Telecom - Secretary General Letter addressed to the Distribution List
Ottawa, 30 March 2023
Reference(s): 1011-NOC2023-0048
BY E-MAIL
Distribution List
RE: Procedural Request to extend the filing deadlines for Telecom Notice of Consultation 2023-48, Call for comments – Facilities-based wholesale mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) access tariffs – Considering the inclusion of additional retail market segments
On 20 March 2023, TELUS Communications Inc. (TCI) filed a procedural request for an extension of the submission deadlines for Notice of Consultation 2023-48 Call for comments – Facilities-based wholesale mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) access tariffs – Considering the inclusion of additional retail market segments (NOC 2023-48), until 30 June 2023 for interventions, and 28 July 2023 for replies. Bell Mobility Inc. (Bell Mobility), the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (RCCI), and Saskatchewan Telecommunications (SaskTel) filed letters in support of this request, while Quebecor Media Inc., on behalf of Videotron (Videotron) opposed the request.
TCI argued that the current deadlines do not afford parties their rights to procedural fairness as they do not provide an opportunity for them to effectively prepare their case and thus put forward their views and evidence fully. TCI submitted that it requires more time to gather data, conduct research, and respond to the questions posed in NOC 2023-48, and claimed that its experts require at least 10 weeks to draft reports setting out their opinions. TCI also noted that parties, and their experts, are already heavily involved in several other Commission proceedings with approaching deadlines. TCI argued that an extension would be consistent with the 2023 Policy Direction, Order Issuing a Direction to the CRTC on a Renewed Approach to Telecommunications Policy: SOR/2023-23, and in the public interest by ensuring that the Commission receives the best possible evidence from the broadest number of parties.
Bell Mobility, PIAC, RCCI, and SaskTel supported the request as proposed by TCI for the reasons given by TCI. Parties expressed that they would have difficulty in participating fully in this proceeding due to time and resource constraints as they are currently engaged in several other proceedings of significant importance at the same time.
Conversely, Videotron submitted that the Commission gave notice in Telecom Decision 2022-288 Facilities-based wholesale mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) access tariffs – Commission determinations on proposed terms and conditions, that it would issue a follow-up proceeding and had a preliminary view on the matter. Videotron further claimed that the Policy Direction is clear as to the speed it expects the Commission to conduct proceedings. With respect to procedural fairness, Videotron argued that telecom service providers (TSPs) should already have all the necessary expertise to appropriately respond.
The 2023 Policy Direction states that the Commission should base its decisions “on sound and recent evidence” and that it should conduct proceedings and issue decisions in a timely manner. The Commission may need to balance these objectives in some cases, just as it may need to balance the regulatory burden of participation in proceedings with the need to make decision in a timely manner to provide market clarity.
Importantly, unduly or excessively delaying the determination of whether to include additional retail market segments in the wholesale MVNO access framework would not be in the interests of consumers or increased competition in wireless services. In addition, while NOC 2023-48 gave parties the opportunity to place any relevant studies or reports on the public record, it does not necessarily require the creation of new expert reports. However, as the parties noted, there are several proceedings that have deadlines around the same time as NOC 2023-48. The Commission acknowledges that it may therefore be difficult for some parties, particularly public interest intervenors and smaller TSPs, to be able to engage fully with each file due to time and resource constraints.
The Commission concludes that additional time should be provided to parties to file their submissions but that the 90- day extension sought by TCI for their initial comments, and an additional 11 days for their reply comments, is excessive and would unduly delay the proceeding, ultimately to the detriment of consumers.
Given that the issues in this proceeding are narrow in scope, and that parties had notice in October that the Commission intended to launch this proceeding and had preliminary views and concerns about the market conditions in the enterprise and IoT/M2M retail market segments, the Commission considers that a 45-day extension would be sufficient and appropriate. This would allow parties, particularly those with limited resources, to participate more fully in concurrent Commission proceedings. An additional 45 days would more than double the amount of time parties would have to respond and would only result in delaying the proceeding by a little over a month. Similarly, extending the period to file reply comments by one week would only add a minimal delay but would give parties additional time to respond to this Notice while also participating other Commission proceedings.
Therefore, the Commission grants an extension for an additional 45 days to May 15 to submit interventions and an additional 7 days to June 8 for reply comments.
Yours sincerely
Original signed by
Claude Doucet
Secretary General
c.c.: Allison McLean, CRTC, allison.mclean@crtc.gc.ca
Jeremy Lendvay, CRTC, jeremy.lendvay@crtc.gc.ca
Distribution List
TELUS, regulatory.affairs@telus.com
Bell, bell.regulatory@bell.ca
Rogers, regulatory@rci.rogers.com
SaskTel, document.control@sasktel.com
Videotron, regaffairs@quebecor.com
PIAC, jlawford@piac.ca
Eastlink, regulatory.matters@corp.eastlink.ca
Cogeco, telecom.regulatory@cogeco.com
Iristel, regulatory@iristel.com
Independent Telecommunications Providers Association, jonathan.holmes@itpa.ca
Fibernetics, regulatory@corp.fibernetics.ca
Manitoba Coalition, kadil@legalaid.mb.ca, chkla@legalaid.mb.ca
Sogetel, richard.biron@sogetel.com
TerreStar, scott.gibson@terrestar.ca
Vaxination Informatique, jfmezei@vaxination.ca
- Date modified: