In late January, the CRTC shot a letter to Telus’s vice-president of telecom policy and chief regulatory legal counsel, Stephen Schmidt, requesting detailed information about the Vancouver-based telecom provider’s proposed March 8 disconnection of home telephone service in an area of Tranquille Valley near Kamloops, B.C.
Having become aware of Telus’s intention to disconnect the service, CRTC staff “is concerned that TELUS’ plans could jeopardize access to telephone services in the Tranquille Valley, and perhaps elsewhere,” the letter said.
“Without reliable alternatives, Canadians in this area would lack access to public safety services and have no means to call family and friends or conduct business from home. Furthermore, staff questions how TELUS’ plans are consistent with their obligation to provide voice telephone services in this area under existing Commission rules,” the letter went on.
The CRTC posed a number of questions to Telus and gave the company until Feb. 2 to respond. Information requested included the communities and numbers of residential and business customers that would be impacted by the proposed service disconnection, the underlying infrastructure currently used by Telus to provision voice services in the affected communities, whether or not the current services are regulated, and whether or not Telus plans to expand fibre-based or mobile services to the affected communities.
The CRTC’s letter indicated complaints had been received from Telus customers who had been advised the telecom must repurpose existing 3.5 GHz microwave spectrum to make way for 5G cellular service, “however cellular service is not being extended to the 57 homes affected.”
Telus was also asked to provide its rationale for the proposed disconnections and whether they could be delayed.
“Given that TELUS is currently subject to an obligation to serve in terms of the provision of basic primary exchange service, explain how the company intends to continue to meet this obligation within each of the communities identified,” the CRTC’s letter said.
In its multi-document response (which has been added to the public record here), Telus said the proposed service disconnections affecting its Tahsis, Alexis Creek and North Kamloops exchanges will impact customers in the communities of Leading Hill, Espinosa, Nemiah Valley, Xeni Gwet’in First Nation, Red Lake, Tranquille Valley, and Green Stone Mountain. In total, 109 residential customers and four businesses will be impacted, Telus said. The affected customers in the Tahsis and Alexis Creek exchanges subscribe to regulated services, while the customers in the North Kamloops exchange are provided with services that were forborne from regulation pursuant to past CRTC decisions, Telus said.
Telus said it mailed out letters to residential customers informing them of the planned home phone disconnection on Jan. 2, providing at least 60 days notice prior to the scheduled termination date of March 8, consistent with its general terms of service and the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services’ Deposit and Disconnection Code. Telus has also sent subsequent notices to customers via email on Jan. 15 and has attempted to call customers beginning Jan. 9, according to Telus’s reply to the CRTC’s request for information. As a special case, Telus representatives attended the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation annual meeting on Jan. 31 to explain the upcoming disconnection to the community, it said.
To compensate for the service disconnection, Telus said residential customers would receive a cheque for $1,400, an amount that it said would cover up to one year of internet and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service charges and installation fees from an alternative provider.
Telus said it contacted the four impacted business customers via outbound calls starting Dec. 14, 2023. “Business customers that have Internet access were offered a TELUS VoIP service and some customers have accepted the offer and begun migrating. Unfortunately, TELUS does not have an equivalent VoIP service available to residential customers,” Telus told the CRTC.
The current underlying infrastructure Telus uses to provide voice services in the affected communities consists of low-power-consumption point-to-multi-point microwave backhaul transport equipment that incorporates a built-in voice switch using 3.5 GHz spectrum, with the last-mile access connection using 900 MHz wireless loop direct-to-house technology built into the SR500 system (from now-defunct vendor SR Telecom Inc.) or a mix of 900 MHz wireless loop and copper cable plant distribution. Backhaul transport requires multiple solar-powered mountaintop repeater sites back to the Telus core network and host switch.
In its rationale for disconnecting service in the affected areas, Telus explained ISED spectrum policy is forcing the telecom to turn down the 3.5 GHz microwave links it uses for the 30-year-old SR500 system, as this spectrum band is being transitioned for mobile wireless services usage. Telus has managed to secure special temporary authorizations from ISED to extend its use of the 3.5 GHz radio spectrum in these areas until March 31, at which time it will be forced to terminate the use of frequencies in this band.
“In order to ensure an orderly turndown of its systems by March 31, 2024, TELUS is required to disconnect services in advance of that date. As a result, TELUS selected the March 8, 2024 turndown date to maintain service as long as possible but also to enable itself sufficient time to vacate the use of this spectrum by March 31, 2024, as required by ISED,” Telus said.
Regarding any plans the company might have to expand fibre-based or mobile services to the affected communities, Telus said at this time it has no plans to do so.
“TELUS does not have an obligation to serve communities for Internet facilities or mobile services,” Telus said, adding the communities in question are remote, “where the provision of copper landline facilities was, and is, challenging. Of note, all of these communities were served with facilities that use microwave links for transport facilities, some of which require maintenance by helicopter.”
Telus said there is no viable business case at this time to deploy fibre facilities to these communities, which are all located far from local exchanges and require significant transport facilities to reach via terrestrial networks.
“TELUS is not leaving these customers without a connectivity option. The purpose of the compensation is to provide affected customers with the ability to obtain their own services by way of satellite. As a result, connectivity will be made available to customers, even if fibre or mobile wireless services might be unavailable at this time.”
As the incumbent local exchange provider (ILEC) in these areas, Telus said it “takes very seriously and adheres to its obligation to serve in regulated exchanges, as well as its obligation to provide residential primary exchange service in forborne exchanges.”
However, it said it considers its obligation to serve — as it pertains to customers served by the SR500 and wireless transport described above — “no longer exists, due to the loss of TELUS’ ability to maintain the facilities (spectrum) necessary to provide service, which are events outside of TELUS’ control.”
The transition of the 3.5 GHz spectrum band “has frustrated TELUS’ continued ability to provide service to the 113 impacted customers, because TELUS no longer has access to facilities that are necessary to provide service. In other words, but for the ISED policy, TELUS would have been able to continue serving these customers. Rather, as a result of the ISED policy, TELUS can no longer acquire or maintain the facilities, specifically the spectrum, that are necessary to provide service in these remote locations.”
With the advance notice of disconnection and financial compensation to customers, Telus has provided the means and opportunity for customers to obtain home phone service from an alternative provider and maintain uninterrupted communication and access to emergency services beyond the scheduled disconnection date of March 8, Telus said.
