Bell subsidiary given 5 months to implement local competition plan in Upton, Que.

The CRTC approved a BCE Inc. subsidiary’s request to implement its plan for local competition in the low-density market of Upton, Que. within five months, despite pushback from Quebec-based telecom company CoopTel which argued it should be done sooner. “Taking into account the tasks and the time required to complete them, the situation regarding the DMS-10 switches, the human resources available, as well as the delays caused by the blackout, the commission considers the five-month time frame to be reasonable,” the CRTC wrote in its Thursday decision. In mid-October, Bell’s Maskatel filed a plan with the CRTC for establishing local competition in Upton after CoopTel notified the company of its intentions to compete in the area. According to a 2006 CRTC decision, small incumbent local exchange carriers (SILECs) must file an implementation plan with the commission within 30 days of receiving an expression of interest from an LEC or carrier requesting to use competitor services within a SILEC’s territory. The implementation plan must include details like how customer transfer procedures would be managed and plans to include local number portability (LNP). Maskatel told the commission in October that plans to put in place the necessary infrastructure and procedures needed to implement LNP so local businesses and residents can keep their numbers if they switch providers. According to the commission, LNP is an essential condition for development of competition in the local services market. In an October intervention, CoopTel requested that the CRTC to order Maskatel to demonstrate how there is a shortage of expertise that would justify delaying its entry into the Upton market, arguing its parent company would have the required resources. Maskatel replied to the commission in late-November arguing that a five-month period was reasonable, considering the CRTC approved the same time frame for the company three years ago when Telus Corp. requested to enter one of its markets. It further added that “the competent resources to implement portability on DMS-10 switches are scarce, both at Maskatel and at Bell,” and that both companies' internal network processes “have been developed separately” despite belonging to the same corporate group. “Maskatel is a small ILEC and therefore has more limited resources, which may in part justify longer time frames,” the commission wrote in its decision, adding that the same timeframe was also deemed reasonable in 2019 when Telus entered the markets of St-Éphrem and St-Victor, Que.

Bell subsidiary given 5 months to implement local competition plan in Upton, Que.

Brief | March 17, 2022

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Bell subsidiary given 5 months to implement local competition plan in Upton, Que.

Brief | March 17, 2022

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