Telus wants CRTC to screen out telecom complaints

Telus Corp. has asked the CRTC to order the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) to turn away complaints that lack documentary proof the customer escalated the problem to the carrier’s second level of support, according to an Oct. 7 filing reported this week.

The filing is part of the CRTC’s consultation on improving customer awareness of the CCTS, launched Oct. 17, 2025 under Notice of Consultation 2025-274. Telus argued there is an “urgent need” for an “objective, mandatory verification protocol” in the CCTS online intake portal, MobileSyrup reported. Complaints without verifiable evidence, Telus said, “must be automatically screened out at the portal entry stage,” iPhone in Canada reported.

Telus argues the CCTS currently accepts a customer’s word that they tried to resolve the issue, leaving carriers to prove otherwise, which it calls an unreasonable burden, iPhone in Canada reported. The carrier dropped an earlier proposal for a set waiting period before customers could contact the CCTS, saying some complaints are urgent and tracking waiting periods would add costs.

The Canadian Telecommunications Association, whose members include Bell, Rogers, Eastlink, Cogeco, Quebecor, SaskTel, Tbaytel, Videotron and Xplore, filed its own proposal the same day. It does not seek automatic rejection of complaints. It wants carriers to send customers written CCTS information within two business days of a complaint reaching second-level support, even if the issue is resolved, and wants the CCTS to “meaningfully assess” whether a carrier had a reasonable chance to fix the problem, according to iPhone in Canada. The association also asked for 12 months to comply with any new rules.

The two filings agree on one point. Both oppose the CRTC’s preliminary view that providers should tell customers about the CCTS right after offering a solution, instead of waiting until the second escalation. The commission’s notice also proposed that customers be told if they express dissatisfaction, note delays or ask to escalate.

The CCTS is an independent, industry-funded body that handles unresolved telecom and television complaints. Its procedural code requires customers to give their provider “a reasonable opportunity to investigate and resolve the matter,” but it does not require them to complete every internal escalation step first, iPhone in Canada reported. The article did not state a CCTS position on the Telus proposal.

The case for earlier notice rests partly on research commissioned by the CRTC. A Nanos survey found that 2.1 per cent of customers with unresolved complaints said their provider referred them to the CCTS, while 96.3 per cent said they were not referred. Only 18.3 per cent of Canadians surveyed had heard of the CCTS, and nearly two-thirds of people who never took a complaint to the watchdog said they did not know it existed, iPhone in Canada reported. The research cost $113,000, according to the same report.

The proceeding has been contested. On July 20, the Canadian Telecommunications Association, the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and Telus asked the CRTC to suspend it until a broader review of the CCTS’s governance and mandate begins. In an Aug. 24 notice, the commission denied that request, saying the review belongs in a separate proceeding and that the record is sufficient to continue. It also noted the proceeding has already been significantly delayed.

Replies are due Nov. 13, according to iPhone in Canada, and the CRTC has not made a decision. The story is developing.

For Canadian consumers, the practical stakes are about access. Complaints to the watchdog have been rising: the CCTS’s earlier mid-year report, covered by Canada News Media, showed telecom complaints up 17 per cent, and in 2025 Telus topped the watchdog’s complaints ranking. The regulator has also been warning carriers over fees this year. Whatever the CRTC decides could shape how easily customers reach the CCTS after a dispute with their provider.

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Sources: MobileSyrup, iPhone in Canada, CRTC Notice 2025-274-4.