City of Surrey and AT&T Canada may settle rights-of-way dispute without CRTC help

Even though AT&T Canada Corp. wants the CRTC to order the City of Surrey B.C. to give it access to roads and property, both sides expect the matter to be resolved long before the commission rules on the submission. Talks are continuing in the hopes an interim agreement can be reached. The telco filed a Part VII application on Nov. 8 asking the commission to apply the standards of Decision 2001-23, the City of Vancouver-Ledcor ruling (NL, Jan. 29/01). AT&T Canada and Surrey have been negotiating since 1998, and while the CRTC Vancouver-Ledcor ruling should have expedited matters, the appeal by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities seeking to overturn the decision threw a wrench in the discussions (NL, Feb. 12/01). Until the courts make a final arbitration, both cities and telcos are reluctant to sign any deals. Several communities have signed interim agreements that include retroactivity clauses, Rob Wilson, manager of land development engineering for Surrey, tells Network Letter. "It gives right of access at present under terms and conditions similar to what AT&T is looking for but providing a retroactivity clause that, once the Ledcor-City of Vancouver issue is resolved by the court system, the terms and conditions would be applied retroactively." The city is looking at the deals signed by nearby municipalities and hoping to use them as a template for an accord with AT&T. Anthony Capuccinello, Surrey’s assistant city solicitor, was reluctant to discuss the issue in great depth, citing solicitor-client privilege, but he sent an email to Network Letter stating: "We are confident that the matter will be resolved without the matter proceeding to the CRTC." While the rights-of-way issue has not been finalized by the courts, the mere existence of a CRTC edict has helped, AT&T Canada’s VP of regulatory affairs believes. "We have been negotiating with some municipalities and it probably changed the tone," Teresa Muir tells Network Letter. "And I think, frankly, that the municipalities also probably would prefer to reach agreement without going through the commission process." Pattullo Bridge good example Muir cites the example of Telus Communications Inc. being denied access to the Pattullo Bridge in B.C. The ILEC filed a Part VII, but managed to come to agreement with the public agency that runs the bridge, TransLink. She expects a repeat of the situation with Surrey."With the Telus application for the Pattullo Bridge you can generally reach resolution and hopefully that’ll be the case here, too," she says. The telco has several points in dispute with the British Columbia suburb. One is the question of jurisdiction. Surrey is insisting that any new quarrels be settled through arbitration under provincial laws. AT&T Canada quotes Decision 2001-23, which mandates that these arguments be submitted to the CRTC to be handled under the Telecommunications Act. Surrey is also asking that any third parties that would have access to the AT&T Canada pipe sign a municipal access agreement with the city as well. The CLEC maintains this would be in violation of the Ledcor ruling. Additionally, it is disputing the formula for relocation costs that Surrey has offered. The city had suggested AT&T Canada use existing Telus duct instead of tearing up local streets. The company was able to get more fibre in Telus space, but it is still not enough, the competitor states. "Currently, AT&T Canada has two strands of fibre remaining out of a total of thirty strands on AT&T Canada’s fibre route across the Pattullo Bridge to the Walley hub," the company writes. "This route provides the AT&T Canada backbone path for all of Surrey. AT&T Canada does not have enough fibre remaining to provide a protected system to Surrey or beyond. Without fibre available to add additional electronics, AT&T Canada cannot add the required bandwidth to service customer growth or expansion."

City of Surrey and AT&T Canada may settle rights-of-way dispute without CRTC help

News | 12/05/2001 5:00 am EST

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