ARCHIVED -  Telecom Order CRTC 95-559

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Telecom Order

Ottawa, 11 May 1995
Telecom Order CRTC 95-559
IN THE MATTER OF an application from Bell Canada (Bell) under Tariff Notice 5466 dated 31 March 1995, for tariff revisions related to the provision of single-line business and residence inside wire (IW).
WHEREAS Bell proposed to transfer to customers the responsibility for installations, rearrangements, additions, moves, repairs and maintenance of IW on the customer's side of the demarcation point except for two and four-party customers and customers whose telephone connections are still hard wired;
WHEREAS these exempted customers would continue to be subject to the current regime for IW installation and maintenance;
WHEREAS, these exceptions would be eliminated when party customers can own their own telephones and, for hard wired telephone customers, when these connections are converted to jacks;
WHEREAS Bell stated that its proposals are further to the Commission's suggested approaches contained in BC TEL and Bell Canada - Transfer of Inside Wire to Premises Owners and Introduction of LineGuard Service, Telecom Decision CRTC 94-2, 2 February 1994 (Decision 94-2);
WHEREAS Bell proposed an effective date of nine months after the approval date and stated that a wiring guide would be available no later than the effective date of the proposals;
WHEREAS the Commission notes that in Decision 94-2, it set out two examples of acceptable alternative approaches for IW, one of which provided for the transfer of responsibility for IW installation and maintenance to non-multi-party and non-hard wired IW customers and also provided for telephone company supply of IW installation and maintenance services at compensatory rates;
WHEREAS, as a result, customers could acquire IW maintenance and installation services from Bell, from other providers, or they could do these functions themselves;
WHEREAS, in the context of the current proceeding, the Commission received several letters of objection to Bell's proposals to the effect that Bell should not be permitted to charge for service that is currently not charged for, particularly as only Bell provides it;
WHEREAS the Commission notes, as it did in Decision 94-2, that these proposals would permit competitive entry into the IW installation and maintenance/repair services markets;
WHEREAS the Commission notes that, in the current application, Bell proposed rates that were equivalent to the tariffed rates that applied to similar services related to multi-line IW before these tariffs were withdrawn pursuant to the Commission's directive contained in Review of Regulatory Framework, Telecom Decision CRTC 94-19, 16 September 1994, pertaining to its decision to forbear from regulating certain aspects of the provision of terminal equipment;
WHEREAS, based on the record, the Commission considers the company's proposals to be appropriate, except for the availability date for the wiring guide which, in the Commission's view, should be made available at least six months before the implementation date of the proposals;
WHEREAS, as in the case of BC TEL, the Commission is of the view that communications to customers should also be issued at least six months before the implementation date of the proposals, should describe the new regime (including the effective date) and the wiring guide and should inform customers of how they can obtain the guide; and
WHEREAS the Commission notes Bell's commitment to file for approval a proposed customer communications plan within one month of the approval date of this application -
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:
1. The application is approved, to take effect 1 February 1996.
2. Bell is to file its customer communications plan within one month of the date of this Order.
3. Communications to customers as described above are to be issued by 1 August 1995 and the wiring guide is to be available by the same date.
4. Any IW related services ordered before 1 February 1996 are to be provided at currently approved rates.
Allan J. Darling
Secretary General

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