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Telecom - Secretary General Letter addressed to Robert Malcolmson (Bell Canada) and Stephen Schmidt (TELUS Communications Inc.)

Gatineau, 30 October 2025

Reference: 8020-1/25

BY EMAIL

Robert Malcolmson
EVP & Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer
Bell Canada
Floor 19
160 Elgin St.
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 2C4
bell.regulatory@bell.ca

Stephen Schmidt
Vice-President – Telecom Policy and Chief Regulatory Legal Counsel
TELUS Communications Inc.
Floor 5
215 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 0A6
regulatory.affairs@telus.com

Subject: Request for information regarding wholesale FTTP service

Dear Robert Malcolmson and Stephen Schmidt,

Through Telecom Regulatory Policy 2024-180 (the HSA Framework), the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (the Commission) is taking action to increase choice, affordability, and coverage of high-speed Internet services. The Commission is encouraged that many companies, including Bell Canada and TELUS Communications Inc. (Telus), are seeking to use the HSA Framework to expand Internet service competition for the benefit of Canadians. The Commission will continue to ensure that all eligible parties can make use of the HSA framework in order to bring new competitive options to the market.

The Commission has recently learned, however, of instances where companies may be acting contrary to the HSA Decision and associated tariffs. The Telecommunications Act requires Canadian carriers to comply with Commission-approved tariffs at all times. Allegations of tariff violations are serious, and demand appropriate investigation and action.

The Commission needs additional information to substantiate or refute these allegations. For that reason, you are asked to respond to the questions in this letter no later than [31] October 2025 and to provide copies of the responses to this request for information (RFI) to the other party. In addition to responding to these questions, you may file any other information you believe is relevant to the Commission’s consideration of this matter.

Further, you are also asked to file replies, providing comments on responses to this RFI with the Commission, no later than [3] November 2025. We appreciate your prompt attention to this request. Commission staff will be communicating with you over the coming days to set out next steps for possible mediation.

Requests for Information to both Bell Canada and Telus (the companies)

  1. Provide copies of all communications between the companies relating to any dispute involving the provision of wholesale HSA Fibre-To-The-Premises (FTTP) services at speeds of 1.5 Gbps or higher since 1 October 2025.
  2. Provide a detailed description of your company’s position regarding the nature and factual underpinnings of the dispute with regards to the wholesale provision of HSA FTTP services at service speeds of at least 1.5 Gbps in the context of the current dispute. For added clarity, the response is to cover, for both companies, both their activities as wholesale service requestors and as provisioners.
  3. Justify your view that the wholesale HSA FTTP service offered by the other company is contrary to that company’s tariffs, with reference to specific provisions of those tariffs.
  4. Is there any provision in the tariff itself that justifies the non-provision of HSA FTTP services in the circumstances relevant to the present matter? Provide detailed rationale to support your position.
  5. If there is no tariffed basis to support non-provision of HSA FTTP services, what other legal bases would justify such a situation. Provide detailed rationale to support your position, including, if appropriate, any justification permitting entities other than the CRTC to adjudicate such claims?

Procedures for Filing Documents

The CRTC requires that you submit your documents electronically by using the secured service “My CRTC Account” (Partner Log In or GC Key) and filling in the Telecom Cover Page. Please note that the link to access the system can be found at the very bottom of that web page. That web page also contains additional information on submitting applications and other documents to the CRTC using My CRTC Account.

Please include reference number TEL 8020-1/25 in the subject of your submission.

Filing of Confidential Information

Please note that in order to allow each party to provide fulsome comments on each other’s responses, information which is provided by one company but known by the other should not be shielded from that company.

As set out in section 39 of the Telecommunications Act and in Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2010-961, Procedures for filing confidential information and requesting its disclosure in Commission proceedings, persons may designate certain information as confidential, but must provide a detailed explanation of why the designated information is confidential and why its disclosure would not be in the public interest, including why the specific direct harm that would be likely to result from the disclosure would outweigh the public interest in disclosure.

Should you designate any information in your response as confidential, pursuant to section 39(5) of the Telecommunications Act, an abridged version of the response must be provided. Note that, in accordance with its normal practices, the Commission may disclose or require the disclosure of information designated as confidential if its disclosure is in the public interest, i.e., where the specific direct harm does not outweigh the public interest in disclosure.

If you have any questions regarding this letter or the associated process, please do not hesitate to contact Suneil Kanjeekal at Suneil.Kanjeekal@crtc.gc.ca.

Sincerely,

Marc Morin
Secretary General and Executive Vice-President

c.c.: Leila Wright, Vice-President, Telecommunications, CRTC, leila.wright@crtc.gc.ca
Noah Moser, Director, Telecommunications, CRTC, noah.moser@crtc.gc.ca
Suneil Kanjeekal, Director, Telecommunications, CRTC, suneil.kanjeekal@crtc.gc.ca

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