CRTC calls halt to Bell MTS monthly reports

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This article was published 29/11/2022 (756 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BELL MTS Inc. no longer has to submit monthly reports to the national regulator as the telecom company’s landline outages have been “significantly reduced,” the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission says.

In a statement to the Free Press, CRTC spokeswoman Patricia Valladao said, at the end of the six months of reporting on the issue it had ordered Bell MTS to submit, it has reached the point where “open trouble tickets continue to remain low and it continues to monitor the situation and remains committed to addressing voice outages as expeditiously as possible. Given the significant improvement, the commission considers that reporting is no longer required at this time.”

Valladao said the CRTC will continue to monitor any concerns Winnipeg landline customers have about their Bell MTS service through its client services group.

“The CRTC takes complaints seriously and its client services group addresses most complaints, however where the complaints are widespread, additional measures may be required,” she said Nov. 28.

In May, the CRTC stepped in after a series of Free Press articles detailed the plight of some Winnipeggers who had been without landline telephone service for weeks, sometimes even months, despite customer calls to the company.

One local senior said she was unable to contact Lifeline medical alert services because of the outage. Others said they had lost connection to the internet, burglar and fire alarms, and emergency services.

Parishioners at St. George’s Anglican Church decided to switch to Shaw Communications Inc., saying they couldn’t count on Bell MTS to keep the building connected to emergency services.

At least one Winnipegger was surprised to open the door to find police officers there — as during the landline outage, the home’s phone had called 911 on its own.

The union representing Bell MTS technicians blamed the outages on years of job cuts and inadequate maintenance since the Progressive Conservative government led by premier Gary Filmon privatized the telephone company in 1997.

In response, Fiona Gilfillan, CRTC executive director telecommunications, issued a letter to Bell MTS, ordering the company to send monthly updates to the CRTC for five months “given the ongoing nature of the issues.”

In the monthly reports, Bell MTS told the CRTC the problems with local phone lines began before parent company BCE Inc. even purchased MTS.

“Simply put, MTS’s practices involved very short-term solutions that left the network vulnerable to water penetration in the face of heavy rainfall,” wrote Philippe Gauvin, Bell MTS assistant general counsel.

While the CRTC knows the number of Winnipeggers who had lost landline service, the public doesn’t know the full story because Bell MTS asked for most of the information it submitted be kept confidential, citing sector competition.

West End resident Karen Kirk, whose phone made the call to 911, said she has had no problems since Bell MTS fixed her landline.

“We do agree that MTS should have stepped in faster without pressure from the CRTC, based on the number of complaints and lack of timely repair to and by MTS,” Kirk said.

West St. Paul resident Gary Moulder, whose service was out for two weeks in May, said he has had no problems since then.

“It was all thanks to (the Free Press) articles,” Moulder said. “They wouldn’t have made all the repairs if not for the articles.

“They gave me a $112 credit for the outage, but that really didn’t compensate me for the problem at the time. It was really a pain in the a—.”

Bell MTS spokesman Andrew Parkinson did not say how many outages the company currently is working to fix.

“The number of outages we experience can vary widely and is based on a number of factors, especially weather and commercial power failure,” Parkinson said this week. “But we are currently in the range of what would be considered normal for this time of year.”

Parkinson said traditional copper wiring for landline services is being replaced by fibre optic cable.

“We have accelerated our fibre roll out in Winnipeg over the next few years,” he said. “Approximately 50 per cent of the households in Winnipeg will have access to our fibre services by the end of this year.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca