Summary

  • The CRTC has asked incumbent phone companies when wholesale fibre installations and service changes actually require a technician to visit the premises.
  • Bell Canada’s approved wholesale charge is C$10.46 without a site visit and C$240.86 with one. Companies must file visit counts and retail-order comparisons by 5 November.

The truck rolls, the invoice follows. A C$230.40 difference sits between a remote change and a technician at a customer’s door. The CRTC’s April wholesale fibre order lists Bell Canada’s install, move or change charge at C$10.46 without a site visit and C$240.86 with one. Those are two approved wholesale service charges. For a small provider selling service over somebody else’s fibre, that dispatch decision is part of the cost of winning a customer. It can also put a household on the hook for an appointment.

In an information request dated 22 October, commission staff ask incumbent local exchange carriers to spell out when a wholesale fibre order needs a visit. They also want the retail comparison: do the same companies send a technician for their own new customers and speed changes under similar circumstances? For each wholesale-order category, the carriers must supply total orders and site visits over the past 12 months. The deadline is 5 November.

The regulator adds a sharper question. If it required fewer visits, what would break, would the fibre network need reconfiguration, and what would that cost? A category name is easy to print on a tariff. Twelve months of orders will show how often it leads to a real knock at a real door. The letter permits confidential filings, but asks for reasons and an abridged public version or an explanation for withholding one.

This inquiry sits inside a review of the April rate order. In July, the CRTC combined three applications from MEKTEL Networks, a coalition of competitive providers and the Competitive Network Operators of Canada. The April order deliberately separated visit and non-visit charges so providers pay for the activity that occurs. October’s letter asks who orders the work—and how often the truck actually leaves the depot.