ARCHIVED - Telecom Procedural Letter addressed to Dennis Béland (Québecor Média) and Philippe Gauvin (Bell Canada)
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Ottawa, 17 June 2019
Our reference: 8660-V3-201904516
BY EMAIL
Mr. Dennis Béland
Vice-president, Regulatory Affairs
Telecommunications
Québecor Média
612, rue St-Jacques, 15e étage
Montréal, Québec H3C 4M8
regaffairs@quebecor.com
Mr. Philippe Gauvin
Assistant General Counsel
Bell Canada
160, Elgin Street, 19th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 2C4
bell.regulatory@bell.ca
Re : Part 1 application filed by Québecor Média inc. on behalf of its subsidiary, Vidéotron Ltd. (collectively, Vidéotron), against Bell Canada on behalf of its subsidiary Bell Mobility Inc. (collectively, Bell), requesting that the Commission order Bell to abstain from suspending wholesale roaming service offered to Vidéotron
Dear Sirs:
On 11 June 2019, the Commission received a Part 1 application from Québecor Média inc., on behalf of its subsidiary, Vidéotron Ltd (Vidéotron) in which Vidéotron requests a Commission decision ordering Bell Canada on behalf of its subsidiary Bell Mobility (Bell) to abstain from suspending Vidéotron’s wholesale roaming service.
Vidéotron and Bell are both mobile wireless carriers as defined by the Commission in Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-177 Footnote1 and in Telecom Decision CRTC 2017-56 Footnote2 . According to Vidéotron, its end-users have had access to Bell’s roaming service since 11 May 2015.
Vidéotron states that it received a letter from Bell dated 24 May 2019, alleging that “[translation] a significant number of Vidéotron’s users ...were using Bell Mobility’s roaming service …on an illegitimate, non-occasional and permanent basis” which constituted a contravention of subsection 100.1(a)(23) Footnote3 of Bell Mobility’s tariff. On the basis of this allegation and pursuant to the terms of subsection 100.19(a)(3) of the tariff, Vidéotron was advised that “[translation] in the event that the infraction is not remedied within 30 days of the present notice, Bell would have the right to suspend the wholesale roaming service pursuant to subsection 100.19 of the tariff”. Bell threatens to suspend the service on 23 June 2019.
As such, Vidéotron requests a Commission decision ordering Bell to abstain from suspending wholesale roaming service offered to Vidéotron. Vidéotron also requested the Commission to process its application on an expedited basis by rendering a decision before 23 June 2019.
Commission staff considers that, in the circumstances, it is appropriate to process the request for final relief on an expedited basis, but is of the view that it is not necessary to render interim relief before 23 June 2019. Accordingly, Bell and all interested parties have until 8 July 2019 to file their answer or comments to the final relief application, with a copy to Vidéotron. Reply comments from Vidéotron may be filed no later than 15 July 2019, with a copy to Bell and all interested parties. Documents are to be received, and not merely sent, by these dates.
In order to allow the Commission to properly assess Vidéotron's application, Commission staff requests Bell to maintain the roaming services provided to Vidéotron until the Commission has rendered a decision on the final relief and to confirm with the Commission, within 24 hours of receipt of this letter, that said Bell roaming services will be maintained.
Sincerely,
Original signed by Valerie Plaskacz for
Michel Murray
Director, Dispute Resolution and Regulatory Implementation
Telecommunications Sector
c.c. Guillaume Castonguay, CRTC, guillaume.castonguay@crtc.gc.ca
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