CRTC cites efficiency in denying SWIFT broadband fund proposal

The CRTC has denied an application by SouthWestern Integrated Fibre Technology Inc. asking for changes to the eligibility criteria for the commission’s rural broadband fund, which SWIFT argued excludes too many poorly-serviced communities from applying. The SWIFT application took issue with the hexagon map system that’s used to determine what counts as a served or underserved area, which divides the country into 25-km-square areas. If even one household in the hexagon has access to service that meets the CRTC’s basic service standards, the whole area will be ineligible for CRTC funding. SWIFT estimated that across the country, at least two to three million Canadians in rural communities who have “sub-standard service availability” will be excluded from being able to apply. But the regulator said in a decision Monday that among the principles it is required by law to consider when regulating are administrative efficiency and using measures “that are efficient and proportionate to their purpose.” It said the “hexagon methodology is already developed and has been used successfully in the past by ISED, making it an efficient mechanism that can be leveraged easily and that will not cause delays or any additional burden for applicants.” If it was to go ahead and create new mapping tools, those would be unfamiliar and untested, resulting in “delays in funding being approved, which would delay the deployment of improved broadband Internet access services to Canadians.” SWIFT isn’t the only party who has criticized the hexagon model. Among others, the auditor general singled it out in a report to Parliament this fall. ISED -- which has said while it publicly visualizes the data through the hexagon system, it uses much more accurate datasets internally -- has told The Wire Report it’s interested in releasing more detailed mapping information. It’s in the process of implementing measures that address the auditor general’s report. In its Monday decision, the CRTC also declined to put in place a mechanism that would allow parties to challenge the eligibility of specific hexagons. Because a single household within a hexagon with adequate service makes the whole hexagon ineligible, allowing “communities to provide further evidence demonstrating their eligibility for funding would be unlikely to materially alter which hexagons the Commission deems eligible,” it said. The CRTC also failed to be convinced by the data presented by various parties that showed some areas have many more unserved households than the CRTC maps show. The decision said “the lack of consistent terminology and methodology across the maps and reports that some parties provided makes it difficult to compare them to those of the Commission, and to each other. This is precisely why the Commission determined that it should adopt a common methodology that is familiar to applicants and that has been in place for many years.” The CRTC added that the mapping data it uses has “been collected, refined, and improved by Commission and ISED staff for more than a decade. The Commission has many processes in place to validate the map data, such as communication with ISED, inquiries to telecommunications service providers, and information collected through various proceedings.” However, the CRTC decision may not be the end of the issue. SWIFT has also asked the federal government to step in and amend the decision by order-in-council. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca

CRTC cites efficiency in denying SWIFT broadband fund proposal

News | April 29, 2019

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CRTC cites efficiency in denying SWIFT broadband fund proposal

News | April 29, 2019

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