Bell and Telus are again clashing over access to each other’s fibre internet networks, according to filings with Canada’s telecom regulator reported by The Globe and Mail.
The fight is about rules that force big telecom companies to share their fibre internet networks. Those rules let competitors, including Bell and Telus, resell internet service to customers. The policy was finalized last summer and has already led to several disputes between the companies.
On January 20, Telus told the CRTC that Bell made it harder for Telus to sign up new customers. Telus said Bell had “drastically degraded” its access to Bell’s network about a week earlier, after warning in December that it might do so. Telus did not explain exactly what Bell changed, because those details were blacked out in the filing.
Telus asked the CRTC to intervene, saying Bell’s conduct “shows that Bell remains determined to harm Telus, and therefore competition and consumers, by any available means regardless of their legality.”
Telus argued the alleged actions violated the Telecommunications Act by placing it at an unreasonable disadvantage and by failing to provide a “workable” wholesale internet connection.
In a January 26 response, Bell denied Telus’s allegations, calling them “blatantly dishonest” and accusing its rival of trying to “fabricate an artificial crisis.” Bell said it had met all of its regulatory obligations and blamed the issue on a short technical update. After a “brief initial adjustment period” lasting “a day or so,” Bell said Telus’s new customer orders had returned to normal. Telus later pushed back, saying it continues to see negative impacts.
Bell has also accused Telus of failing to provide workable systems for Bell to begin reselling Telus’s internet services in Alberta and British Columbia.
“Unfortunately, Telus is disadvantaging these consumers by failing to provide a workable activation and installation process, which is impeding Bell’s ability to launch,” Bell spokesperson David Marcille said in an email cited by The Globe and Mail.
The CRTC has said that forcing telecom companies to share their fibre networks should lead to more competition. However, the regulator still has not decided how much companies must pay each other to use those networks. Until those prices are set, it’s likely Telus and Bell will continue to keep fighting over how these rules will apply.
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