I wrote a flash update on the CRTC’s Decision this morning from the middle of the Public Policy Forum conference looking at Net Neutrality.
The CRTC denied CAIP’s application – looking at the narrow set of issues raised, without looking at the broader issue of net neutrality and traffic management practices of ISPs at a wholesale and retail level.
CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein said:
Based on the evidence before us, we found that the measures employed by Bell Canada to manage its network were not discriminatory. Bell Canada applied the same traffic-shaping practices to wholesale customers as it did to its own retail customers.
I think it important to look at this decision in the very narrow scope of that was used by the CRTC.
The proceeding did not examine the broad issue of “Net Neutrality”, but rather, examined whether the nature of management of wholesale customers’ traffic traversing the Bell network was consistent with the provisions of the Telecom Act.
The Commission looked at 5 points:
- Was Bell’s traffic shaping in violation of their tariffs?
- Was Bell’s traffic shaping in violation of non-discrimination provisions of the Act?
- Did Bell’s action control the content or influence the meaning or purpose of the telecommunications?
- Was Bell’s traffic shaping in violation of CRTC privacy rules?
- Did Bell act in violation of the “notice of network change” rules?
“No” was the answer on all counts.
We’ll want to discuss further what all of this means. I’ll save that for another day.
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net neutrality, CAIP