CRTC won’t order Bragg to relocate its TPIA point of interconnection

The commission denied an application by City Wide Communications Inc. requesting it order Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink to move its Nova Scotia third-party Internet access (TPIA) point of interconnection to downtown Halifax, N.S. In a Friday decision, the commission determined that Eastlink’s TPIA point of interconnection in Pennant Point – located 30 km from downtown Halifax – subjects City Wide to a disadvantage, however, it is not undue or unreasonable. According to the decision, Eastlink proposed Pennant Point in a Sept. 2015 and a Jan. 2016 tariff notice. During that tariff proceeding the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) requested that the CRTC order Eastlink to move its point of interconnection in downtown Halifax, where Eastlink already had a cable modem termination system. CNOC argued that the Pennant Point location was remote, would force competitors to bear unnecessary transport costs, and would disrupt the existing downtown Halifax co-location arrangements of some potential TPIA service competitors which would confer an undue preference on Eastlink contrary to the Telecommunications Act. In 2016 the commission found that the disadvantage on City Wide was “largely based” on its “pre-existing co-location arrangement rather than on any action taken by Eastlink.” It found that Eastlink was proposing a single point of interconnection for Nova Scotia, located within the boundaries of the Halifax Regional Municipality, “which would enable TPIA service competitors to serve all areas in Eastlink’s serving territory in Nova Scotia.” “Eastlink’s proposed Pennant Point POI site was a major Eastlink data centre served by competitive transport facilities, and the site could accommodate competitor co-location, although this was not mandatory for TPIA services,” the CRTC wrote. “While there may be a disadvantage to a competitor and a corresponding preference in favour of Eastlink… any such disadvantage or preference would not be undue or unreasonable.” In 2020 City Wide filed its application requesting the commission order Eastlink to move the location in the core of Halifax – where Eastlink aggregates its retail internet service – arguing that Eastlink’s 2016 statements that the Pennant Point data centre is carrier neutral and served by competitive transport facilities is incorrect. “City Wide submitted that one transport provider has fibre facilities that pass close to the Pennant Point data centre. However, this link has only a single fibre path close to Pennant Point and was therefore not viewed as a viable option because one single failure in a single fibre link would disrupt service for all of City Wide’s retail Internet access users in Nova Scotia,” according to the decision. City Wide also argued that building its own fibre route to Pennant Point would be unnecessary and an inefficient expenditure, considering that competitive transport could be built or leased “at a much lower cost” in downtown Halifax. It added that building its own route would be a financial risk as Eastlink could choose to move the location before City Wide had a chance to make a return on its investment. “Eastlink strongly opposed City Wide’s application. It argued that granting City Wide’s request could set a dangerous precedent to the effect that any reseller could decide where the POI should be established to meet its own business needs. Eastlink added that there are no regulatory requirements for the incumbent to locate its POI at the preferred location of one reseller over the needs of the incumbent and of other wholesale customers,” according to the decision. TekSavvy Solutions Inc. submitted an intervention arguing that the point of interconnection should never have been established at Pennant Point in the absence of co-location and competitive transport while Rogers Communications Inc. submitted that City Wide’s claims that it is not a point of aggregation are unfounded. Rogers further argued that “cable networks are not designed to aggregate the operator’s retail Internet traffic at a single location because this would be inefficient and undermine network resiliency.” It also stated that mandating Eastlink to move its location would have an impact on future regulatory decisions and that Rogers found three suppliers, including Eastlink, that were willing to submit a quote to build or lease fibre to the location. Shaw Communications Inc., in its intervention, argued that unavailability of alternative transport facilities at Pennant Point is not due to an action by Eastlink, and that the presence of alternative transport is outside the control of the wholesale high-speed access provider. “Therefore, according to Shaw, there is no undue preference nor disadvantage conferred by Eastlink. Furthermore, Shaw argued that nothing is preventing City Wide from investing in its own transport facilities,” according to the decision. The commission ultimately found that City Wide had a reduced ability to use existing facilities to provide retail internet access services and was at a disadvantage. “City Wide is required to either (i) obtain transport services from Eastlink, thereby ensuring that Eastlink receives additional revenues because it established its TPIA POI at Pennant Point, or (ii) have new transport facilities built where it would need to assume all, or a large part, of the associated costs, given that such a build would be conducted to respond to City Wide’s transport needs,” the commission wrote. However, the commission found it was not an unreasonable advantage because it is reasonable for the carrier to consider its existing network configuration and attempt to limit the extent of any modifications needed for its configuration. “The record also demonstrates that Pennant Point features a number of positive attributes for an aggregated TPIA ,” the commission wrote. “Given the attributes of Eastlink’s Pennant Point data centre and the situation befalling the company’s facilities in the core of Halifax, including the ongoing project to reduce reliance on these facilities, the commission considers that Eastlink has discharged its burden of demonstrating that the location of its aggregated TPIA POI at Pennant Point does not run contrary to .” – Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

CRTC won’t order Bragg to relocate its TPIA point of interconnection

News | March 25, 2022

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CRTC won’t order Bragg to relocate its TPIA point of interconnection

News | March 25, 2022

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