Kitchener MDU pushes for upgrades to Bell’s legacy facilities in access dispute

The owner of a multi-dwelling unit (MDU) in Kitchener, Ontario denies BCE Inc.’s claims that it is blocking the telco from accessing its facilities, arguing instead that it has the right to negotiate an access agreement and will restore Bell’s services once the company confirms whether it can make upgrades to its landline phone services. On Thursday the CRTC posted the MDU owner’s response to a Part 1 application from Bell. Filed on Nov. 20, the telecom is seeking an access order to resolve a dispute after property management allegedly cut Bell’s in-building wiring and walled off the main terminal room (MTR). Bell described it as “one of, if not the most, egregious examples of an MDU access denial and interference with the property of a carrier's in-building facilities” since a 2005 dispute between MTS Allstream Inc. and an Ottawa landlord. According to Bell, the manager of the MDU said he wants a “wireless solution” to its landline phone systems and has continued to deny Bell access to the property “to assess the damage and repair, replace or relocate the facilities to a mutually agreed upon location.” Located at 203 Mausser Avenue, the MDU is a legacy building that Bell first installed copper cabling for in the 1960s. As a legacy MDU, it has no written building access agreement, but Bell said it has a “long-standing history” of technicians entering the building and accessing its MTR and units with the permission of owners and tenants. However, that is not enough for Masseur Property Management and the MDU owner. Who, in their response, leaned on the fact that they never had an access agreement with Bell and are in the process of negotiating one. “The Owner/Manager denies that Bell’s requests for access were rebuffed and refused each time. The fact is that at no point did Bell provide a draft building access license agreement to the Owner/Manager or its representatives until December 7, 2023, at or around the time counsel for the parties began to conduct without prejudice negotiations,” they wrote. Now that negotiations are underway, the MDU owner said that “there is no need for the commission’s intervention.” According to the response, Bell has been granted access to the premises on both Dec. 15 and Jan. 4 “to assess the damage for the purpose of repairing, replacing or relocating its facilities to a mutually agreed upon location in order to be in a position to continue providing services to customers resident in the building.” “While Bell is entitled to restore its access rights on such reasonable terms and conditions,” the MDU owner said they are not in a position to make any decisions on how Bell can restore its services until their “receipt and review” of Bell’s inspection report. That report, they added, “ought to indicate whether a wireless solution is feasible at the building.” “If Bell has provided services to end-users of the building since the 1960s, technology has rapidly advanced such that Bell can service the occupants using other reasonable wireless solutions or other technologically feasible and least invasive methods,” they continued, criticizing Bell’s legacy technology. They noted that Rogers Communications Inc. has been providing wireless services to some of its residents and encouraged Bell to do the same. While the MDU is pushing for a wireless solution, they said it does not have to be the only option. Depending on Bell’s inspection report. “Bell may be able to upgrade the in-building wire in order to provide superior facilities, such as fibre-optic cable or shielded cable, to provide high-quality services to MDU end-users,” they said. Or Bell can “re-locate their facilities to another location in the MDU, including to a different MTR in the MDU which they believe is used to house Rogers’ network facilities.” Whatever the two end up deciding on, the MDU owner made clear that Bell will have to foot the bill of any costs associated with installing or upgrading new facilities. – Reporting by Phalen Tynes-MacDonald at pcreed@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca

Kitchener MDU pushes for upgrades to Bell’s legacy facilities in access dispute

News | January 12, 2024

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Kitchener MDU pushes for upgrades to Bell’s legacy facilities in access dispute

News | January 12, 2024

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