Ever since Allstream and MTS merged, there has been a schizophrenia for their policy department. On one had, MTS is an incumbent and is regulated the same way as Bell and TELUS. On the other hand, Allstream’s policy folks keep arguing that incumbents should continue to be heavily regulated to allow competitors to have a chance to get a foothold.
The need to file tariffs may now be biting back at Allstream. Public Works (the customer side of the Federal Government) was looking for national network and bidders were supposed to: a) provide unit pricing (regardless of in-territory or out-of-territory); and, b) certify that all applicable tariffs were in place.
Bell and TELUS both filed new tariffs to cover the possibility of them winning this network. Allstream did not, despite the apparent need to do so, given that part of the network falls in Manitoba (their incumbent base).
TELUS and Bell have asked for a review. It’s now up to the CRTC to check the replay cameras.