GATINEAU – After being told its first application was deficient, Videotron rewrote the CRTC to rectify the company’s application and request again the withdrawal for its unbundled up-to-1 Gbps download, up-to-100 Mbps upload service since as October 23rd, it no longer has any more wholesale clients on that tier.
As before the company wants to also grandfather its retail clients who pay for the service, but stop offering to any new customers.
The removal of top speed services tilts against the prevailing winds in the broadband world.
Generally, withdrawal/de-standardization like this takes place when a service is considered obsolete such as Bell’s August application where the company proposes the end of “residential two-party service" or, the party line. For younger readers, back in the day various households could save money by sharing a telephone line with another phone company customer. It would ring differently when the call was to your house rather than your line-buddy. You weren't supposed to listen to your neighbour’s conversations but could… It could also make for some pretty cranky grandmas when the line was tied up all day on Christmas by your line-sharer…
On the CRTC website, there are other TPIA tariffs being removed, too, but at the lower end of the spectrum as in the case of Cogeco, Bell, Rogers and Shaw. Some of those raise affordability issues. For example, Cronomagic in its intervention mentions lower speeds at lower rates are in high demand for lower income families so it opposes Cogeco’s application, filed last August to remove its three lower band speeds.
On timelines, CRTC Information bulletin 2010-455 says “Interested parties may file interventions within 45 calendar days of the filing date of an application, and the applicant may file reply comments within 10 calendar days of the deadline for filing interventions.
“The Commission or its staff will generally issue requests for information, to the extent they are required, within 21 calendar days of the date of the application. Normally, the Commission expects responses to requests for information to be provided within 7 to 15 calendar days of the date on which the request for information is sent, depending on the complexity of the information sought,” it goes on.
“The Commission will issue an order or a decision to dispose of each application that proposes the de-standardization and/or withdrawal of a service. In cases where comments are received, the Commission intends to issue a final decision within 90 calendar days of the date of the application,” it concludes.
Finally, the Canadian Network Operators’ Consortium raised concerns about removing the gigabit service to which its members still want to have access. “Videotron has also decided that as of 11 October 2019, its automated provisioning system will no longer accept orders for the service. While it appears that Videotron may be processing orders for the service on a manual basis for the time being, CNOC is nonetheless very concerned by this approach for the withdrawal of a regulated wholesale service,” CNOC’s intervention reads.
“CNOC’s members continue to express demand for the service and will likely continue to do so up to and until the effective date. The purpose of the 60-day advance notice period is to provide wholesale customers with a reasonable lead up period to adjust their retail operations in response to the wholesale service withdrawal. During this period, CNOC’s members and other TPIA customers should not face any impediments to accessing the service,” it went on.
Given the policy implications of removing speed tiers in this way, this is an issue worth keeping an eye on.
