Bell not giving up push for proceeding on cable plant unbundling

Bell Canada is pushing the CRTC to treat telco and cableco networks the same when it comes to making the networks available to ISP competitors. In its latest move, Bell wants the CRTC to hold the two telecom proceedings concurrently to ensure cable operators are not given an unfair regulatory advantage. The move comes after the CRTC denied a Telus Corp. application to combine the ADSL unbundling proceeding with a Cybersurf Part VII seeking cable network unbundling. Cybersurf wants cable plants unbundled for competitor access. Bell says if the commission won’t combine the two proceedings, then it has to initiate a broader proceeding on cable network unbundling to run at the same time as ADSL unbundling. “The companies submit that whether there should be further unbundling of next generation networks, including cable networks, is a serious policy issue and that it would be fundamentally unfair to consider requiring more unbundling and wholesale options to be provided by the ILECs than the cable companies,” reads Bell’s letter to the commission. Pointing to the policy direction to the CRTC, Bell says it requires the commission to use regulatory measures in a symmetrical and competitively neutral manner. If these measures relate to network interconnection arrangements or regimes for access to networks, Bell says the measures have to ensure the technological and competitive neutrality of those arrangements or regimes. Bell further urges the CRTC to force cable companies to address in formal comments the same issues the telcos have to in the ADSL proceeding. In addition, the company wants the commission to add a concurrent oral public hearing. “Finally, the companies urge the commission to issue its determinations in both proceedings at the same time, to ensure that a consistent and coherent regulatory framework for access to these competing networks is established, in compliance with the requirements of the policy directive,” reads the letter. The cable companies are united in their opposition to any expansion of the ADSL proceeding to include cable plant. In a joint submission to the commission, they say cable network unbundling, as raised by Cybersurf, is different than that being considered in the ADSL hearing. “The issues raised in the application as filed by Cybersurf relate to the provision of a new service by the cable carriers that would provide competitors with a dedicated 6 MHz channel,” reads the cable company response. “The proceeding underway on the ILECs’ ADSL access service relates to services that have been considered and granted interim approval by the commission previously. This fact alone distinguishes the scope of the issues to be considered by the commission in reaching its determinations on the two matters.”

Bell not giving up push for proceeding on cable plant unbundling

News | 03/23/2009 8:06 pm EDT

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