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Telecom Order CRTC 2023-334

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Ottawa, 5 October 2023

Public records: Tariff Notices 7674 and 7674A

Bell Canada – Tariff Notices 7674 and 7674A – Disaggregated Broadband Service

Background

  1. In Telecom Regulatory Policy 2015-326, the Commission directed incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) and cable carriers to offer disaggregated wholesale high-speed access (HSA) services to competitors.
  2. Disaggregated wholesale HSA service provides competitors with high-speed paths to end-customers’ premises served by an ILEC central office or a cable company head-end through a local interface at the ILEC central office or cable company head-end. These paths include an access component and the interface component. To provide service to their own end-customers, competitors would have to (i) invest in transmission facilities to each central office or head-end where they have end-customers, or (ii) lease these facilities from another carrier.

Applications

  1. The Commission received an application from Bell Canada, Tariff Notice (TN) 7674, dated 14 July 2023, in which the company proposed changes to its Access Services Tariff item 151 - Disaggregated Broadband Service. Specifically, Bell Canada proposed to add a new central office (CO) to its tariff pages, where DBS (Bell Canada’s name for its disaggregated wholesale HSA service) is now in service.
  2. On 19 July 2023, the Commission received TN 7674A from Bell Canada in which the company proposed to amend TN 7674 to include an additional CO in the tariff pages. Bell Canada submitted that this CO has been in service since 5 May 2023 but due to an administrative oversight the company did not previously add this CO to the list of COs where DBS is now enabled.
  3. In the proposed tariff pages associated with both applications, Bell Canada claimed confidentiality on the locations of the COs where the proposed disaggregated services will be provided.
  4. The Commission did not receive any interventions in response to Bell Canada’s applications.

Commission’s analysis

  1. In Telecom Information Bulletin 2010-455-1, the Commission sets out the procedures for filing tariff applications for competitor services with the Commission. Bell Canada has filed all necessary documents with its applications in accordance with these procedures.
  2. Approval of TNs 7674 and 7674A would allow competitors subscribing to DBS to access end-users in the locations of the COs on a disaggregated basis, thereby increasing competition in the retail HSA service market. The Commission therefore considers that approval of these applications is consistent with the 2023 Policy DirectionFootnote 1, in particular the objectives outlined in paragraphs 8(a), (b), (c), (d) and (e).Footnote 2
  3. In Telecom Regulatory Policy 2015-326, the Commission determined that, when a CO or head-end was enabled to support the disaggregated HSA service, there would be a three-year phase-out period to allow competitors sufficient time to plan their migration from the aggregated service to the disaggregated service. In Telecom Order 2022-184, the Commission also determined that for any future Bell Canada TN that updates the list of DBS-enabled COs, the three-year transition period for all competitors shall start two weeks after the posting of that TN to the Commission’s website.
  4. The Commission notes that in TN 7674, Bell Canada did not propose a date by which the three-year transition period associated to the CO should begin. Furthermore, in TN 7674A, Bell Canada proposed that the three-year transition period associated with the newly added CO should begin two weeks from the date of the TN, which is 19 July 2023. Given that TN 7674 was posted to the Commission’s website on 14 July 2023 and TN 7674A was posted to the Commission’s website on 21 July 2023, the Commission considers that it would be appropriate to align the dates for the two applications such that the three-year transition period for both would begin two weeks from 21 July 2023.
  5. In its proposed tariff pages, Bell Canada has claimed confidentiality on the locations of the COs where the proposed disaggregated services will be provided. The proposed tariff pages also state that detailed CO locations are provided upon demand to customers who have signed a non-disclosure agreement with the company, where the disaggregated HSA services are available to customers. The Commission notes that these provisions in the proposed tariff pages are consistent with the Commission’s determination in Telecom Order 2022-184. In that order, the Commission found that the specific direct harm in disclosing such information outweighs the public interest in its disclosure, and therefore determined that Common Language Location Identifier (CLLI) codesFootnote 3 and addresses of COs enabled for DBS should not be released on the public record.
  6. Furthermore, in Telecom Order 2023-188, the Commission approved an application by Bell Canada for a similar DBS under the same conditions of CO location confidentiality.

Conclusion

  1. In light of all of the above, the Commission approves Bell Canada’s applications, effective 5 October 2023.
  2. The Commission determines that the three-year transition period for the migration of aggregated HSA services to disaggregated HSA services in the locations proposed by Bell Canada will begin two weeks from the posting date of TN 7674A, which was 21 July 2023.

Secretary General

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