Competition best way to improve high speed Internet access: CRTC vice chair

The CRTC’s vice chair of telecommunications says the commission isn’t prepared to mandate access to high-speed Internet access or quality of service standards, saying the market needs time to work through these issues on its own. The idea of regulating Internet access was recently proposed in the Toronto Star, but it’s a suggestion that David Colville insists is not on the CRTC’s radar. "We had not decided when we rendered our high cost decision (Decision 99-16) to include high-speed access to the Internet as part of basic telephone service. We didn’t think it was reasonable to do that because it’s going to be some time before that could be universally available," Colville told Network Letter. "Even if people feel that that’s essential to their business, it’s not clear that we would necessarily regulate that." Colville recently gave an interview to the Toronto Star about problems with high-speed access. It was in that article that the reporter suggested that broadband Internet may have to be regulated. Colville agreed that that small businesses are becoming more reliant on high-speed, but didn’t see the need to have it designated a necessary service. "We’re trying to push high-speed, obviously," the vice chair stressed to Network Letter. "We think competition is going to do that. Cable is already making it more and more available on their networks." Colville points out that Bell Canada is spending over a billion dollars to expand its DSL services. He also touts the recent CRTC decision involving Covad Canada Communications Inc, which permits DSL resellers to have the same access to underlying facilities as CLECs (Order 2000-983). An executive with Canada’s largest cable operator says such initiatives contribute to consumer choice. David Watt is VP of business economics for Rogers Communications Inc, which provides high-speed access through its @Home service. "Typically an essential facility is something, at least by the CRTC’s definition, that is monopoly-controlled and requires an input by competitors," he explains to Network Letter. "This is a service that is not monopoly-controlled. It’s an intensely competitive service and nobody wants the service to work better than the service providers ourselves, the telephone companies and Look (Communications Inc) with its wireless offering. So we don’t think that deeming high-speed Internet service an essential facility is a solution to the problem." The Star has run a litany of complaints from subscribers to @Home and Sympatico. The major beefs revolve around network outages and bad customer support. The paper quotes the technical director of a Rogers subscribers’ association as saying the CRTC should impose minimum standards for Bell, Rogers and other ISPs. Watt pledges improvements will be made. He says Rogers has been increasing capacity and segmenting its network to handle the greater loads of traffic. To combat problems with fibre cuts, the cableco is adding diverse routes. Colville says he’s sympathetic to the problems being experienced by Sympatico and @Home. "This is new territory for cable companies and the phone companies," he notes. "It’s not surprising there are teething pains with getting the service up. I think the demand has been a lot more than they anticipated and they’re struggling to keep up with the demand and provide a good quality service. I recognize that and so I don’t think there’s a need for us to be jumping in and regulating these services."

Competition best way to improve high speed Internet access: CRTC vice chair

News | 12/04/2000 5:00 am EST

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