In a Part 1 Application filed with the CRTC on Friday, Vidéotron is accusing Bell of excessively increasing the prices of its last-mile services and fibre transport rates in areas where it has a “dominant position or a quasi-monopoly.”
In doing so, Bell contravenes Section 27 (2) of the Telecommunications Act by giving itself undue preference, Vidéotron alleged. In turn, this harms Vidéotron, which will be unable to honour the contractual commitments to its own customers, hence reducing competition in the wireless market. This, it said, affects customers in urban and rural parts of Ontario and Quebec.
The CRTC does not regulate the prices of access services and fibre transport rates, which, according to Vidéotron, is driving the “abusive price increases” by Bell. As a result, the Quebec-based carrier is asking the commission to review those prices and, in the interim, freeze the rates charged by Bell in areas where it is dominant.