CHATHAM, Ont – TekSavvy Solutions, Canada’s largest third party internet access provider, said today that unless and until the network owners it uses starts paying the retroactive costs owed to it which was demanded by the CRTC, the company will stop paying its monthly wholesale fee payments to Bell and Rogers.
While praising yesterday’s decision from the Federal Court of Appeal, which upheld the wholesale rates set in August 2019 by the CRTC with a decision that also called for retroactive repayments of the difference between the interim rates and the new rates, dating back to 2016, TekSavvy drew a new line in the sand today which could have repercussions across the sector and with its customers.
In dismissing the appeals with costs, the FCA noted the large carriers’ arguments were of “dubious merit,” reads the TekSavvy statement this morning. The court announcement also lifted the stay on the implementation of the CRTC’s August 2019 decision on the new rates, and the retroactive payments.
So until the company starts seeing some cash coming back to it from the incumbent operators, and TekSavvy said it is owed “tens of millions of dollars”, it said it is suspending its wholesale fee payments to them. “Until that outstanding balance is paid, in full, TekSavvy will be applying the amounts owed, with interest, as a monthly credit on the wholesale fees charged by Bell and Rogers,” reads the company’s press release.
That said, the incumbents have, along with their applications to the CRTC to Review & Vary CRTC 2019-288 requested a stay on the rates from the Commission. The Regulator has so far said nothing on that portion of the incumbents’ request.
“The FCA decision is a major step forward in the fight for fair Internet pricing for Canadians. The arguments of Bell and the other carriers have been revealed to be just more baseless tactics designed to stifle competition and keep prices high”, said Andy Kaplan-Myrth, vice-president of regulatory and carrier affairs for TekSavvy.
The company’s release also said it “expects that the CRTC will once again direct the large carriers to file updated tariffs with the corrected final rates and to refund monies owed, consistent with the CRTC’s prior direction before the stay.”
Cartt.ca has asked both Bell and Rogers about what it will do when TekSavvy stops paying its bills. We have also asked the CRTC when a decision on the incumbents’ request for a stay will be issued. We will update this story if and when we get answers.
Overhanging all this of course, is last month’s decision from the federal government to force the CRTC to rethink their new rates.
It is expected the network owners will seek leave to appeal yesterday’s FCA decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.
