CRTC denies request to review dark fibre reporting decision

The CRTC denied a request from MTS Allstream Tuesday to exclude information about dark fibre networks from applications for exemption from the regulation of high-speed access services like broadband Internet. In telecom policy 2010-50, issued in February, the CRTC said that companies applying for an exemption, or forbearance, from the regulation of high-speed access must report all buildings connected to their network, including “lit” or “dark” network services. Dark fibre networks are those that are unused. MTS applied to the commission to review and vary the decision, arguing that companies applying for forbearance from the regulation of high-speed access services should not have to include dark fibre connections in their building connectivity reports to the commission. MTS said the policy should be modified to remove reports of dark fibre connections, and argued that dark-fibre facilities and high-speed access services are in different product markets, that they are not substitutes for one another, and that they attract different customers. Bell Canada and Bell Aliant had argued that that the presence of “underlying fibre facilities” demonstrates building access and is relevant to the evaluation of forbearance applications for fibre-based services. Bell said that building access is a central barrier to providing of high-speed services, and that “lighting” dark fibre is relatively easy once it is installed. The commission said Thursday that forbearance for high-speed access services is based on the number of buildings connected to “high-speed capable” networks in each specific area, not on competition issues such as providers’ market share. “The Commission is therefore of the view that the presence of underlying fibre facilities, whether those facilities are lit or dark, is the critical factor to consider in evaluating high-speed … services forbearance applications,” the commission said. “Given this, the Commission considers that buildings connected to carriers’ networks via dark-fibre facilities should count towards meeting the forbearance thresholds.”

CRTC denies request to review dark fibre reporting decision

Brief | October 7, 2010

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CRTC denies request to review dark fibre reporting decision

Brief | October 7, 2010

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