one in Part 1 Application filed with CRTC Videotron on Friday accused Bell of inflating the prices of its last-mile services and fiber transport rates in areas where it has a “dominant position or quasi-monopoly”.
In doing so, Bell violates Section 27(2) of the Telecom Act by giving itself undue preference, Videotron charged. IIn turn, this harms Videotron, which will be unable to honor contractual commitments to its own customers, thereby reducing competition in the wireless market. That said, it affects customers in urban and rural parts of Ontario and Quebec.
The CRTC does not regulate the prices of access services and fiber transport rates, which according to Videotron is driving “unreasonable price increases” by Bell. As a result, the Quebec-based carrier is asking the commission to review those prices and temporarily freeze the rates imposed by Bell in areas where it is dominant.
“By continuing to refrain from regulating bulk fiber access and transport services, particularly in single-provider locations, the Commission is clearly unable to meet its policy objectives, which include ensuring a balance between is to: promote competition; encourage investment in high-quality networks; improve consumer choice; support the delivery of innovative services; and encourage the provision of services at reasonable prices to consumers,” Videotron said on the news site. told Cartt.ca.
Vidéotron also said that when it came to renewing a transport agreement with Fibrenoire, which Bell bought in 2016, the telco said that Vidéotron would have to pay a minimum annual amount over several years or it would lose access to its network. Will impose prohibitive monthly price hike for Rs. Videotron said these conditions also did not apply to some of its contracts with Bell for the same transportation circuit.
In 2018, Markham-based telco Iristel also made similar allegations of anti-competitive conduct by Bell and sought interim relief from the CRTC, which was granted. the commission denied It was then determined that there was no unjust discrimination against Iristel.
Videotron and Bell have been crossing swords for a long time. in their latest controversy, Videotron accused Bell of delaying the processing of access permit applications and granting access permits to its supporting structures (telephone poles). CRTC ruled in favor of Videotron and fined Bell C$7.5 million.
Last month, Vidéotron also expressed support for TechSavvy’s application to CRTC to review the preferential rates given to Bell’s newly acquired EBOX, but rejected these allegations in terms of its own wholesale rate agreements with Rogers.
