Out of breath, Canadian Internet service providers are trying one last time to force the resignation of the chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Ian Scott. Or at the very least, they are demanding that he step aside from any decisions affecting them, alleging that his closeness to national supplier executives puts him in a conflict of interest.
The organization Canadian Competitive Network Operators (ORCC) formally made this request to the CRTC at the beginning of February. It’s the most recent clash between independent, and mostly regional, telecommunications service providers and the federal regulator to stem from its ruling dating back to May 2021. At that time, the CRTC chose to substantially hike telecommunications rates wholesale sales imposed on them to access the Internet infrastructures of major providers such as Bell, Rogers and Videotron, among others.
This rate increase has had a significant negative effect on the operations of many independent providers across Canada. Most had to announce an increase in the prices charged to their customers, indicates to the Duty ORCC Senior Director and Advisor Geoff White. At least one supplier had to cease operations because it could not find profitability despite these higher operating costs.
Another supplier, the EBOX company of Longueuil, decided a few days ago to cancel the increase in its prices applied at the beginning of 2022 and to absorb the financial impact. The company will even reimburse customers who have been affected by this increase. “We have determined that raising prices at this time is not the right way to go,” explains EBOX CEO Jean-Philippe Béïque. “The increase in costs and the investments required may possibly lead us to reconsider a price increase in the future, but now is not the time. »
In Ottawa, despite everything, they continue to assert that increased competition is the solution to make the Canadian telecommunications industry more competitive. Invited to comment on the effect, apparently contrary to this vision, of its recent decisions on the Internet services market, the CRTC refrained from commenting.
Restore trust
The ORCC once again recalls the meeting that took place on the sly at the end of 2019 between Ian Scott of the CRTC and the big boss of Bell, Mirko Bibic, in an Ottawa bar frequented by senior officials. The meeting was entered into the lobbyist registry as required by law, but “in the absence of other representatives of the Council, which contravenes the rules of the CRTC as well as those of the Office of the Commissioner of Conflicts of Interest and ethics[du gouvernement fédéral] “, explains the ORCC in its application.
The organization also recalls that this meeting took place just a few days after Bell demanded that the CRTC review a previous decision favorable to small suppliers, which was overturned the following May.
“The involvement [de Ian Scott] in this type of process makes all the decisions rendered by the CRTC in which it finds itself liable to be challenged on these same bases”, continues the ORCC, according to which “its withdrawal is crucial to restore the confidence of the public and the companies to the CRTC, to better protect the Commission from further institutional damage and to avoid suspicion of bias. »