Shaw Communications criticizes Telus forbearance application

Shaw Communications says that Telus Corp.’s recent forbearance application for Fort McMurray is premature and is nothing more than a test case to review and vary the CRTC’s April 6, 2006 local forbearance decision (Telecom Decision 2006-15; NL, Oct. 27/06). "If you look at what the commission has in front of it right now, with the threshold review, and the examination of whether or not wireless services should be part of the equation for forbearance purposes, they are important issues in determining the final criteria for forbearance, so Telus’ application is premature," says Jean Brazeau, Shaw’s VP of telecommunications. "When I first saw the application, my first reaction was that what Telus is really looking for is a test case for a review of the commission’s forbearance decision because they’re looking for changes to the two important conditions in that decision - quality of service and the definition of the local forbearance region (LFR)," continues Brazeau. "And this is odd, because there was a pretty exhaustive debate on the issue of the appropriate geographic region to use when forbearing and now Telus wants to change it." Brazeau is equally puzzled about Telus’ desire to change the quality of service criteria. "Telus says that Shaw doesn’t need quality of service because we’re the cable company. But what about competitors such as Vonage? They need quality of service and I think the commission needs to take that into account when they analyze the Telus application." Telus stated in its application that the current threshold of 25% market share loss has already occurred in the municipality of Fort McMurray, but Brazeau says that Telus is missing the bigger picture. "Shaw has cable plant in other municipalities within the LFR, not just Fort McMurray, so you have to consider those areas as well. If you look at the whole region, we haven’t reached the 25% threshold, so Telus’ argument loses some credibility." Shaw also thinks that the 25% market share threshold figure is just right. "The commission picked 25% rather than 20% for good reasons. We’re pretty sure the competitive market will be sustainable at that level. Anything below that and it’s likely that competitors would roll out much slower than they are, for example, by choosing not to serve certain smaller markets and competition would not develop as the commission would like. is a buffer to ensure that the commission will not need to step back into the market." Brazeau wonders why Telus just didn’t wait for the threshold to reach 25% in the LFR and apply then. "That’s the approach we’d prefer. If the incumbent carrier thinks the market meets the test in a particular region, then file an application. It would have been more useful to all concerned." The commission has asked detailed questions of both Shaw and Telus and the deadline for Shaw to file comments on the Telus application has been pushed to the end of November. A decision is expected in March 2007.

Shaw Communications criticizes Telus forbearance application

News | November 9, 2006

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