SaskTel objects to CRTC funding for BH Telecom, says project is duplicative

Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. has asked the CRTC to overturn its decision to award $9.5 million in funding to BH Telecom Corp. for a project in Saskatchewan that would connect some 26 communities in the province to high-speed internet. The communities are already connected, SaskTel said in a Part 1 application filed Mar. 18. "Most of the communities are already served by a SaskTel provided fibre optic transport network," SaskTel wrote in the complaint. "In determining that the communities are not served, the Commission made a fatal error in fact." SaskTel argued that it has standing to object to the funding award because it is a contributor to the broadband fund, "and has an interest in seeing that the fund is disbursed in accordance with the principles set out by the Commission." The funding was awarded on Feb. 4 as part of the CRTC's $750 million Broadband Fund, which seeks to connect rural communities to high-speed internet at the CRTC's universal service objective (USO) of 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload speed. "The decision to allocate scarce program resources to duplicate fibre transport services to reach areas already benefiting from USO compliant internet is on its face unreasonable and contrary to law," SaskTel wrote. If the CRTC awards the funding to BH Telecom, SaskTel added, the decision would increase competition in an already served marketplace, not bring new investment to an underserved area, which SaskTel argued is the point of the funding program. "The Broadband Fund program was not designed to duplicate transport networks to already-served communities, which is what the Decision will accomplish. The program was designed ... to bring service to “underserved” communities. " The funding was awarded to BH Telecom as part of the CRTC's second round of funding after the regulator received 586 valid applications and decided multiple rounds of decisions were necessary “given the volume of applications and the immediate need of Canadians for improved access to broadband infrastructure.” BH Telecom, which does business as FlexNetworks, did not immediately respond to a question Monday about whether or not the awarded funds had yet been distributed. The first five successful projects from the first round of applications for the fund, targeting Canada’s territories and satellite-dependent communities, were announced last August, while the second round of funding applications was delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

SaskTel objects to CRTC funding for BH Telecom, says project is duplicative

Brief | April 12, 2021

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SaskTel objects to CRTC funding for BH Telecom, says project is duplicative

Brief | April 12, 2021

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