Videotron, others, are skeptical of Bell’s commitments
By Denis Carmel
MONTREAL – On Friday, Bell Canada issued a news release announcing new measures to simplify the process for access to poles by recipients of the Québec Branché and Régions Branchées grant programs and other service providers.
This follows a process announced by the Government of Québec back in May 2020, along with the members of a working group that was tasked to accelerate the deployment of high-speed Internet in rural regions through a program financed by the Government of Québec.
“To address the many technical challenges associated with the deployment of fibre networks, Bell, Hydro-Québec, Telus and the Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade have established a Coordination Table to facilitate the implementation of high-speed Internet access projects throughout Québec. The primary goal is to provide faster access to poles for all service providers while complying with all safety standards. Every day, since the Table was created, obstacles to the rollout of networks are being removed,” the news release reads in French.
The latest announcement coincides with the CRTC launch of a new proceeding on support structures last week, which follows a process regarding potential barriers to the deployment of broadband-capable networks in underserved areas in Canada, launched Iast December. Poles, other support structures and municipal rights of way are shaping up to be a huge issue as consumers and businesses demand more broadband while the demands of 5G will only exacerbate demand for space on such structures. The Ontario government is taking a hard look at it, too, as we reported.
According to a story in La Presse, each year Bell receives 100,000 access requests to its support structures. Ninety percent are dealt with 55 days, which is the standard established by the CRTC. Six percent are turned down and 4% require work to be done on the telephone poles. Those 4% are the problem since they require the strengthening of the poles which takes time. The announcement by Bell means the company will allow some guy wires to be installed before the work begins, for example.
“Playing a leading role in delivering broadband Internet to even more homes and businesses is at the core of Bell’s goal to advance how Québecers communicate with each other and the world,” said Karine Moses, Bell’s vice chair, Québec. “The new standard for access to our infrastructure is another example of our commitment to expand broadband networks and communications services throughout the province, which ranks as one of the greatest projects undertaken since the electrification of Québec.”
The Minister of the Economy and Innovation from Québec, Pierre Fitzgibbon, in French on Twitter praised Bell. “Bell has all my support to help connect the rest of Québec. The Government will achieve that goal with the help of the industry.”
Others were more guarded in their reaction.
“The Canadian Communication Systems Alliance is glad that Bell acknowledges the many support structure issues that act as barriers to the extension of broadband to rural Canadians and appears willing to help the industry in those projects. Unfortunately, however, Bell’s response serves to demonstrate once again that the whole support structure system is flawed and not designed to support deployment of broadband by operators that do not own poles. In that respect, we’re very happy that the CRTC today announced a proceeding to gather input on how it should improve regulation of access to support structures; that proceeding is both timely and necessary,” Jay Thomson, CEO of the CCSA, wrote in an email to Cartt.ca.
“Access to Bell’s communications support structures is critical to the deployment of our broadband expansion projects as we are committed to investing over $1 billion in maintaining and expanding our network in Quebec and in Ontario,” said Cogeco in a statement to Cartt.ca. “We have been proactively working with Bell as well as the provincial and federal governments to make recommendations and propose solutions. We are still waiting to see concrete changes. We look forward to hearing what measures Bell is planning to implement to reduce the barriers associated with the access to their poles for the delivery of the Internet.”
“We are skeptical the process will be trouble-free going forward. Bell and playing on fair ground seem to be incompatible words. As seen in Abitibi, they are often playing hardball and try to stick to some code of procedures where they could simply use common sense when they are in position of authority. It’s sad people have to waste that much time of very brilliant people when a little bit of common sense is all it takes. It’s not like Bell was unaware of this problem, it’s been ongoing for years,” said Jean-Philippe Beïque, CEO of EBOX, an independent third party internet access provider based in Québec.
Finally, Pierre-Karl Péladeau, CEO of Québecor, pre-empted the announcement via an op-ed in the Journal de Montreal (which he owns), on the day before Bell’s release.
He starts by saying that Bell and the premier have met a week ago and still no word from Bell. “Will the working group, which excluded Vidéotron from participating, provide results?” he asked.
“Until now, Bell did not have to pay the consequences for having slowed the connectivity in the regions.”
