2024-02-12 22:35:30
Bell Canada (BCE) will ultimately have to open its fiber optic network to small independent providers, the Federal Court of Appeal decided the day following the company announced 4,800 job cuts.
• Read also: Bell cuts 4,800 jobs and cuts its media in Quebec
• Read also: Opening of its fiber optic network: Bell wants to avoid losing millions
• Read also: Fiber Internet: no more competition within 6 months in Quebec
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decreed, last November, that two telecommunications giants having developed fiber optic networks – Bell and Telus Communication – must open them to resellers within six months, in order to stimulate competition. This is a temporary decision applicable only to Quebec and Ontario, while waiting for the CRTC to look further into the matter.
Since then, BCE has challenged the temporary decision in court. A request for an injunction to block the consequences was, however, rejected by Judge Mary JL Gleason in a decision rendered on Friday.
This judgment represents a setback for BCE which had, among other reasons, pointed to the compulsory opening of its fiber optic network to resellers to justify part of the 4,800 job cuts revealed last Thursday.
“We are concerned by the CRTC’s recent decision which forces us to provide access to our high-speed fiber optic network to resellers, even before we have been able to recover our multi-billion dollar investments,” he said. Elsewhere reiterated the president and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada, Mirko Bibic, Thursday.
The company explained that it has invested nearly $4 billion annually over the past decade to develop its network, presented as a competitive advantage. In the wake of the CRTC’s decision, BCE has also reduced its investments planned for 2024-2025 by $1 billion.
An assessment that Judge Mary JL Gleson does not seem to share, who considers that BCE has failed to prove that it would suffer irreparable harm due to the CRTC’s decision.
“Bell’s own choice to redirect or cut investments does not constitute irreparable harm, but rather the corporate choice it appears to have made as a result of the CRTC’s decision. In the absence of evidence that implementing temporary access would endanger Bell’s very existence, I fail to see why it is making the necessary investments for implementation of the CRTC decision rather than other investments constitutes irreparable harm,” underlined Judge Gleason.
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