s claims it would suffer irreparable harm if CLECs were granted access to its in-building fibre wire were “exaggerated”. Comments around what a tariff framework for what fibre in-building wire should look like closes on April 2. — With reporting by Adam Langenberg at alangenberg@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Fibre wire access scheme already exists, PIAC argues

News | February 12, 2020

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Fibre wire access scheme already exists, PIAC argues

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