Québecor asks CRTC to intervene on Bell’s alleged network access delay

Québecor alleges Bell is taking part in “anti-competitive tactics” by delaying access to its wireless network.

In a part 1 application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Québecor, on behalf of its subsidiary Vidéotron, states the companies had an October 11th agreement date to expand Vidéotron’s and Freedom Mobile’s services through Bell’s network as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). The CRTC selected Bell’s access rate on October 10th after an arbitration process.

In its application, Québecor states Bell tried to get Freedom and Vidéotron to sign a service agreement that differs from the tariff established by the CRTC. Québecor argues that because Bell agreed to arbitration, its actions are”governed by the terms of the tariff.”

Québecor is asking the commission to take action by complying with the tariff.

“It is obvious that Bell, for its part, did everything to ensure that Québecor Media was delayed in the pursuit of these objectives, thus directly interfering with the safeguarding of the public interest.”

In a statement to MobileSyrup, Bell argues the application doesn’t relate to Québecor’s MVNO service.

“This is simply an attempt to abuse the CRTC process to extract a retroactive windfall payment from Bell, contrary to the terms of the approved tariff and October’s CRTC decision. The tariff and the decision make clear that the MVNO arrangements will start after the parties have entered into a written agreement. Within days of the decision, Bell provided Québecor a standard agreement. They have refused to engage.  In the meantime, they have continued to access our network through existing roaming arrangements.”

Image credit: Shutterstock 

Source: CRTC