GATINEAU – As Cartt.ca has reported earlier, Bell and Québecor tell a radically different story when it comes to Québecor division Vidéotron’s desire to offer TPIA service via Bell division Cablevision du Nord – and those differences are even more evident in Quebecor’s reply to the CRTC, filed on August 6th.
One of the arguments made by Québecor is that competition and its benefits – something the Competition Bureau said in its Broadband Report released this week is a necessity – does not exist in the northwestern quadrant of Québec, seeing as how Abitibi-Témiscamingue is only served by Télébec and Cablevision du Nord, both owned by Bell.
As Québecor argues in French in its August 6 submission, “Télébec and Cablevision offer exactly the same deals. The same speeds, the same usage limits, the same installation charges. On top of that those prices are a definitely higher than in the rest of Canada.”
Of course, Québecor therefore argues Cablevision cannot remove its TPIA tariff, and that Vidéotron is entitled to be provided access to Cablevision’s network.
Furthermore, Québecor is asking the Commission to order Cablevision to immediately sign the framework wholesale agreement already signed by Vidéotron, to recognize the acceptance by Vidéotron of the report on design and costs of interconnection in Val-d’Or and Rouyn-Noranda and implement these interconnections within three months.
As our earlier report notes, however, Cablevision says it and Vidéotron remain far apart when it comes to the agreement’s details (like rates and data throughput).
This being an expedited process and having only two parties involved should be resolved relatively rapidly.
Of course, this is only one of many disputes involving Bell and Québecor.
