GATINEAU – The CRTC’s recent wholesale wireline decision fails to adequately take into account the significant growth on online video, both regulated and exempt, says regional CRTC commissioner for Ontario Raj Shoan.
In a dissenting opinion to last week’s Telecom Regulatory Policy 2015-326, he argues that because telecommunications and broadcasting are now being delivered to Canadians over a single pipe, this requires a brand new approach to wholesale services regulation.
“In essence, under the current legislative framework, the Internet, through market forces, consumer use, and industry development, is evolving from a telecommunications service into a broadcasting service. The implications of this evolution are profound not only for the Commission’s regulatory frameworks, but all Canadians and the public internet,” Shoan writes.
He throws out some data to demonstrate the amount of video being carried over the Internet to back up his claims. A 2014 Sandvine report says Netflix accounted for 34.9% of downstream traffic of total peak traffic in North America and YouTube accounted for an additional 14%. According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index, consumer Internet video traffic will represent 80% of all consumer Internet traffic in 2019, up from 64% in 2014.
https://staging.cartt.ca/article/global-ip-traffic-will-triple-2018-says-cisco
Shoan notes in his opinion that he doesn’t disagree with the majority’s decision to mandate a disaggregated wholesale high speed access (HSA) model, but says the Commission’s official analysis didn’t go far enough. Rather than only focusing retail Internet as the relevant product market, it should have also considered licensed or exempt IPTV broadcasting undertakings and exempt broadcasting services delivered over the Internet.
“In my view, the majority’s narrow approach does a disserve to the public interest insofar as it ignores evidence and facts that clearly demonstrate the existence of multiple types of services and activity occurring on the high-speed networks in question,” he writes. “The Commission cannot and should not remain wilfully blind to the existence of new services and activities on these networks, especially in light of its Broadcasting Act obligations.”
“As everything moves onto one pipe to the home, the Commission will need to re-evaluate every policy and regulatory approach that it has created to date.” – Raj Shoan, CRTC
The dissent goes on to state that one of the main reasons competitors want access to larger player’s facilities is so they can introduce video services to compete a more level playing field with them. Shoan questions whether the Commission can rely solely on the Telecom Act to render a decision on a set of services that are broadcasting related.
“The answer, in my view, is simple: it cannot. The Telecommunications Act does not and cannot apply to such undertakings,” he writes, adding that access to wholesale HSA should have been considered under the Broadcasting Act. Shoan also conducts similar analyses for exempt broadcasting services (ie Netflix) and retail Internet services, concluding in both cases that a broadcasting assessment of wholesale services is lacking.
The Ontario commissioner says he’s not advocating for fast and slow lanes on the Internet, but a study of network evolution in Canada and how that may affect various regulatory frameworks.
“I hope the ultimate takeaway will be an understanding of the essential point that I have attempted to convey: as everything moves onto one pipe to the home (or one wireless connection to the car), the Commission will need to re-evaluate every policy and regulatory approach that it has created to date,” writes Shoan. “This proceeding could have set the Commission on its first step of that journey. I fear we may have missed that opportunity in this decision.”
