Telecom - Secretary General Letter addressed to Samer Bishay (Iristel Inc.) and Kate Southwell (Bell Canada)

Gatineau, 8 April 2025

Our reference: 8622-J64-202501064

BY EMAIL

Samer Bishay
Chief Executive Officer
Iristel Inc.
675 Cochrane Drive, East Tower
Markham, ON
L3R 0B8
regulatory@iristel.com

Kate Southwell
Senior Legal Counsel
Bell Canada
Floor 19, 160 Elgin Street
Ottawa ON K2P 2C4
bell.regulatory@bell.ca

Subject: Part 1 - Application by Iristel Inc. for interim and final relief in response to a disconnection notice

Dear Samer Bishay and Kate Southwell:

We are writing to inform you of the Commission’s majority decision regarding the requests for interim relief in the application filed by Iristel Inc. (Iristel) on 6 March 2025.

As you know, Iristel’s application relates to notices of disconnection it received from Bell Canada (Bell) in February 2025. These notices state that Iristel has not paid for certain services received from Bell. Iristel has requested that the Commission rule on a number of matters related to the notices of disconnection.

This letter addresses only Iristel’s requests for interim relief. These include requests for orders to: (1) prevent Bell from disconnecting Iristel while the Commission considers Iristel’s broader application; and (2) require Bell to accept Iristel’s proposed payment plan, where it would pay some of the disputed amounts during any period of interim relief.
Iristel also requested the Commission direct Bell to withdraw the disconnection notice issued on 21 February 2025 (this February notice has since been overtaken by more recent developments and therefore this request will not be addressed).

The Commission takes seriously the impact that a disconnection would have on Iristel’s customers, many of whom reside in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities. Accordingly, provided that Iristel makes the payments set out below, which are based on its proposed payment plan, the Commission finds it appropriate for Bell to continue providing services to Iristel, on an interim basis, while the Commission considers the matters raised in Iristel’s application. The Commission’s analysis of the RJR-MacDonald test, used in coming to this decision, is included in an appendix to this letter. It is important to note that this letter does not communicate a decision on whether Iristel’s payment plan is appropriate on a final basis.

Should Iristel not make the payments set out below, it is important to ensure that affected customers are given sufficient notice to be able to seek services from other providers. Accordingly, the Commission finds it is necessary for Bell to provide notice to Iristel, which in turn must provide notice to any telecommunications service providers (TSPs) that use Iristel’s services, of any planned disconnection. In such an event, all affected TSPs must then provide notice to their own customers and the Commission prior to disconnection in accordance with Telecom Regulatory Policy 2017-235. This will help the Commission take steps to minimize the impact on Canadians.

The Commission therefore directs:

• Iristel to make payments based on Iristel’s proposed payment plan. The Commission’s requirements regarding these payments have been provided separately and in confidence to Iristel and Bell;
• Bell to refrain from disconnecting Iristel from the services Bell currently provides, conditional on Iristel making the above-directed monthly payments to Bell, until the Commission rules on Iristel’s final relief requests; and
• Bell to notify the Commission whether payments have been received, within 5 days of each scheduled payment date.

In order to ensure customers are properly informed of any future disconnection, the Commission also finds that, should Iristel not make the required payments, Bell must provide a notice of disconnection to Iristel no less than 45 days before any disconnection date. If this occurs, the Commission directs:

• Bell to provide the notice to the Commission at the same time as to Iristel; and
• Iristel to, within 14 days of receipt of any 45-day notice of disconnection from Bell, provide notice to all of their affected end-user customers and wholesale customers of a potential disconnection. Any wholesale customers of Iristel must also provide their end-user customers with notice in accordance with Telecom Regulatory Policy 2017-235. A copy of any such notice from Iristel or any telecommunications service provider that uses Iristel’s services must also be provided to the Commission.

The Commission’s direction remains in place until the Commission issues a decision on final relief, or until parties can reach a negotiated solution that would result in the withdrawal of Iristel’s application. The Commission encourages the continued pursuit of a negotiated solution.

Questions regarding any information contained in this letter may be directed to Noah Moser, Director General, Telecommunications, at noah.moser@crtc.gc.ca.

Sincerely,

Marc Morin
Secretary General

C.c.:  Leila Wright, Vice-President, Telecommunications, CRTC, leila.wright@crtc.gc.ca
Suneil Kanjeekal, Director, Telecommunications, CRTC, suneil.kanjeekal@crtc.gc.ca
Rudy Rab, Senior Analyst, Telecommunications, CRTC, rudy.rab@crtc.gc.ca

APPENDIX

Interim relief - Commission Analysis and Determinations

The Commission finds that Iristel has met the three criteria of the RJR-MacDonald test and therefore that interim relief is appropriate (RJR-MacDonald Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General) [1994] 1 S.C.R. 311). In particular, the Commission finds that:

1. There are serious issues to be tried. Specifically, whether Bell has breached its tariff and the Telecommunications Act (the Act) by: (i) declining Iristel’s proposed deferred payment plan; (ii) imposing late payment charges on Iristel; and (iii) threatening to disconnect the telecommunications services that it provides to Iristel.
2. Iristel will suffer irreparable harm if it is disconnected. Specifically, Iristel may suffer an unquantifiable amount of damage to its business reputation. For instance, if Iristel is disconnected this may result in existing and potential Iristel customers selecting other TSPs, due to concerns about the reliability of Iristel’s services.
   However, Iristel will not suffer irreparable harm if their specific relief request directing Bell to accept their proposed payment plan is not granted. Any harm that would result from failing to order Bell to accept Iristel’s proposed payment plan are quantifiable and can be addressed in the final order and therefore would not result in irreparable harm.
3. The balance of convenience favours granting Iristel’s interim relief request. The potential negative effect to Iristel and to Canadians who rely on telecommunications services from Iristel outweighs the potential financial impact on Bell.

Date modified:

2025-04-08