CRTC upholds decision in Telus-Iristel 867 traffic stimulation case, resumes fine consultation

The CRTC has rejected a pair of review and vary applications from Telus Corp. and Iristel Inc. in a long-running dispute over traffic stimulation to the 867 area code, and reopened a consultation on what level of fine the two companies should be forced to pay. In one of two decisions released Wednesday, the regulator upheld its original finding from August 2020 that Telus violated the Telecommunications Act when it reduced the capacity of certain of its toll circuits -- causing calls to drop -- and unjustly discriminated against Iristel, Iristel’s customers, and its own customers. Telus had argued in a November 2020 review and vary application that when it reduced traffic capacity, it did not “discriminate” against any one set of customers. “Each customer was treated like the others,” Telus wrote at the time. In Wednesday's decision, the CRTC wrote that Telus' "concept of discrimination is unduly narrow and inconsistent with past commission decisions." "For example, the commission has found discrimination where a carrier did not permit customers of one service provider to roam on its network, while it permitted subscribers of other service providers to roam," the CRTC wrote, referencing a 2006 decision. Telus' conduct, the CRTC continued, "impaired the ability of some customers to consistently complete calls to Iristel customers in the 867 NPA, relative both to those customers who could reliably place calls to 867 NPA telephone numbers belonging to non-Iristel customers, and to customers whose ability to complete calls to Iristel customers in the 867 NPA was not impaired." The dispute over traffic simulation goes all the way back to 2016, when Rogers Communications Inc. accused Iristel of engaging in traffic stimulation, prompting the regulator to order Iristel in December 2017 to cease the use of 867 area code numbers to connect callers to a Toronto-area radio station audio stream. In Aug. 2018, Telus and Iristel filed dueling Part 1 applications, with Telus complaining that Iristel’s traffic stimulation had resumed, and Iristel countering that Telus was causing calls from Telus users to Iristel users to fail. The CRTC Wednesday also rejected an Iristel review and vary application on the same decision, in which the carrier argued that the regulator had "fundamentally misunderstood" what the company was doing and had not turned up any evidence of traffic stimulation. In the Aug. 2020 decision, the CRTC retroactively slashed Iristel’s long distance call termination rate by 74 per cent, finding the company had granted itself an undue advantage by allowing the use of 867 numbers by “certain customers based in distant locations.” In the Wednesday decision, the regulator reiterated its finding that Iristel had engaged in traffic stimulation after the 2017 decision, pointing "a rapid rate of increase in traffic volume between February 2018 and May 2018, following an initial dramatic drop immediately after the issuance" of the 2017 decision. "Such a rapid rate of increase in traffic volume is similar to the one that partially supported" the 2017 decision "that Iristel had been involved in regulatory arbitrage activities." In rejecting both review and vary applications from Telus and Iristel, the CRTC also resumed a consultation it had paused on what level of fine it should impose on the two companies from the dispute. The CRTC suggested in its original consultation fines of between $750,000 and $1,250,000 for each company in the case, and will accept interventions until Jan. 17, 2022, and replies until Jan. 31. — Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca

CRTC upholds decision in Telus-Iristel 867 traffic stimulation case, resumes fine consultation

News | December 1, 2021

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CRTC upholds decision in Telus-Iristel 867 traffic stimulation case, resumes fine consultation

News | December 1, 2021

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