ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter Addressed to Distribution List

Ottawa, 20 May 2016

Our reference:  8663-B2-201514050

BY EMAIL

Distribution List (See Attachment)

RE: Bell Canada - Application requesting that the Commission replace Carrier obligations to impose certain conditions of service on Non-Carriers with direct regulatory requirements applicable to Non-Carriers

In an application dated 21 December 2015, Bell Canada requested that the Commission remove the current obligations imposed on Canadian carriers to impose certain conditions of service on non-carriers (underlying carrier obligations) and, instead, impose these requirements directly on non-carriers (also known as resellers) using its jurisdiction under section 24.1 of the Telecommunications Act. In an attachment to its application, Bell Canada listed some of the obligations that Canadian carriers are obligated to impose on non-carriers.

By letter dated 19 January 2016, Commission staff advised interested persons that the underlying carrier obligations related to 9-1-1 service and to the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services Inc. which Bell Canada had included in its attachment, were not to be within the scope of the proceeding initiated by the Bell Canada application as those were the subject of separate proceedings.

In their interventions, Québecor Média, on behalf of its affiliate Vidéotron (Québecor Média), and TELUS Communications Company (TCC), identified some additional underlying carrier obligations, to those identified by Bell Canada. Commission staff has set out in Appendix 1 of the present letter the underlying carrier obligations that have been identified by Bell Canada, Québecor Média and TCC and which are considered to be within the scope of this proceeding.

Commission staff has also identified some additional underlying carrier obligations to those identified by the parties to this proceeding. The underlying carrier obligations identified by Commission staff are set out in Appendix 2 and are to be part of the record of the Bell Canada application.

Commission staff invites comments on the following:

1. Whether the underlying carrier obligations identified in Appendix 2 should be imposed directly on non-carriers pursuant to section 24.1 of the Act;
2. If the underlying carrier obligations identified in Appendices 1 and 2 were to be imposed directly on non-carriers, whether some or all of the underlying carrier obligations identified in Appendices 1 and 2
   1. should be modified in some manner, for example, similar to that set out in Telecom Regulatory Policy 2016-12, such that Canadian carriers are i) to include in their tariffs, service contracts or other arrangements with non-carriers, the requirement that the latter, abide by these obligations and ii) to report^{Footnote 1} , in a timely manner, non-compliance by non-carriers with these obligations; or
   2. should be removed such that there is no requirement for the underlying carrier to include the obligations in tariffs, service contracts or other arrangements with non-carriers, or to report non-compliance.
3. Whether parties are aware of any other underlying carrier obligations that have not been identified but which should also be considered on the record of this proceeding, and how these obligations would be addressed as set out in questions 1) and 2) above.

Interested parties are advised that issues considered in the following proceeding are not within the scope of the proceeding initiated by the Bell Canada application referenced above:

• Proceeding initiated by Application of certain consumer safeguards for payphones directly to competitive payphone service providers, Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2016-103, 17 March 2016.

In view of the foregoing, any interested party may file comments on any of the matters set out above, by 6 June 2016, serving a copy on all other parties. Bell Canada may file a reply by 13 June 2016, serving a copy on all parties.

Sincerely,

Original signed by

Michel Murray
Director, Dispute Resolution and Regulatory Implementation
Telecommunications Sector

c.c:  Jesslyn Mullaney, CRTC, 819-953-5255, jesslyn.mullaney@crtc.gc.ca
Philippe Gauvin, Bell Canada, bell.regulatory@bell.ca

ATTACHMENT

Distribution List:

• Pauline Jessome, Allstream Inc., regulatory@allstream.com
• William Saniford, Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc., info@cnoc.ca
• Dennis Béland, Québecor Média, regaffairs@quebecor.com
• Howard Slawner, Rogers Communications Canada Inc., rci.regulatory@rci.rogers.com
• Stephen, Schmidt, TCC, regulatory.affairs@telus.com
• John Lawford, Public Interest Advocacy Centre, jlawford@piac.ca
• Distribution list to Broadcasting and Telecom Notice of Consultation 2015-239
• Participants to the proceeding leading to Telecom Regulatory Policy 2016-12
• Facilities Based Providers
• Non Facilities based Providers

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

Date modified:

2016-05-20