Bell gets green light on usage-based billing

Smaller ISPs who purchase capacity from Bell Canada and then resell it to retail customers will have fewer service differentiation options after a CRTC decision gave the country’s largest phone the green light to bill wholesale customers on a usage basis. The CRTC ruled on August 12 that Bell could begin charging wholesale ISP customers usage-based billing (UBB) the same way the large telco charges its retail customers. Accelerated Communications, AOL Canada, Cybersurf Corp., Execulink Telecom, EGATE Networks, MNSi, Telnet Communications, Yak Communications and the Canadian Association of Internet Providers had said a decision in Bell’s favour would mean higher costs and less flexibility for them. “UBB has the very real possibility of adding 20% or more to the wholesale costs paid by competitive ISPs in Canada,” the group told the CRTC in a March 26 letter. “In a market that is extremely price sensitive, and at a time when consumers are worried about the cost of living and indeed their jobs, the Commission would be doing Canadians a disservice in considering Tariff Notice 7181 in general and the UBB provisions of the Tariff Notice in particular.” While there is a little wiggle room for service differentiation, it’s likely not enough to make the independent provider’s offering that much more compelling than Bell’s. “We’re all working under the same caps. We’re all working under the same pricing structure... Bell has said this is justifiable because the price it charges ISPs is below what they charge their retail customers. (But) if we maintain our margins in these services what winds up happening is that we’re charging the exact same thing that Bell is charging,” Tom Copeland, chair of the Canadian Association of Internet Providers told Tech Media Reports in April after Bell proposed the usage-based billing scheme to the CRTC. The commission has given small ISPs 90 days to prepare for the new billing scheme. Broadcast issues push key telecom hearing back In related news, the CRTC has pushed back by three weeks a key public hearing on mandating access to certain wholesale high-speed access services following its decision to revisit the controversial issue of broadcast distributors having to pay a fee to carry local television signals. After Bell Canada launched a Federal Court of Appeal challenge of a commission ruling on the contentious issue, the CRTC relented and initiated a proceeding with a public hearing to consider the matter again. The telecom hearing, which was to have taken place on November 16, is now scheduled for December 7. Final submissions and replies are also pushed back to December 31 and January 19, 2010, respectively. Perry Hoffman is an Ottawa-based freelancer writer. He can be reached at perry@messagingmechanics.com.

Bell gets green light on usage-based billing

News | 08/27/2009 2:04 pm EDT

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