Calgary CLEC trying to figure out who controls local utility poles

A fledgling Alberta CLEC wants the CRTC to act as referee in its battle for pole access, but it's still not clear who the company is opposing - the local power company or Telus Corp. Without the ability to use existing support structures and facilities, the company says it can't offer telephone service to its buildings in Edmonton and Calgary (NL, Nov. 6/00). The confusion began in May when Suite Systems Inc (SSI), a division of Calgary rental property company Boardwalk Equities Inc, asked Calgary's municipal utility for access to its poles. Enmax Corp said it had already allotted all of its available space to Telus, Shaw Communications Inc and its own subsidiary, Enmax Power Corp. "We approached both Enmax and Telus and asked to get access to that space and both have said no and they pointed to the other guy," Mike Guyette, SSI's VP operations tells Network Letter. "We believe that Telus can let us in that space if they're regulated to do so, so we've filed a complaint with the CRTC asking them to look into it." Earlier this month, SSI filed a Part VII application against Telus to the commission, claiming that Telus has non-exclusive use of the poles and, as such, must make its space available to others. The phone company begs to differ. "Telus' position is that these support structures, the actual poles in question, are owned by Enmax and Telus really doesn't have the authority to grant the access that they're looking for," says Gary Mielke, senior policy analyst for the telco. "So we have advised them on their initial applications that they should be dealing directly with the pole owner, that being Enmax." Mielke also suspects that the new entrant misunderstands the terms of the original contract between the western ILEC and the city. "They interpret a space to mean they can put multiple cables or multiple attachments in there when in fact Enmax' own technical guidelines really only permit the attachment of one cable strand," he says. "The only provision is that our pole position can be assigned to affiliates and we obviously don't view SSI as an affiliate." Even if Telus could lease space to outsiders, the point is moot, Mielke maintains. The company is using all the available space and has none to spare. Guyette says his firm is also speaking with Enmax Power to secure access to their lines. SSI and Enmax Power met at the end of June, with the CLEC providing the utility with a map of its proposed initial network routing and a description of its pole network installation plans. Further discussion between the two companies is planned. SSI has no plans to speak with Shaw yet, he adds. This is the second filing involving Enmax in recent months. In May, Bell Intrigna Inc launched a Part VII seeking access to poles. Enmax is fighting that submission also. "The application is an abuse of the telecommunications regulatory regime and is merely regulatory gaming," the power company writes in its reply to Bell on June 4. It says the CRTC should dismiss the Part VII and let the two sides go through mediation. Mediation seems unlikely, though, given the bad blood that has already arisen between the two parties. In the June reply, Enmax made serious allusions of unethical action on Bell's part. "The respondents are very troubled by some of the interrogatories proposed by Bell as they appear to reveal knowledge of EPC's confidential information and its contracts with others, including Telus and Shaw," Enmax wrote. "This is of concern because EC's former legal counsel, Mr. Steven Spurgeon, is now general counsel for Bell and attended the last negotiation meeting between the parties' prior to the respondents being served with this application." Bell hit the roof and a chastened Enmax withdrew the charge. "Enmax has received from Bell and its general counsel written assurances satisfactory to Enmax that remove the relevance and need for this paragraph," the utility's lawyer Lynn Meyer wrote on June 20. "Therefore Enmax respectfully requests, with Bell's consent, that paragraph 58 of Enmax's answer be redacted by the commission as soon as possible from the record of this proceeding."

Calgary CLEC trying to figure out who controls local utility poles

News | July 30, 2001

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