ARCHIVED - Telecom Order CRTC 2012-145
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Ottawa, 12 March 2012
Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership and Bell Canada – Destandardization of legacy Aggregated High-Speed Service Provider Interfaces
File numbers: Bell Aliant Tariff Notice 391 and Bell Canada Tariff Notice 7338
1. The Commission received an application by Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership (Bell Aliant) and Bell Canada (collectively, the Bell companies), dated 19 December 2011, in which the Bell companies proposed changes to each of their General Tariffs, item 5410 - Gateway Access Service, item 5420 – High Speed Access Service, item 5440 – Gateway Access Service – Fibre to the Node, and item 5450 – High Speed Access Service – Fibre to the Node. Specifically, the Bell companies proposed to destandardize Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) Aggregated High-Speed Service Provider Interfaces at speeds of DS-3 and OC-31 provisioned on ATM switches and the 10, 100 and 400 Mbps interfaces provisioned on Ethernet switches that face the Bell companies’ ATM network (collectively, legacy interfaces2), as well as certain housekeeping changes.
2. The Bell companies indicated that they issued a notice letter on 19 December 2011 to their wholesale Internet customers to advise them of the proposed changes.
3. The Commission received comments from MTS Inc. and Allstream Inc. (collectively, MTS Allstream) and the Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc. (CNOC) on 20 February 2012. The public record of this proceeding, which closed on 1 March 2012, is available on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca under “Public Proceedings” or by using the file numbers provided above.
4. The Bell companies proposed that as of 9 April 2012, they would only provision Internet Protocol (IP) interfaces and would not upgrade existing legacy interfaces, but would continue to support existing legacy interfaces.
5. The Bell companies submitted that (i) much of the underlying equipment that uses legacy ATM and Ethernet interfaces is at the end of its service life or is manufacturer-discontinued; (ii) the legacy interfaces are not suitable for the carriage of traffic from fibre-to-the-node retail customers; and (iii) there are technical limitations associated with the implementation of the capacity-based billing model using legacy interfaces.
6. Both CNOC and MTS Allstream indicated they had no objection to the destandardization of the legacy interfaces, but requested that the Bell companies clarify certain terms and conditions. They asked the Bell companies to confirm that wholesale Internet customers can add accesses associated with Gateway Access Service (GAS), GAS – Fibre to the Node, and High Speed Access (HSA) services to destandardized legacy interfaces, and to confirm that the administration charge, remapping fees, and the duplicate interface fees will not apply when customers migrate from a legacy interface to an IP interface.
7. In reply, the Bell companies confirmed MTS Allstream’s and CNOC’s interpretations of the terms and conditions identified in their submissions. The Bell companies also proposed minor wording modifications to ensure that the Permanent Virtual Circuit remapping fee associated with HSA service would not apply when customers migrate to the IP interface.
Commission’s analysis and determinations
8. The Commission notes that the Bell companies have notified their existing customers of their intention to destandardize the legacy interfaces, that they have identified the IP interface as a service alternative, and that they agree with the intervening parties’ interpretation of certain terms and conditions.
9. In light of the above, the Commission considers that the Bell companies have met the requirements for destandardization consistent with Telecom Decision 2008-22 and Telecom Information Bulletin 2010-455. Accordingly, the Commission approves the Bell companies’ applications effective 9 April 2012, with the following modifications: i) at General Tariff, item 5420, paragraph 3(b), replace “Gateway Access Service” with “HSA,”, and ii) at General Tariff, item 5450, paragraph 3(b), replace “GAS” with “HSA.”
Secretary General
Related documents
- Approval processes for tariff applications and intercarrier agreements, Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2010-455, 5 July 2010
- Mandatory customer contract renewal notification and requirements for service destandardization/withdrawal, Telecom Decision CRTC 2008-22, 6 March 2008
Footnotes:
[1] DS-3 speed equates to 44.73 megabits per second (Mbps), and OC-3 speed equates to 155.52 Mbps.
[2] Interface refers to the physical point of interconnection between the competitor and the Bell companies.
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