GATINEAU – Three of the country’s smaller, but major, ISPs have told the CRTC’s basic service objective hearing that it shouldn’t micromanage the broadband file by explicitly developing mechanisms to deal with service gaps. SaskTel, Cogeco and MTS all believe that governments are far better positioned to handle infrastructure and affordability issues.
In his opening remarks on Monday, SaskTel president and CEO Ron Stiles argued market forces combined with targeted government funding has worked for the vast majority of communities in Saskatchewan. To encourage additional broadband deployment, the CRTC should stay away from “prescriptive” approaches but rather set new higher targets. SaskTel is owned by the provincial government.
“It seems to me the government has already chosen to use direct spending programs; we’re down that path in effect and it’s worked out quite well for the first 5/1 aspirational target,” said Stiles under questioning. “We see no reason to change or move away from that particular policy decision going forward. It’s worked well to date, let’s continue on that exact same path.”
Currently, the Crown corp has 88% of its customers on a 5/1 Mbps service and once money from the Connecting Canadians program is completely spent, there will be 30,000 underserved households, mostly because they won’t have 1 Mbps upload speeds. “The current aspirational regime, with increased download target speeds, is the most effective way to ensure that the industry continues to adapt to the demands of consumers,” added Katrine White, VP of consumer sales and solutions at SaskTel. “However, prescriptive regulatory intervention is not required.”
Stiles noted that the Commission shouldn’t preoccupy itself with focusing on one particular approach over another but rather look at the broadband issue as a whole with an overarching approach or strategy. “I tend to believe that it’s not a simple ‘here is the policy approach or policy instrument’ that you want to use but rather you need to look at a variety of different instruments to be able to accomplish the things that are important to meeting the objective,” he argued.
The provincial Crown corp noted that just as the CRTC should keep its nose out of the broadband funding program, the same should hold true on affordability. This is best handled by government and associated organizations.
Cogeco and MTS, both which appeared last week, also argued market forces combined with targeted government support for network rollout and affordability should guide future broadband deployments.
“This is definitely the role of governments, federal in particular as pertains to telecom services.” – Louis Audet, Cogeco
Heather Tulk, chief customer officer at MTS, said there is no need for the Commission to take the step of making broadband part of the basic service objective. The company noted, as SaskTel did, that targeted government funding over the years and other programs have done a remarkable job of connecting Canadians. Currently, 96% of Canadians have access to a 5/1 service.
“It’s an approach that is more efficient and proportionate to the purpose than others that might be considered, since it allows for a narrower focus on only those areas where market forces are not sufficient to ensure adequate deployment, and where communities are actively engaged in the solution,” she said during MTS’s appearance last Thursday.
Governments must be the primary avenue through which to address the affordability issue. Cogeco’s president and CEO Louis Audet (pictured above) , noted that “the plague of poverty” is not “the responsibility of the Commission nor of private enterprise.”
“This is definitely the role of governments, federal in particular as pertains to telecom services. This means that low-cost packages should not be imposed on operators. Efforts aimed at low-cost housing, while laudable, are not the answer,” he argued.
Tulk added that including ISPs in the affordability solution could be seen negatively by customers.
“Rather than a blunt instrument that would require us to require more information about our customers than I believe is probably right or reasonable for them to have to supply to their telecommunications operator, that assistance should be given through the provincial or federal social assistance programs that are already available,” she said under questioning.
The hearing continues tomorrow with CanWISP, Unifor and Shaw Communications, among others appearing.
