CRTC backs Bell Canada traffic throttling
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- The CRTC has finally released its decision on whether or not the commercial interests of a mega telecommunications company should continue to supersede those of its customers.
They should, the regulator has decided.
Backing up Bell Canada’s claim that P2P file sharers are unconscionable bandwidth hogs, “The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today announced that it has denied the Canadian Association of Internet Providers’ (CAIP) request that Bell Canada cease the traffic-shaping practices it has adopted for its wholesale Gateway Access Service”,” says the CRTC.
“CAIP is very disappointed with the Decision. Canadians in general should be disappointed,” CAIP chairman Tom Copeland told p2pnet.
“This Decision is a license for carriers to continue to interfere with the consumer’s use of the Internet. While the Commission has now, by way of the Decision, initiated a public proceeding on ‘Net Neutrality, it will be 2010 before Canada takes an official stand on the matter.
“The telecommunication regulator of our largest trading partner of data and goods has come out in favour of Net Neutrality as has the President Elect of the USA. Canadians need political leadership on this issue sooner rather than later.
“Our standing in the broadband world is slipping deeper into obscurity each day.”
The CRTC says it plans to stage a public hearing starting on July 6, 2009, centering on questions related to
- Changes in bandwidth consumption that may lead to network congestion
- Internet traffic management practices based on technical solutions or business models that are currently available or may be developed in the future, and
- The impact of such practices on end-users.
It’ll, “try to establish the criteria to be used in the event that specific traffic management practices need to be authorized,” and will also hold an online consultation, “to allow the public the opportunity to discuss the issues and questions related to the Internet traffic management practices of ISPs,” it says.
Meanwhile, from now on, “Bell Canada will be required to notify its wholesale customers at least 30 days in advance of making changes that impact on the performance of its Gateway Access Service.”
In addition, the CRTC says it’ll hold a, “separate proceeding to consider both wholesale and retail issues”.
The main purpose will be to address the extent to which ISPs can manage the traffic on their networks in accordance with the Telecommunications Act,” says CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein (right).
Traffic-shaping practices
Bell started throttling user accounts last year asserting 5% of its user base, people who use P2P file sharing applications, were clogging traffic, forcing it to shackle accounts.
Now, “Based on the evidence before us, we found that the measures employed by Bell Canada to manage its network were not discriminatory,” says the CRTC.
“Bell Canada applied the same traffic-shaping practices to wholesale customers as it did to its own retail customers,” says von Finckenstein.
“CAIP’s application asked us to only consider the specific issue of wholesale traffic shaping within a specific context. The broader issue of Internet traffic management raises a number of questions that affect both end-users and service providers.”
Growing popularity of online applications such as video can, “lead to network congestion,” he states, continuing
“To deal with this congestion, some Internet service providers (ISPs) are managing the flow of traffic on their networks or adopting new business models. In the case of the CAIP application, the Commission’s assessment of traffic shaping was limited to Bell Canada’s practice of slowing down the transfer rates of peer-to-peer traffic at certain times of the day.”
Click here for the CRTC decision in full.
Comments for next year’s hearing should be submitted by February 16, 2009.” Send them to:
The Secretary General
CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2
Fax, at 819-994-0218.
Jon Newton – p2pnet
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November 20th, 2008 at 11:51 am
CAIP is very disappointed, but Michael Geist does not seem to be.