Far North does not need special consideration, Telus tells CRTC

Telus Corp. told the CRTC that it is not charging more for the services it provides in far north communities in British Columbia and Alberta when compared to the rest of its markets in those provinces and it “maintains its position that no special policy considerations are required for the Far North.” The comments were in response to the commission’s proceeding to improve telecommunications services in the North. Monday was the revised deadline for interventions after the commission decided to expand the geographic scope of its study to include the communities of Atlin and Fort St. John, B.C. as well as High Level, Alta (Telus communities). “The commission highlights that participants in Phase I of the proceeding ‘stated that the cost of Internet in the Far North is too high when compared to the cost in the south.’ This generalization is not true for the Telus Communities,” the incumbent wrote. Telus’ said it stands by what it stated in its original October intervention. The company called for the extension of the wholesale regime into the Far North, and argued that the CRTC has two choices in the proceeding. “The first is to apply its existing competitive framework to Northwestel, using the latitude it has already given itself to accommodate conditions in the Far North, allowing competition to regulate prices and set service levels. The second is to continue to take a piecemeal approach to regulating individual aspects of the Far North with a view to making services and rates close to those in southern Canada,” Telus wrote, and added that it “recommends the former.” Telus said in its Monday intervention that if the commission does adopt special policy considerations for the Far North, such as a price cap regime, then it ought to afford the company the opportunity to comment on the mechanics of applying one competitive framework in the Telus communities and another in the rest of its serving territory. Telus is the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) in those communities and BCE Inc.’s Northwestel provides some services including retail internet access and long-distance services. Northwestel’s biggest competition in the marketplace, SSi Micro, also used the opportunity to submit an additional intervention. In its Dec. 12 intervention it argued that Northwestel operates breakout points in two of the three added communities that enable Wholesale Connect service to connect. In October it took issue with the commission leaving the rates that Northwestel charges for Wholesale Connect out of the scope of the proceeding. It also argued Northwestel should comply with the commission’s wholesale high speed access (WHSA) regime. “The urgency of removing these advantages only becomes more evident when the commission takes into account the fact that Northwestel itself obtains revenue by using the regulatory framework applicable to other ILECs, while continuing to shelter behind and argue for the maintenance of its own privileged treatment to artificially reduce or eliminate the competition it faces in the communities it serves as the ILEC,” SSI Micro wrote in its Monday intervention. Taku River Tlingit First Nation submitted an intervention as Atlin B.C., is within its traditional territory. In its intervention dated Dec. 12 it took issue with the consultation process. “This review was instigated in 2020, and it was not until October 2022 that recognition was given to the plight of our community by including Atlin in the definition of the “Far North”. This brings into stark focus a fundamental flaw in the CRTC approach to consultation: those who have the greatest need for their voices to be heard are those least likely to have either information about or access to participate in the process,” the community wrote. “This lacuna is exacerbated by the establishment of hard deadlines based more on administrative convenience than on respect for the timelines and decision-making processes that are the norm for Indigenous peoples.” Northwestel owns and provides the only telecommunications transport facilities to Atlin and provides data services to enterprise customers while Telus does not provide broadband internet access, the First Nation noted. It characterized the quality and reliability of local telecommunications service in Atlin as “substandard.” “Ironically, despite the presence of two telecommunications service providers with deep corporate pockets, each with existing facilities, there is not only no competition for internet access, but neither company has seen fit to offer retail internet service in our community,” Taku River Tlingit First Nation wrote. “Compounding this problem is the absence of mobile wireless service in our communities, which not only limits our communications capabilities to fixed locations, but also precludes the option of mobile Internet access.” Taku River Tlingit First Nation said that the commission must examine whether the cost of transport services is impeding meaningful connectivity in Atlin. (The portability of the local service subsidy; issues related to the regulation of wholesale satellite transport services; and Northwestel’s carrier access tariff (CAT) rate were all left out of the scope of the commission’s proceeding.) “It is a reasonable inference from the absence of internet competition in Yukon and borne out by concerns expressed by prospective competitors on the record in this proceeding, that the wholesale transport rates of Northwestel represent a barrier to entry. “Since our communities are exclusively dependent on Northwestel’s transport services for connection to the outside world, the terms and conditions, as well as the rates, are an immediate and significant concern,” Taku River Tlingit First Nation wrote. The community also recommended that the CRTC establish an initiative to provide training and technical assistance to First Nations groups and individuals that will enable more effective use of modern telecommunications capabilities, and also facilitate the participation of Indigenous people in the ownership, operations, and maintenance of telecommunications infrastructure. – Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

Far North does not need special consideration, Telus tells CRTC

News | 12/13/2022 6:15 pm EST

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