OTTAWA – The judicial process against the CRTC’s August decision on the final rates for aggregated wholesale high-speed access (HSA) service will go forward – and the decision’s application will remain suspended pending a ruling from the Federal Court of Appeal.
This means that the rates in force today are the interim ones set in 2016 and retroactive payments set out in the summer decision are suspended, pending the court’s decision.
The FCA had already granted a temporary stay on October 1st.
Justice Richard Boivin determined “the implementation of the CRTC Order that could result in a permanent market distortion which would be difficult to remedy posteriori” and granted the leave to appeal request made together by cable companies Rogers, Shaw, Videotron, Cogeco and Eastlink, and separately, by Bell.
This constitutes a major blow to the independent competitors, some of which already have announced changes in rates and boosts in speeds following the CRTC August decision (2019-288).
Also in response to the decision, Vidéotron cancelled its 1 Gig service so we’ll see if it reintroduces that speedy level of service.
The cable carriers (Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco, Videotron and Eastlink) as well as Bell have also petitioned the Federal Cabinet to reverse the CRTC decision and they are expected to ask the CRTC to Review and Vary the said decision. The CRTC had recently granted them a delay, in that regard.
