Force Bell to sign IXPL lease agreement, CRTC urged

Ontario-based home phone and internet provider Fibernetics Corp. is calling on the CRTC to compel BCE Inc. to allow it to lease facilities so it can expand its landline phone service to eight new areas. In a Part 1 application posted on the CRTC website Monday, Cambridge-based Fibernetics says Bell has refused to sign a lease agreement for Inter-Exchange Private Line (IXPL) facilities despite the parties having signed many lease agreements in the past, with Bell insisting on another, redacted method for local network interconnection. Access to IXPL facilities is necessary for Fibernetics to provide services to customers in the eight areas, on the Bell landline phone network. The method insisted on by Bell is significantly more expensive, takes longer to implement and is harder to operate and maintain than leased facilities, Fibernetics says in its application, stating Bell’s preferred method would “easily cost each party tens of thousands of dollars” for each local interconnection region (LIR), depending on the point of interconnection selected. Fibernetics said Bell was the only incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) Fibernetics could negotiate with to enter the eight areas as a Type 1 competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC). “There is no loss or harm to Bell by continuing to insist on as the only acceptable method of LNI, despite as shown above it is an inefficient and costly method for both parties and clearly inferior,” Fibernetics’ application states. “Bell already serves customers within those LIR’s and the longer Bell prevents Fibernetics from entering as a CLEC the longer Bell does not face additional competition. This can only be viewed as anti-competitive behaviour from Bell.” The eight LIRs Fibernetics hopes to enter are “small” in comparison to the 54 other areas in Ontario and Quebec it already operates in, FIbernetics said in its application, adding it was part of the company’s “intent to continue to expanding its CLEC footprint to make its products and services available to Canadian consumers residing in these smaller remaining regions.” In 2015, the CRTC denied Bell’s application for relief on making “traffic imbalance payments” to Fibernetics, but pledged to start a fact-finding process to determine whether the system for establishing traffic-imbalance compensation was appropriate. In 2017, the regulator chose not to proceed with any further regulation of the compensation. Interventions to Fibernetics’ Part 1 are due Aug. 17.

Force Bell to sign IXPL lease agreement, CRTC urged

Brief | July 20, 2020

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Force Bell to sign IXPL lease agreement, CRTC urged

Brief | July 20, 2020

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