City Wide appeals Eastlink POI decision at CRTC

City Wide Communications Inc. is appealing the CRTC's decision not to force Bragg Communications Inc. to move its third-party internet access to downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. In a review and vary application filed with the regulator on June 23, City Wide argued that the CRTC's March 25 decision to allow Bragg, which does business as Eastlink, to keep its point of interconnection (POI) 30 km away in Pennant Point constitutes "a significant barrier to competition and the delivery of competitive Internet access services to consumers," and increase City Wide's costs by some 12 per cent. "An increase of this magnitude greatly exceeds the Competition Bureau’s threshold for ‘significant’ in the context of the hypothetical monopolist test," City Wide wrote in its application. The third-party internet service provider also argued that the CRTC's finding in the March decision that City Wide's customer base remained positive from 2018 to 2020 – and thus that the POI location did not constitute a barrier to competition – "only provide superficial insight into the effects of Eastlink’s conduct at Pennant Point." Instead, City Wide argued, the company's subscriber numbers were significantly down in 2018 when compared to earlier years. "City Wide’s reduced growth remained consistent in subsequent years," the company wrote. "Such a large and persistent drop in customer growth can only be explained by the high transport costs at Pennant Point, thereby confirming the ‘significant’ nature of this barrier to competition and the delivery of Internet services to consumers." City Wide continued that the CRTC failed to consider the impact on the proceeding of Eastlink's proposal of a new site, and therefore denied City Wide a level of procedural fairness the third-party ISP was owed. The review and vary application also points to the government's new draft policy direction for the CRTC, which would direct the regulator to promote, encourage, and foster competition, affordability, consumer interests and innovation. "Although the Draft Policy Direction does not yet apply, it provides valuable insight into the Government’s vision for the upcoming harmonized Policy Direction to the Commission and therefore adds further merit to the grounds justifying City Wide’s requested relief," City Wide wrote. Should the CRTC decline once again to force Eastlink to move its POI from Pennant Point to Halifax, the regulator should instead regulate the provision of transport services at Pennant Point, City Wide added. "Although there are more advantages to relocating the TPIA POI to the New Site, regulating transport to the Pennant Point facility is nevertheless a justified and effective measure for eliminating the violation of Subsection 27(2) of the Act stemming from the Pennant Point location of Eastlink’s TPIA POI," City Wide wrote. — Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

City Wide appeals Eastlink POI decision at CRTC

News | June 30, 2022

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

City Wide appeals Eastlink POI decision at CRTC

News | June 30, 2022

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Related Stories

NDP critic calls for Rogers to reverse price hikes or be blocked from federal contracts

Rogers, Cogeco, Quebecor challenge ILECs at CRTC hearings

Cogeco defends infrastructure upgrade amid TekSavvy dispute

Cogeco MVNO operations still a ways away

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us