Distributel seeks revised interim rates for disagg regime

Distributel Ltd. is asking the CRTC to revise the interim rates for disaggregated wholesale high-speed access (“HSA") services to help jumpstart the lagging disaggregated wholesale regime. In a Mar. 28 Part 1 application posted to the commission's website Wednesday, Distributel said that the move is necessary "to remove one of the barriers that impedes the deployment of disaggregated HSA services and frustrates the Commission’s objective of incenting a transition to disaggregated HSA services so that Canadians can benefit from increased facilities-based competition." The CRTC announced the disaggregated regime in 2015; though initially supported by the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (of which Distributel is a member), the group sounded the alarm that the system had turned out to be “unworkable” in 2017, and asked the regulator to reconsider aspects of the regime. The CRTC then acknowledged that the level of disaggregation may need to be reconsidered, initiating a consultation in June and suspending its proceeding to set final rates for the regime. In October of 2020, CNOC argued to the regulator that the level of disaggregation must be reduced significantly for there to be any chance of wholesale-based ISPs accessing the model. That month, CNOC also asked the CRTC to make incumbents disclose more information about their disaggregated configurations. Incumbents objected, but the CRTC ultimately granted the request in August. Now Distributel would like the regulator to set interim rates for the disaggregated regime for BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., and Quebecor Inc. at the same level as the older aggregated regime in certain situations. According to Distributel, it is unreasonable to pay for access to disaggregated fibre-to-the-node services – at the same speeds and offered over the same last mile access facilities as FTTN in the aggregated regime – for a higher price. "There is no policy or evidentiary justification for charging higher rates for identical services," Distributel wrote in the application. The different pricing is both a disincentive to deployment of the disaggregated regime, and is a "a significant barrier to obtaining any additional financing necessary to deploy disaggregated HSA services as potential investors, in general, do not see the benefit of making investments when the return for doing so is increased recurring costs relative to those which are incurred today," Distributel argued. In addition to those companies offering disaggregated service now – Bell, Cogeco Inc., Rogers, and Quebecor – Distributel is asking the commission to mandate the closing of the price discrepancy for companies that may deploy disaggregated services in the future, Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp., Telus Corp, Bragg Communications Inc.'s Eastlink, and Shaw Communications Inc. As justification, Distributel points to the "just and reasonable" provision of the Telecommunications Act, which mandates that “every rate charged by a Canadian carrier for a telecommunications service shall be just and reasonable.” "It is a violation of that requirement that rates for FTTN access services available via disaggregated HSA services are higher than those for the same FTTN access services available via aggregated HSA services," Distributel wrote. "This also clearly conflicts with the Commission’s stated intention of encouraging a migration from aggregated HSA services to disaggregated HSA services in order to promote increased facilities- based competition." — Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

Distributel seeks revised interim rates for disagg regime

News | March 30, 2022

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Distributel seeks revised interim rates for disagg regime

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