CHATHAM, Ont. — TekSavvy Solutions Inc. says it is seeking leave to appeal the CRTC's recent decision about wholesale internet prices.

The independent internet provider says it filed a motion by Monday's deadline with the Federal Court of Appeal.

The move comes as the Ontario-based company again called on the federal government to overrule the telecom regulator's decision.

It has previously sought the removal of CRTC chairman Ian Scott and called for the Competition Bureau to look into activities by Canada's phone and cable companies.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission last month reversed a 2019 decision that would have substantially lowered the wholesale internet prices charged by phone and cable companies to piggyback on larger companies' networks.

TekSavvy said in its court filing that the CRTC violated its right to procedural fairness and committed an error of law or jurisdiction when it scrapped its 2019 Final Rates Order by arbitrarily reverting to the much higher rates set in 2016 – the same rates the CRTC itself already determined to be grossly inflated. 

A spokesperson for TekSavvy said the company hopes the Liberal government will intervene quickly and render the court proceeding moot.

“After years of litigation and delay, it is now clear that the solution to this fiasco rests with cabinet. Cabinet must reinstate the CRTC’s pro-consumer 2019 Final Rates Order, which was based on years of process, mountains of evidence and withstood three challenges,” stated Andy Kaplan-Myrth, TekSavvy’s vice-president of regulatory and carrier affairs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 29, 2021.

The Canadian Press