Incumbents oppose CRTC’s expedited review of FTTP access

Incumbent carriers are opposed to the expedited review of the CRTC’s wholesale HSA framework, including its consideration to mandate temporary aggregated access to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) facilities. Interventions from BCE Inc., Telus Corp., Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp., Bragg Communications Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., and Cogeco Inc. are among those against the proceeding. They argue the move is unlawful, its urgency is unjustified, and it creates serious uncertainty. “Telus is in no sense an ‘incumbent’ with respect to high-speed internet access,” the company wrote, noting that they have not yet completed deploying fibre. They added, if the provision of FTTP facilities over aggregated wholesale is mandated, investments will have to be diverted and many communities “may not see a fibre roll out at all.” Bell also warned of possible “‘place-based disparities’ in smaller and rural communities.” The incumbent cable carriers said they do not like being roped in with the ILECs, noting they don’t have as much FTTP capabilities as players like Bell and Telus. Rogers says this will divert already scarce resources from infrastructure projects. Eastlink and Cogeco shared this sentiment, claiming this could harm smaller carriers who are only now breaking into the FTTP realm. Lack of investment in facilities was cited by the CRTC as their reason for implementing the disaggregated model back in 2015, with the goal of phasing out aggregated wholesale services. However, issues including competitors’ continued lack of FTTP access, their swift acquisition by incumbents, and disproportionate reliance on cable carrier networks caused the commission to reverse their stance. “The Commission does not simply bring the industry back to the drawing board, it goes so far as to express the preliminary view that mandating aggregated FTTP, an option it has rejected multiple times in the last few years, is now the desirable path forward, and on an expedited, if not rushed, basis at that,” said Bell. Competitors are in support of the proceeding, with many pointing to recent acquisitions of wholesale-based competitors by incumbents as a justification for why the mandate should be expedited. “Service-based competitors are losing subscribers and market share to the incumbents despite the fact that the overall size of the retail internet services market has been growing,” wrote CNOC. Included in their intervention is an expert economic report from doctor Zhiqi Chen, an economics professor at Carleton University. It states that “without access to incumbent FTTP facilities, service-based competitors will not be sustainable in Canada,” and “if service-based competitors fall below a critical mass, the damage may become irreparable.” TekSavvy Solutions Inc., Quebecor Inc., OpenMedia, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), and the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project also support the commission’s preliminary views. “With demand for fast and high-quality internet only increasing, independent providers will be eliminated from the market if they do not receive fair FTTP wholesale access, resulting in severe lack of choice and affordability for customers,” wrote OpenMedia. In a reply submitted Tuesday, Eastlink disagreed with the Chen Report’s claims that competitors are losing market share to the incumbents, instead estimating that they have actually grown to capture close to 13 per cent of the market share in Nova Scotia. Eastlink went on to suggest they should be excluded from the mandate, along with Cogeco and other small and regional carriers, because their FTTP infrastructure is much smaller than Bell and Telus’. Such exclusions defeat the purpose of a temporary access regime, said PIAC in their Tuesday reply, “the point of interim access is not to preserve the status quo, but to open the retail internet market up to more competitors while the commission conducts the broader review.” The deadline for submission of interventions on all other issues within the scope of the proceeding is June 22, the Competition Bureau has said they will be submitting before then. Incumbent carriers are expected to submit tariff applications and cost studies to the CRTC by the May 31 deadline, with Shaw’s extended to August 24. The CRTC will hold a public hearing on the issue on a date to be announced. Reporting by Phalen Tynes-MacDonald at pcreed@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

Incumbents oppose CRTC’s expedited review of FTTP access

News | June 9, 2023

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Incumbents oppose CRTC’s expedited review of FTTP access

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