Telecoms must hand over more detailed info to Comp Bureau

The CRTC has directed telecom companies to disclose an additional set of information to the Competition Bureau ahead of the regulator’s review of Canada’s mobile wireless market next year. The particular set of information the telecoms must now turn over has been the subject of a months-long back and forth involving the CRTC, the Competition Bureau, and the telecoms. They include granular detail about their business practices, including spectrum holdings, subscriber revenue and data usage figures, historical and expected capital expenditures, MVNO activity, and a number of other categories of information. In their responses to a May 24 request for information, several telecoms argued that some of the requested information -- such as information about unused spectrum, capital expenditures, and network sharing arrangements -- was not of use to the Competition Bureau. The new decision, which the CRTC issued August 2, says that -- with the exception of network sharing information -- the companies must hand over the rest of that type of information to the bureau, and sets a deadline of August 9. The companies required to submit information to the bureau are BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp., Shaw Communications Inc., Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp., Xplornet Communications Inc., Ice Wireless Inc., Bragg Communications Inc., and TBayTel. The bureau initially made a broader request back in March, which the telecoms called an attempt to “hijack” the mobile wireless review process. In April, the CRTC rejected the bureau’s request for the detailed information, saying that there was too much overlap with the request for information already put to the telecoms by the CRTC as part of the mobile review process and the request would be too burdensome on them. The bureau then came back to the CRTC asking it to reconsider in May. “Without additional information, the advice I can provide to the CRTC regarding the appropriate measures needed to stimulate competition, will be significantly limited,” bureau commissioner Matthew Boswell said in a letter to the CRTC at the time. Later in May, the CRTC changed course and said that it would in fact ask the telecoms to provide the information to the bureau, after the bureau submitted a narrowed request for information. However, it did not include the more detailed information that the CRTC is now allowing the bureau to obtain. In its August 2 decision, the CRTC writes that “all the information being sought is quite clearly relevant to the competition issues being considered in this proceeding.” “This information is important to understanding market dynamics, defining relevant product and geographic markets, assessing competitiveness and the presence of market power, and ultimately determine what regulatory measures, if any, would be appropriate to improve competition.”

Telecoms must hand over more detailed info to Comp Bureau

Brief | August 6, 2019

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Telecoms must hand over more detailed info to Comp Bureau

Brief | August 6, 2019

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