The CRTC says “Big Telco’s” Must Open Fiber-optic Networks to Upstarts
The CRTC released a decision last Wednesday that forces large Canadian telco’s to open access to their fibre-optic networks to competitors. Keep in mind that big telco’s are already required to do this with their copper-based networks. By following the same guidelines with fibre-optic networks, the CRTC believes it will level the playing field and foster competition.
Competitors will also no longer be forced to use an “aggregated” model of service. In other words, they will be able to tap into a single point of access of which there may be only one per province. As a result, smaller Internet service providers (ISPs) will actually pay more to have data shuffled back and forth based on distance.
A stipulation to the ruling is that competitors must agree to a “disaggregated” model of service, wherein they are required to plug-in much closer to the final consumer at a regional point of access. The smaller companies would then have to arrange transport of data from that regional interface to their own offices, either by installing their own fibre-optic cable, or by leasing it from an existing company. This is designed to discourage smaller competitors from acting as mere resellers of existing bandwidth. Instead, they in theory would add to the available bandwidth. But it also should reduce the cost that competitors have to pay.
For the BTS worker
The evidence demonstrates that we are moving to a wireline world in which there is one pipe to the consumer. We are rapidly evolving to a world where everything is delivered to the consumer over one pipe or one wireless connection – broadcasting and telecom services co-inhabiting networks, both wired and wireless. The demand for this network or infrastructure will be a driving force demanding skilled workers now and in the future.
Internet bandwidth is evolving; from being dominated by primarily alphanumeric text-based services to one increasingly dominated by audio and visual programming. Canadian consumers spend more time online than any other nation. We are the most intensive consumers of online video in the world.
Globally, consumer Internet video traffic will be 80% of all consumer Internet traffic in 2019, up from 64% in 2014. The sum of all forms of video (TV, video on demand [VOD], Internet, and peer-to-peer [P2P]) will be in the range of 80-90% of global consumer traffic by 2019; and Internet video to TV will continue to grow at a rapid pace, increasing fourfold by 2019. Internet video to TV traffic will be 17% of consumer Internet video traffic by 2019.
It’s not surprising, then, that BCE Inc. recently highlighted plans to direct $1.4 billion towards fibre-optic builds in the city of Toronto; a first step in a $20 billion plan to upgrade its broadband fibre and wireless networks across Canada by the end of 2020.
This is a race to the consumer that will provide BTS technicians with a great deal of work both now and in the future! It will be BTS that Bell relies on to service and provide customers with what they need and want. It is all of YOU who will make this happen!!!!
In Solidarity,
Sam Snyders
President, Local 1996-O
