Wholesale access in the North is essential for service improvement, Indigenous economic development: stakeholders tell CRTC

There is a consensus forming that the CRTC should open up BCE Inc.'s Northwestel to competition through mandated wholesale access, and that mandated wholesale access is the best way to ensure service improvements for people living in those areas. The only outlier from this consensus is Northwestel. That's according to one of Northwestel's competitive hopefuls, SSi Canada (formerly SSi Micro Ltd.). The argument came in SSi's submission of further comments to the CRTC's ongoing consultation on service in the Far North. Previously, Northwestel had argued that a wholesale high speed access (HSA) mandate was not necessary in the North, because of the advent of low-earth orbit satellites (LEOs) and the arrival of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s Starlink on the scene. In response, SSi argued that a more robust competition framework in the North is "not just a tool to improve the services available to Northerners, however." "It is also a necessary step to engaging Indigenous communities in designing and building the networks and services they need in a way that supports their self-government and other rights, rather than continuing to disempower them," the company wrote. The further comments following Northwestel's intervention come as part of the CRTC’s proceeding to improve telecommunications services in the North – although some stakeholders in the Far North took issue with the process itself. Like SSi, the Council of Yukon First Nations wrote in its own further comments on the consultation that "the principle of reconciliation requires recognition of Yukon First Nations citizens, and indeed all Indigenous peoples, as rights holders, and entitled to participate in cooperative decision making and actions related to the affordable provisioning of telecommunication services in the North." "The CRTC has a responsibility to address reconciliation on behalf of the crown. In the area of telecommunications responsibility, this has yet be fully met," the CYFN wrote, before going on to call for the implementation of a wholesale HSA mandate, and encouraging the CRTC to consider other measures like pricing subsidies, mandated service availability, and performance and reliability minimums. The Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC), which represents wholesale-based competitors in southern Canada, took issue with Northwestel's argument that mandated wholesale access would not result in tangible benefits for end-users in the North. "Mandated wholesale HSA services from Northwestel will bring significant benefits to the Far North, including more affordable telecommunications services as well as providing end-users with a choice of their telecommunications service provider," CNOC wrote. "It will also enable northern Canadians, including Indigenous peoples, to launch their own wholesale-based competitors and thus take ownership of the telecommunications services that are provided in their communities." LEOs, CNOC argued, are not good enough. "LEO satellite services are not effective substitutes and Northwestel has upstream market power in the provision of wholesale services in the Far North. In addition, mandated wholesale HSA services are a tried and tested method of developing effective competition that will have a significant positive impact in the downstream retail market," the trade group wrote. Back in December, the CRTC did allow Northwestel to start selling its fibre-to-the-premises service at 35 per cent below the price floor, writing that it saw little risk of predatory pricing going forward, as any price increase would need to be approved by the commission. Another company hoping to compete more with Northwestel in the North is Iristel Inc. In their own submission of further comments, Iristel reiterated arguments from its earlier intervention: namely that the price of the regulated transport framework known as Wholesale Connect is too high, and that Northwestel should be subject to the same wholesale HSA mandate as markets in southern Canada. Iristel also cast doubt on the results of a Nanos survey submitted by Northwestel, which the company said showed that residents of the North "prefer immediately providing better and faster Internet service to the North rather than introducing more competition for internet services as a telecommunications policy priority." "The commission should recognize that this conclusion is a cynical fallacy," Iristel wrote. "Providing better and faster Internet service is not mutually exclusive to the introduction of more competition." The Government of the Northwest Territories, in its own set of further comments, also highlighted the economic development potential of wholesale HSA. "Wholesale HSA can allow competitive service providers to provide meaningful competition by paying a fair rate for the 'last-mile' access portion of existing networks, rather than building new ones. GNWT is also interested in mandated wholesale HSA’s potential to help spur the development of more local and Indigenous-owned service providers in the Far North," the GNWT wrote. -Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.

Wholesale access in the North is essential for service improvement, Indigenous economic development: stakeholders tell CRTC

News | 02/17/2023 5:26 pm EST

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