By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU and TORONTO – There is a general rule in Ottawa that one should not steal the spotlight from public officials, especially Ministers of the Crown. They, of course, had to be elected while officials are merely appointed. And the chairman of the CRTC, a distinguished official, did not derogate from that rule.
As luck would have it, while Ian Scott was addressing the Competitive Network Operators of Canada’s 10th annual ISP Summit being held virtually Tuesday and Wednesday, Steven Guilbeault, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, was in Ottawa introducing significant changes to the Broadcasting Act at the same moment, a long awaited announcement which the federal Liberals began talking about early in their first mandate – way back in early 2016 and one CRTC chair ago.
So, Scott spoke of things he could not talk about (no announcement today, he said) and of things most Cartt.ca readers are likely aware.
He praised the small ISP on their contribution during Covid-19 pandemic: “Many of you stopped the practice of suspending or disconnecting consumers for late payment or non-payment of accounts. You worked with customers to create payment plans that made sense for their situations. And you donated devices and service plans to those who needed them most: schools, low-income students, hospital workers, patients, and at-risk populations such as women in shelters,” he said.
“You did all these things—and more—not at the request of government, not in response to public demand, but of your own volition. Because it was the right thing to do. I can tell you that not all ISPs in other countries responded in the same fashion, ‘he added.
He mentioned efforts to close the digital gap that was made brutally obvious in this pandemic: “$72 million for projects in northern Manitoba, Yukon and the Northwest Territories—areas where the need for improved services is significant. As a result of these projects, more than 10,000 households in 51 communities—the majority of which are Indigenous—will have access to improved broadband Internet services.”
“Construction on those projects is expected to start next spring, once the last of the snow melts,” he said of the first projects being funded by the CRTC Broadband Fund.
A second call for funding applications last saw an overwhelming response with nearly 600 applications with a combined ask of more than $1.5 billion.
When he spoke of the recently adopted Internet Code, he underlined that it applied only to large ISP but “we expect you to observe the same standards of conduct. Some of you already are, and I applaud you for that. For those that are not, I urge you to follow suit. After all, it’s for the benefit of your customers,” he warned.
“The largest elephant in this virtual ‘room,’ of course, is the question of the review and vary applications regarding the final wholesale rates for aggregated high-speed access services,” said Scott (not to mention the equally large elephant of new wireless policies and the possibility of mandated mobile virtual network operators). However, with the Commission still deliberating both and TekSavvy appealing the CRTC’s stay, he couldn’t say anything else about it.
Maybe he’ll have something at the virtual Canadian Telecom Summit on November 17, where more incumbents would be “present.”
