Yesterday, the CRTC sided with MTS Allstream in a billing dispute with TELUS.
In early September, TELUS had reinterpreted its tariff for aggregating digital channels and began billing its competitors at a higher rate.
While the CRTC agreed that the wording in the tariff was a little ambiguous on the point, the Commission found that TELUS’s reinterpretation was contrary to long standing industry practices. Further, the Commission felt that there should not be discretion in how to interpret the ratings, in that this lack of predictability could lead to arbitrary and discriminatory practices.
As a result, TELUS was ordered to refund any money it collected under the new interpretation and revert to the former method of calculation.