CRTC stepped back to allow telecoms to handle COVID-19

The CRTC largely played a hands-off role during the COVID-19 pandemic in a bid to allow Canadian telecoms to “do what needed to be done,” chairman Ian Scott said in an interview. Scott said that when he initially reached out to telecoms at the beginning of the pandemic, he was told all the companies required was to be left to do the necessary work without interference. “That was quite reasonable. They said ‘we’re busy.’ I asked them what they needed and they said to be left alone. And they were right,” Scott said. Scott noted the CRTC worked with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and Public Safety on the file. He said the three agreed that “we all want certain things from the carriers. We need to do this in a coordinated way that doesn’t put a burden on the carriers, because they’ve got some important work to do” in keeping the networks functioning as Canada suddenly shifted to working online, and ensuring services like emergency alerts were still working. “What we tried to do, and we did with ISED and others, is to try and focus on what was important. We had expert committees looking at technical issues,” Scott said, which included reaching out to Quebec officials to ensure workers had clearance to move inside the province, which had restricted movement between regions early on in the pandemic. “There was a wide range of things like that, predominantly technical,” Scott said. “But we were all in regular contact,” he said. “I checked in with companies both large and small just to find out how they were doing.” The Wire Report reported earlier this month on a CRTC briefing note suggesting one avenue to keep in touch with the industry would be through the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) industry association. Through the pandemic, Scott said the telecoms have “kept a level of service that is admirable.” He also praised the measures telecoms took to make things easier for customers in the first months of the pandemic, such as suspending overage charges. “I had a chat with the chair of the FCC at the beginning of this, when he was telling me about his pledge,” Scott said. Ajit Pai, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, first announced the Keep Americans Connected Initiative in mid-March, which invited telecoms to promise not to terminate service if customers can’t pay as a result of the pandemic, waive late fees and open up WiFi hotspots. More than 800 companies signed the pledge, that was later extended until June 30. “He was very proud, as he should be, that the majority of large players all committed to it. And he asked me what we were doing, and I kind of somewhat cheekily said, ‘well, I didn’t have to do that, the industry volunteered it’,” Scott said. “And I mean that, I give them credit. They did step up, they’ve done the right things, and they did it for a long time.” Canadian telecoms began lifting some of these measures earlier in the summer. Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) general counsel John Lawford noted in early July that most references to flexible payment plans and disconnection freezes had vanished from telecom websites by that point. Lawford has repeatedly pushed for the CRTC to take a more active role during the pandemic, including mandating industry-wide rules around overage charges and disconnection fees. Consumer groups called for a freeze on price increases, but a briefing note prepared for the CRTC’s chief of consumer, research and communications Scott Hutton advised that wasn’t feasible in the short or medium term given the CRTC had forborne from price regulation. The impact of the pandemic on Canadian publicly-traded telecom companies has become more clear in recent weeks, as they began reporting quarterly results covering the pandemic period. Telus Corp. saw profits fall nearly 40 per cent; BCE Inc.’s dropped 64 per cent. “It’s had a big financial impact,” Scott said. He also cautioned, however, that the “bad news may be more yet to come” for telecoms, given they have been deferring payments and haven’t been cutting off service. The CRTC itself also had its own adjustments to make, Scott acknowledged. “I’m also very proud of this organization because we went from, overnight, everybody here to essentially 100 per cent of staff at home, and we barely skipped a beat.” In response to the pandemic and to help give telecoms the necessary breathing room, the CRTC postponed a number of deadlines and proceedings this spring. Scott said earlier in the same video chat interview that the pandemic contributed to delays in announcing the first phase of the $750-million rural broadband fund, which the CRTC released Wednesday. It also played a role in the timing of the regulator’s high-profile decision on whether to mandate access by mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) to company networks. Scott said that proceeding has been affected by the postponed deadlines, but also new procedural requests in the file. In the spring the CRTC asked participants if pandemic had changed the views they expressed during the February hearing, clashed with Telus over the confidentiality of a board resolution, and in early August, Bell asked the CRTC to strike a Competition Bureau report from the record. “We need a record to be completed before we make any decision,” Scott said. “Was it delayed because of COVID? A little bit, but we gave the carriers more time and then there are other issues that have to be addressed.” — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Adam Langenberg at alangenberg@thewirereport.ca

CRTC stepped back to allow telecoms to handle COVID-19

News | August 13, 2020

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CRTC stepped back to allow telecoms to handle COVID-19

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