Summary

  • CRTC staff have asked Bell Canada to show how an independent provider can connect to its wholesale fibre interface using third-party facilities, as the tariff says it may.
  • The pointed question: do Bell’s proposed connection routes require a separate, non-tariffed Bell service before the mandated handoff works? Bell’s reply is due 28 October.

A door labelled “open” is useful only if somebody can reach the handle. Canada’s telecom regulator has asked Bell for the network drawings behind its aggregated wholesale fibre offer. In a 14 October information request, CRTC staff ask whether a competing ISP can connect through a third-party facility without first purchasing another Bell connection.

The request follows an April application by 77997 Newfoundland and Labrador Inc. It targets the point where Bell’s Aggregated High-Speed Service Provider Interface meets a competitor’s transport network. Staff ask Bell to confirm the applicant’s proposed patch-panel-to-patch-panel arrangement. If Bell sees a security problem with a third party making that short cross-connect, the regulator wants the specific risk, not a drawing of a cloud marked “security”.

The second question is geographic. Bell told staff it offers this interface at no third-party facility in the Greater Toronto Area other than 151 Front Street. Staff ask where competitors can obtain the tariffed service at a Bell central office, and how a competitor can use the mandated offer if the described route is unavailable. They also ask whether Bell treats 151 Front Street like a central office for other regulated services.

Then comes the price of the key. Bell described three connection options involving its Ethernet services or links through co-location. Staff ask whether any forces the ISP to buy a Bell service outside the tariff before it can use the tariff’s third-party-facility option. They quote the tariff’s permission for third-party facilities ending on a customer’s co-located equipment and ask how a Bell-only prerequisite would fit that wording. These are questions to Bell, not findings against it.

The CRTC’s 2024 wholesale fibre policy mandated workable access and distinguished fibre access from the transport a competitor brings to the handoff. This case puts a ruler on that seam. Bell must answer by 28 October; the applicant may comment on those answers by 4 November.

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