Telecom - Staff Letter addressed to Peggy Tabet (Québecor Media Inc.) and Philippe Gauvin (Bell Canada)
Ottawa, 25 July 2023
Reference: 8622-V3-202300416
BY E-MAIL
Peggy Tabet
Vice President, Regulatory and Environmental Affairs
Québecor Media Inc.
612 Saint-Jacques Street
Montréal, QC H3C 4M8
tabet.peggy@quebecor.com
Philippe Gauvin
Assistant General Counsel
Bell Canada
Floor 19, 160 Elgin Street
Ottawa, ON K2P 2C4
bell.regulatory@bell.ca
RE: Request for final offer arbitration regarding mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) access rates
Dear Peggy Tabet and Philippe Gauvin,
Commission staff has considered the procedural requests made by both Bell Mobility Inc. (Bell) and Québecor Media Inc. (QMI) in letters dated July 18, 19, and 20.
On 18 July 2023, Québecor requested that it be permitted to include an appendix to its final offer, as provided in paragraph 25 of Practices and procedures for dispute resolution, Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2019-184, 29 May 2019 (the 2019-184 Bulletin). Québecor submitted that such appendix could be limited to 20 pages.
On 19 July 2023, Bell replied that, for procedural fairness reasons, Québecor’s request should only be approved if (i) the 28 July 2023 submission deadline is extended to 4 August 2023, to provide the parties with additional time to prepare their submissions; and (ii) Bell is also permitted to include an appendix not exceeding 20 pages to its final offer. In this regard, Bell noted that, unlike Québecor, it has never participated in an FOA process on MVNO access rates and is preparing its submissions solely in the context of the present proceeding.
On the same day, Québecor opposed Bell’s extension request, on the grounds that it constitutes a tactic to delay the establishment of MVNO access rates and that any holdup in the present proceeding would delay the launch of mobile wireless service by Québecor using MVNO access services and, by extension, delay Canadians’ access to lower-priced plans.
With respect to the inclusion of an appendix, Commission staff is of the view that both parties have satisfactorily justified the need for an appendix to be included with their respective final offers. Accordingly, Commission staff hereby approves the inclusion of an appendix for each party, but limits its length to a maximum of 20 pages.
Commission staff remind the parties that such an appendix must contain information that exists solely to support the record of this arbitration and cannot include any new arguments in support of the corresponding offer.
With respect to the extension request, in light of the fact that parties have only been informed of the permission to submit an appendix three days prior to the 28 July 2023 submission deadline, Commission staff considers that a seven-day extension to the said deadline is appropriate to ensure that both parties have sufficient time to make the full use of the appendix.
Accordingly, Commission staff hereby approves the extension of the final offer submission deadline to 4 August 2023.
Parties may file certain information in confidence. The Commission is of the view that it is of particular importance for the attainment of the objectives set out in Telecom Regulatory Policy 2021-130, as well as in the public interest, that all carriers that provide or access wholesale MVNO services be provided with sufficient information to understand the Commission’s rationale and decisions. As such, the Commission will aim to release as much information and rationale as possible to the public in its decisions on FOA proceedings on MVNO access rates. Releasing as much information as possible would also assist other carriers involved in the conclusion of a MVNO access agreement.
In keeping with this objective, the parties should prepare their various submissions as part of this process with the view to disclose information on the public record to the maximum extent possible, which will also assist the Commission to release FOA decisions as expeditiously as possible.
Any documents filed with the Commission should be filed via the secure service “My CRTC Account” (GCKey or Partner Log In) using the Telecom Cover Page and using the application number 8622-V3-202300416.
Yours sincerely
Original signed by
Michel Murray
Director, Dispute Resolution and Regulatory Implementation
Telecommunications
c.c. Leila Wright, CRTC leila.wright@crtc.gc.ca
Philippe Nadeau, CRTC philippe.nadeau@crtc.gc.ca
Joshua Bouzaglou, Québecor joshua.bouzaglou@quebecor.com
Melanie Cardin, Québecor melanie.Cardin@quebecor.com
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