OTTAWA — Although the wholesale roaming dispute between Quebecor’s Videotron and Bell Canada has effectively been decided, with the CRTC telling Bell in early February it can’t suspend wholesale roaming services offered to Videotron, the Commission needed to step in once again to address a lingering issue in the matter.
The dispute between Videotron and Bell originated in May 2019 when the latter informed the former a number of Videotron’s customers were allegedly permanently roaming on Bell Mobility’s network, which contravened Bell’s access services tariff. In June 2019, Bell threatened to suspend the wholesale roaming service if the infraction wasn’t remedied in 30 days. But Videotron applied to the Commission for relief from the threatened suspension and the CRTC granted it in February.
However, as part of that decision, the CRTC required Videotron to set out in a report for Bell and the Commission a list of the IMSIs (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) of the end users to whom Videotron issued two-month and three-month notifications regarding the excessive, permanent roaming infractions. The first report was to cover a six-month period beginning on April 15, 2020.
On April 8, Videotron sent the Commission a letter asking for a three-month extension to provide its first report to Bell and the Commission. Videotron explained in the letter that it had implemented a series of time-limited measures to mitigate the negative impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on its customers, including temporarily halting the enforcement of certain safeguards against permanent roaming.
According to the Commission, Videotron’s letter argued that it would be unreasonable to send suspension notifications to customers who had exceeded the normal roaming thresholds, given the unprecedented Covid-19 situation and the unexpected effect it has had on customers’ usage of wireless services.
In a letter dated April 24, 2020, sent to Quebecor and Bell, the Commission approved Videotron’s request and said the company’s first monthly report will cover the period from July 15 to August 14, 2020 and is to be sent to Bell and the Commission shortly after this period ends.
