CRTC denies Telus’ request for extension on fibre access deadline

Telus Corp. has been denied the extension it wanted before it has to give competitors wholesale access to its fibre networks in two provinces. Following the CRTC’s August decision ordering the western telecom, plus Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. (SaskTel) and BCE Inc., to provide aggregated wholesale access to incumbent fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks across Canada,. On Oct. 25, it set the interim rates that incumbents can charge competitors for that access. It set a deadline of Feb. 13 for providing access. But Telus argued to the CRTC in October that the February timeline is too short, asking for four extra months, until June 13, 2025, before it has to provide its competitors with wholesale access to its fibre networks in British Columbia. The western telecom cited the extra time as necessary due to “extensive development work,” such as automating “many of the manual processes that would otherwise be needed to operate and access its aggregated FTTP service.” Without such automation, “Telus and its reseller customers will need to execute these processes manually, resulting in a resource-intensive, error-prone, and time-consuming processes that will hurt the reseller experience and create friction for end users.” In November 2023, the CRTC issued a contentious interim decision mandating wholesale access to Bell and Telus’ fibre networks in Ontario and Quebec, and the companies also had a six-month implementation deadline in that case. Telus noted in its application that it was able to meet that previous deadline “because the serving territory’s small size allowed TELUS to implement using manual systems.” READ MORE: - Alberta, B.C. ministers calls on federal government to halt high-speed access review - Bell won’t participate in subsidized broadband projects if wholesale access for Big Three continues, signs agreement with CNOC - Telus calls wholesale cabinet order ‘protectionist play,’ ‘not fair to consumers’ In its decision on the extension request released Friday, Jan. 31, the CRTC found that Telus should be able to put in place a “workable” solution by Feb. 13. “This will allow competitors to choose between accessing the service as soon as possible or waiting for Telus to implement an optimized solution,” it said. The CRTC decided that manual order processing is a feasible approach in the meantime while Telus works on putting in place an automated system. “This would be a known temporary situation, and potential wholesale customers can make an informed decision to access the service immediately or wait the additional four months until an automated solution is available,” the CRTC said. The CRTC turned back against Telus its argument that it expects there to be less demand for FTTP access at beginning, and therefore an extension would have less of an impact than if there were large demand, with the regulator saying that manual order processing should be fine “given the short time frame it will be in effect, as well as the limited initial demand expected before transitioning to an automated solution.” In response to the application, SaskTel argued that if Telus got an extension while neither SaskTel nor Bell did, that would lead to an inequitable regulatory situation “where TELUS could access fibre networks outside its serving territory while not providing access in its own territory,” the CRTC noted. SaskTel also said it was having challenges and was considering using manual processes in order to make the deadline. Bell was also against an extension for Telus, flagging to the CRTC that it faced similar problems to Telus in Manitoba and Atlantic Canada and was shuffling resources from other projects to focus on meeting the deadline. “While Bell Canada and SaskTel are facing similar challenges in implementing wholesale aggregated FTTP services, both indicated that they are working towards having a workable solution ready for the deadline,” the CRTC said, adding that this showed the regulator that the challenges incumbents face are common and not enough reason for a deadline extension. Telus had argued that Bell has much more experience than Telus when it comes to wholesale fibre access. It noted that Bell had been mandated to provide FTTP access on a disaggregated basis – which requires competitors to invest or lease the transport facilities of a network separately – since 2015, while Telus has never implemented “any FTTP mandate of a significant scale.” The CRTC additionally observed that the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) and Quebecor Inc. argued that it is more important to make wholesale aggregated FTTP access available as soon as possible than it is to wait for an “optimized” implementation of the service. hdaley@thewirereport.ca With files from Phalen Tynes-MacDonald

CRTC denies Telus’ request for extension on fibre access deadline

Regulatory |
By Hannah Daley
| January 31, 2025

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