City Wide is the victim of competition, not anti-competitive practice: Eastlink

City Wide Communications Inc.'s lack of growth in Nova Scotia is due to the presence of other third-party internet access (TPIA) competitors in the province, rather than anything having to do with the location of Bragg Communications Inc.'s points-of-interconnection (POIs), according to Bragg. In an intervention on a City Wide's June review and vary application, filed with the CRTC Thursday, Bragg's Eastlink argued that City Wide's application is misplaced. "When considering all of the data and variables, it is clear that the true cause of City Wide’s slowed growth is the fact that they are facing increasing competition in the market," Eastlink wrote in its filing. City Wide had argued that the CRTC’s March 25 decision to allow Eastlink to keep its POI 30 km away in Pennant Point, rather that in Halifax, constituted “a significant barrier to competition and the delivery of competitive internet access services to consumers,” and increased City Wide’s costs by some 12 per cent. "Given the steady increase in overall TPIA end-users, and the growth from City Wide’s TPIA competitors, it is clear that nothing about Pennant Point is creating a barrier to competition," Eastlink wrote in its Thursday intervention. Eastlink argued that City Wide's argument that is costs had risen 12 per cent was based off an apples-to-oranges comparison, given that the initial figures cited were from 2017, before City Wide's implementation of TPIA service. "City Wide’s costs in 2017 were under the resale model. The mandated resale of higher speed retail internet required cable carriers to make their internet service available for resale at a 25 per cent discount from the lowest retail price available to a customer in the applicable serving area," Eastlink wrote. Rather, the company continued, under the TPIA model, competitor ISPs are "responsible for more network costs." Eastlink also argued that it is the increase of TPIA service in the Maritime provinces that has slowed City Wide's growth, rather than Eastlink's own POI location. "City Wide would like to blame their slowed growth on Eastlink’s transport prices rather than the reality that they are facing increased competition in Nova Scotia from new TPIA entrants. These competitors have been able to realize accelerated growth since the introduction of the TPIA model," Eastlink wrote, before citing its own figures to prove the point. The figures are redacted from the public version of their filing. City Wide did receive some support from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and from the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC). PIAC argued that the commission was wrong not to conduct a full process with regards to the possibility of Eastlink locating its POI in central Halifax. "We support City Wide’s argument that the commission has erred in law by failing to establish a process to develop a complete public record relating to this new site," PIAC wrote in its own intervention. "This has thereby denied not only City Wide but also other competitors and/or stakeholders a fair chance to conduct their research and present their views on this matter." PIAC added that ignoring the new site would set a bad precedent. "We believe similar determinations that allow TPIA POIs to be permitted at remote locations with no or limited transport alternatives may encourage other incumbents to select TPIA POIs at remote locations much to their own advantage but to the disadvantage of competitors, which could severely affect competition, consumer choice and affordability," PIAC wrote. CNOC, too, lent its support to City Wide's request for a broader proceeding on the issue of transport services for TPIA customers. The organization wrote that it "wishes to underline that the transport issues that are demonstrated in the review and vary application are far from exclusive to Nova Scotia." "CNOC members have experienced similar barriers to competition in retail markets that can be traced back to a lack of competitive (and regulated) transport services." — Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.

City Wide is the victim of competition, not anti-competitive practice: Eastlink

News | July 29, 2022

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City Wide is the victim of competition, not anti-competitive practice: Eastlink

News | July 29, 2022

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