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Condo forced to allow fourth internet provider under threat by CRTC

Condo forced to allow fourth internet provider under threat by CRTC

Canada’s telecom regulator played hardball earlier this week when it told a Toronto condo development that it must grant access to fibre network start-up Beanfield Metroconnect to install services or it would order the other three telecoms in the building – Bell Canada, Coextro and Rogers Communications – to stop providing services to residents.

“The (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) ordered the condo building to provide access to the fourth internet service provider so that it could also provide service in the building, as required under the CRTC’s established policies,” explains Carol Anne O’Brien, a Toronto barrister and solicitor who has been involved in a number of CRTC regulation-related cases. “The policies are designed to support competition among ISPs and provide choice to residents of condo buildings.”

A 2003 framework by the CRTC found that end users should have the right to choose the telecom service provider, regardless of their type of dwelling.

The three-building King West Condominiums development in Toronto’s Liberty Village was given 120 days to comply. According to an article in the Financial Post, the condo developers claimed there wasn’t enough space for Beanfield to set up the required facilities “because it entered negotiations too late in the game and that its residents had enough competitors to choose from already.” Beanfield, on the other hand, said it would set up its own conduit if need be.

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It’s the third time the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has issued a decision like this, having made similar threats in 2014 and 2015 to cut existing services unless Bell was granted access to two Toronto condos’ main terminal units.

In one case, Beanfield was on the receiving end of the threats from the CRTC when Edenshaw Developments claimed it had already negotiated agreements with Beanfield and Rogers at its Chaz Yorkville development and that there was no room for Bell. The CRTC snapped back that the rules say consumers can choose the service provider of their choice. Bell has gotten into several dust-ups with Toronto developers and filed at least five complaints with the CRTC related to access in 2014 and 2015.

“It’s great to see the CRTC sending a bold signal to anti-competitive telecom giants who for years have been holding Canadians hostage with some of the highest prices in the industrialized world for middle of the road services,” says Katy Anderson, a digital rights campaigner with OpenMedia, a consumer-focused non-profit geared towards keeping the internet open, affordable, and surveillance-free. “The news that Beanfield will now be allowed access to the buildings is a positive development for residents – greater choice will lead to lower prices in any given market.”

She says that while the rules have been in place for over a decade, condo residents concerned that those regulations are being overstepped or that they don’t have fair access to Internet services have options.

“The Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) is an independent body that deals with complaints against telecommunications services, and is the best place to start,” she says. “(But) this move should help to ensure Canadians, regardless of where they live, are able to choose whatever ISP they prefer, and that all providers are competitive with their pricing.”