Independent ISP pushing voters to get pledges to lower rates from election candidates
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal will look into whether the CRTC was correct in its May decision to revert back to older, more expensive bulk internet purchase rates set in 2016.
The court said it will review the case in a decision dated last Wednesday after independent internet service provider (ISP) TekSavvy, which buys network capacity from the larger telecoms, filed an appeal of the decision in June. The larger carriers include Bell, Rogers, and Telus.
The CRTC originally set lower final rates in a 2019 decision, but that was met with appeals from the larger telecoms at the regulator, the federal government, and the courts. After the federal government determined that investments in networks would in some cases be harmed by the lower rates, and the Federal Court did not find a legal issue with the CRTC decision, the regulator came back and scrapped the final rates and instead set as final the higher interim rates set three years prior.
The decision stunned the industry because there was an expectation – even amongst those employed in the federal government – that the Commission would strike some middle ground between the 2016 and 2019 rates.
In its application for appeal, TekSavvy said the CRTC breached its legitimate expectation for the regulator to conduct a full review and assessment of the rates and thereby vacated its mandate to set “just and reasonable” final rates. The regulator said in its original decision the reason it did not engage in setting brand new rates was because it felt such a process, in part, would create regulatory burden.
TekSavvy also raised to the court a highly publicized image of CRTC chairman Ian Scott having a one-on-one meeting with Bell CEO Mirko Bibic at a bar in Ottawa and Scott’s comments at the virtual event in which he stated a personal preference for facilities-based competition as anchors for a broader argument that the chairman allegedly could not have decided on the matter fairly, “whether consciously or unconsciously.”
TekSavvy had already petitioned cabinet in May for the 2019 rates to be reinstated and had asked that Scott be terminated from his position as chairman – as others have.
The ISP continues a campaign asking voters in Monday’s federal election to let their local candidates know that they want the next government to enforce the 2019 rates.
“With the stroke of a pen, the federal cabinet can lower bills for millions of Canadians, simply by enforcing the CRTC’s 2019 wholesale internet rates decision,” said the campaign, which TekSavvy said has generated 300,000 letters.
It added: “Will they stand up and lower your cost of living, or will they protect Big Telecom’s massive profits?”
