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Telecom - Staff Letter addressed to the Distribution list

Ottawa, 3 November 2023

Our reference: 1011-NOC2023-0056

By EMAIL

Distribution list

Subject: Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2023-56-2, Review of the wholesale high-speed access service framework – New intervention phase - Process letter for request for public disclosure of information designated as confidential by the Commissioner of Competition.

Pursuant to the procedure set out in Telecom Notice of Consultation 2023-56-2, Review of the wholesale high-speed access service framework – New intervention phase,parties were able to file additional interventions by 16 October 2023.

In a letter dated 20 October 2023, the Canadian Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) submitted requests for the public disclosure of information filed in confidence by the Commissioner of Competition (the Commissioner) in its additional intervention.

The procedures related to requests for disclosure of confidential information are described in Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2010-961, Procedures for filing confidential information and requesting its disclosure in Commission proceedings and section 39 of the Telecommunications Act (the Act).

The Commissioner’s additional intervention included data on the state of competition in the Canadian fixed wireline Internet service market. The Commissioner filed two versions of its additional intervention – an abridged version that is on the public record, and a confidential version. The confidential version contains data and information on the wireline market, some of which is aggregated and some disaggregated, using data that was disclosed to the Commissioner in confidence by telecommunications service providers (TSPs) pursuant to a Commission staff letter issued on 2 June 2023.Footnote1

This letter therefore sets out the additional process and associated dates for reply comments regarding CNOC’s requests for public disclosure.

CNOC disclosure requests

CNOC expressed concern with the amount of information that was filed in confidence by the Commissioner. CNOC argued that, as a result, intervenors will be seriously interfered with in their ability to make informed submissions in this proceeding and to contribute to the development of a complete record on which the Commission may base its decisions.

CNOC made numerous specific disclosure requests for information from virtually all the figures included in the intervention. Furthermore, CNOC made several additional disclosure requests for instances in which information filed in confidence was viewed as being unclear in the context of whether it identified specific TSPs.

The enumerated list of disclosure requests from CNOC’s 20 October 2023 letter can be found at Appendix A below.

Procedural next steps

Much of the information underlying the Commissioner’s confidential filings originates from information that was designated as confidential by other parties and filed with the Commissioner pursuant to paragraph 39(4)(b) of the Act.

Accordingly, it would be appropriate to recognize the parties that have disclosed information designated as confidential to the Commissioner as the appropriate respondents to CNOC’s disclosure requests.

Prior to the issuance of this letter, the Commission received comments on CNOC’s disclosure requests from the Commissioner, Bell Canada, and TELUS.

In light of the above, any other parties identified in Appendix B are invited to provide their comments on CNOC’s disclosure requests by 7 November 2023. CNOC may file a reply to any comments by 9 November 2023.

Parties are reminded that the current reply phase to this proceeding closes on 20 November 2023. Although a response to the request for disclosure referred to above will not be rendered before that deadline, Commission staff nonetheless considers that it will be possible for parties to participate meaningfully in the reply phase based on the materials currently filed on the public record.

If a further procedure is determined to be appropriate as a result of the record on CNOC’s disclosure request, any further procedure and related timelines will be communicated at a later date.

Yours sincerely,

Original signed by

Philippe Kent
Director, Telecommunications Services Policy
Telecommunications Sector

c. c. Marianne Blais, CRTC,  marianne.blais@crtc.gc.ca
Peter Keriakos, CRTC, peter.keriakos@crtc.gc.ca
Greg Lang, CRTC, greg.lang@crtc.gc.ca
Adam Mills, CRTC, adam.mills@crtc.gc.ca
Chris Roy, CRTC, christopher.roy@crtc.gc.ca

Distribution List

Bell Canada, bell.regulatory@bell.ca;
Cogeco, telecom.regulatory@cogeco.com;
Eastlink, regulatory.matters@corp.eastlink.ca;
RCCI, regulatory@rci.rogers.com;
SaskTel, document.control@sasktel.com;
Shaw, Regulatory@sjrb.ca;
TCI (TELUS), regulatory.affairs@telus.com;
Videotron, regaffairs@quebecor.com;
CNOC, regulatory@cnoc.ca;
British Columbia Broadband Association (BCBA), regulatory@bcba.ca;
CIK Telecom Inc, jordan.d@ciktel.com;
City Wide, david@yourcitywide.com;
Community Fibre, ben@communityfibre.ca;
Comwave, legal@comwave.net;
Public Interest Advocacy Centre, jlawford@piac.ca;
TekSavvy, regulatory@teksavvy.ca;
Vaxination Informatique, jfmezei@vaxination.ca;
John Roman, johnphiliproman@gmail.com;
WaveDirect Telecommunications Limited, joanne@wavedirect.org;
Vaxxine Computer Systems Inc., president@vaxxine.com;
Truespeed Internet Services Inc., adam@truespeed.ca;
SkyChoice Communications, serge@skychoice.ca;
Securenet , info@securenet.net;
Secure by Design, kirk@secure-by-design.com;
OpenMedia, contact@openmedia.org;
Netrevolution inc., drouleau@gtvr.com;
National Capital FreeNet, execdir@ncf.ca;
IGS Hawkesbury Inc., jbogue@hawkmail.ca;
First Mile Connectivity Consortium, info@firstmile.ca;
Devtel Communications Inc., devin@devtelcommunications.ca;
CPC, campbell@campbellpatterson.com;
Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project (CAMP), keldon@antimonopoly.ca;
Beanfield , todd@beanfield.com;
Marc Nanni, mn_crtc@proton.me;
Competition Bureau, conor.parson@cb-bc.gc.ca;
Competition Bureau, crtc2023-56@cb-bc.gc.ca;
Coextro, skhandor@coextro.com;
Carry Telecom, frankw@carrytel.ca;
Manitoba Coalition (Consumers' Association of Canada (Manitoba Branch), Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg, Harvest Manitoba), chkla@legalaid.mb.ca;
Manitoba Coalition (Consumers' Association of Canada (Manitoba Branch), Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg, Harvest Manitoba), kadil@legalaid.mb.ca;
Frontier Networks, cgooey@frontiernetworks.ca;
Execulink, yasmin.charania@execulinktelecom.ca;

CNOC requested the disclosure of the following identified information from the Commissioner’s wireline market study:

  1. The information filed in confidence in paragraph 18
  2. Figure 1 - Share of total subscribers by speed band (2018 and 2022)
  3. Figure 2 - Share of total subscribers on ILEC vs. cable network (2018-2022)
  4. Figure 3 – Subscriber share of Facilities-based Competitors vs. Wholesale-Competitors broken down by ILEC vs. cable network (2018-2022)
  5. Figure 4 – Rate of subscriber growth for Wholesale-based Competitors vs. Facilities-Competitors broken down by ILEC vs. cable network (2019-2022)
  6. Figure 5 - Net new subscribers of Wholesale-based Competitors vs. Facilities-based Competitors broken down by ILEC vs. cable network (2019 - 2022)
  7. Figure 6A - Histogram of Wholesale-based Competitor vs. Facilities-based Competitor subscribers by speed band (2018 vs. 2022)
  8. Figure 6B - Distribution of Wholesale-based Competitor vs. Facilities-based Competitor subscribers by speed band (2018 vs. 2022)
  9. Figure 7 - Share of Wholesale-based Competitor subscribers on ILEC vs. cable network speeds above and below 100 Mbps (2018-2022)
  10. Figure 8 - Weighted mean ARPU in $2018 for Wholesale-based Competitor vs. Facilities-based Competitor subscribers (2018-2022)
  11. Figure 9: Weighted mean ARPU in $2022 for Wholesale-based Competitor vs. Facilities-based Competitor subscribers by speed band (2022)
  12. Figure 10 - Total and FTTP capital expenditures on broadband internet per capita
  13. Figure 11 – Distribution of Wholesale-based Competitor vs. Facilities-based Competitor subscribers broken down by speed band for each Region (2022)
  14. The information filed in confidence in paragraph 41.
  15. Figure 12 – Share of subscribers on ILEC vs. cable networks for each Region (2018-2022)
  16. Figure 13 - Subscriber share of Wholesale-based Competitors vs. Facilities-based Competitors broken down by ILEC vs. cable network for each Region (2019-2022)
  17. The information filed in confidence in paragraph 46
  18. Figure 15 - Growth of Wholesale-based Competitor and Facilities-based Competitor subscribers broken down by ILEC vs. cable network for each Region (2019-2022)
  19. The information filed in confidence in paragraph 52
  20. Figure 16A - Weighted mean ARPU in $2018 for Wholesale-based Competitor and Facilities-based Competitor subscribers broken down by ILEC vs. cable network for each Region (2018-2022)
  21. The information filed in confidence in paragraph 53
  22.  Figure 16B - Weighted mean ARPU in $2018 for Wholesale-based Competitor and Facilities-based Competitor subscribers for speeds below 100 Mbps broken down by ILEC vs. cable network for each Region (2018-2022)
  23. Figure 17 - Total capital expenditures in $2018 on broadband internet per capita for each Region (2018-2022)
  24. Figure 18 - Total capital expenditures in $2018 on FTTP per capita for each Region (2018-2022)
  25. The information filed in confidence in paragraph 82
  26. Figure 19 – Distribution of subscribers by speed band for Facilities-based Competitor flanker brands and Wholesale-based Competitors in the Central Region (2018 vs. 2022)
  27. The information filed in confidence in paragraph 95
  28. Figure 20 - Total subscribers of Facilities-based Competitor flanker brands vs. Wholesale-based Competitors broken down by ILEC vs. cable network for the Central Region (2018-2022)
  29. The information filed in confidence in paragraph 97
  30. Figure 21 - Weighted mean ARPU in $2018 for Facilities-based Competitor flanker brands vs. Wholesale-based Competitors for subscribers at speeds up to [###] Mbps for the Central Region (2018-2022)
    1. The information filed in confidence in the title of Figure 21 should be disclosed on the public record.
  1. The information filed in confidence in paragraph 98
  2. Figure 22 - Weighted mean ARPU in $2018 for Facilities-based Competitor Flanker Brands vs. Wholesale-based Competitors subscribers broken down by speed band for the Central Region (2018 vs. 2022)
  3. Figure 24 –Subscriber share of Facilities-based Competitors and Wholesale-based Competitors broken down by ILEC vs. cable network for selected CMAs (2018-2022)
  4. Figure 16C - Weighted mean ARPU in $2018 for Wholesale-based Competitor and Facilities-based Competitor subscribers for speeds below 100 Mbps broken down by ILEC vs. cable network for each Region (2018-2022) – Excludes [###]
    1. Figure 16C should be disclosed in its entirety but the reference in the title to the specific TSP that is excluded from this dataset should remain in confidence.
  1. Figure 16D - Weighted mean ARPU in $2018 for Wholesale-based Competitor and Facilities-based Competitor subscribers broken down by ILEC vs. cable network for each Region (2018-2022) – Excludes [###]
    1. Figure 16D should be disclosed in its entirety but the reference in the title to the specific TSP that is excluded from this dataset should remain in confidence.

CNOC also claimed that it was unclear in certain instances in the wireline market report whether the information filed in confidence by the The Commissioner identified specific telecommunications service providers. These instances include the following:

CNOC requested that the redacted information in question should be publicly disclosed if it does not identify specific telecommunications service providers.

Parties who provided confidential information to the Competition Bureau:

British Columbia Broadband Association (BCBA), regulatory@bcba.ca
Bell Canada (Bell), bell.regulatory@bell.ca
Bragg Communications Inc. (Eastlink), regulatory.matters@corp.eastlink.ca
CIK Telecom Inc (CIK Telecom), jordan.d@ciktel.com
City Wide Communications Inc. (City Wide), david@yourcitywide.com
Cogeco Communications Inc. (Cogeco), telecom.regulatory@cogeco.com
Execulink Telecom Inc. (Execulink), yasmin.charania@execulinktelecom.ca
Frontier Networks Inc. (Frontier), cgooey@frontiernetworks.ca
IGS Hawkesbury Inc. (IGS Hawkesbury), jbogue@hawkmail.ca
National Capital FreeNet Incorporated (NCF), execdir@ncf.ca
Quebecor Media Inc. (Videotron), regaffairs@quebecor.com
Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Rogers), regulatory@rci.rogers.com
Saskatchewan Telecommunications (SaskTel), document.control@sasktel.com
Shaw Cablesystems G.P. (Shaw), regulatory@sjrb.ca
TekSavvy Solutions Inc. (TekSavvy), regulatory@teksavvy.ca
TELUS Communications Inc. (TELUS), regulatory.affairs@telus.com

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