National
news media is reporting that the three major incumbent cellular carriers –
Bell, Rogers and Telus, often referred to unflatteringly as Robelus - are preparing to launch a
legal appeal against certain clauses of the recently announced CRTC Wireless
Code. Some updated reports indicate that MTS and SaskTel are joining the
process. The motion will be filed at some unspecified future date but possibly
as early a 03 Jul 2013 in the Federal Court of Appeal and seeks leave to appeal
certain sections of the Code.
In particular
it seems they are planning to challenge that the terms of the code that makes
the two year stipulation on cellular contract length apply to all cellular
contracts after 03 Jun 2015 even though the Code does not come into effect until
02 Dec 2013.
When the CRTC
announced the details of the Code on 03 Jun 2013, it indicated the code would
not be retroactive or apply to contracts that that existed prior to 02 Dec
2013. This would seem to mean that in
theory any existing 3 year contracts could remain valid until as late as 01 Dec
2016 which is in conflict with the Code date for universal adoption of 03 Jun
2015
The
appeal appears to be centred on the question of what happens to existing 3 year
contracts that are scheduled to expire in the 18 month period between 03 Jun 2015
and 01 Dec 2016.
There are
no reports that the carriers are prepared to challenge any other parts of the
Code. Indeed, for the most part they have been in compliance with most parts of
the Code for some time, the main exception being the 2 year contract length.
The last
time a major legal challenge was launched by the incumbents against a CRTC decision,
the whole policy decision concerned came to a grinding halt for almost three
years as the appeals worked their way through to the Supreme Court of Canada and
the Governor-in-Council.
I see no
reason why the CRTC cannot nip this in the bud and change the compulsory
adoption date to 01 Dec 2016. Yes, some folks who signed a three year contract
after 03 Jun 2013 may feel hard done by but they knew the new terms were coming
and could have waited before signing up to a three year deal.
The CRTC needs
to decide whether it is in the public interest to fight the carriers or is the
public good best served by getting the code operative as soon as practicable.
