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Telecom Decision
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Ottawa, 11 July 1984
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Telecom Decision CRTC 84-17
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NorthwesTel Inc. - Withdrawal of Application for a General Rate Increase: Follow-Up
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I INTRODUCTION
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On 8 March 1984, the Commission received an application from NorthwesTel Inc. (NorthwesTel, the Company) for approval of a general increase in its rates, to be effective on 1 September 1984.
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In conformity with Commission requirements, a Notice to Subscribers was issued by NorthwesTel informing its customers of the details of the application and setting out the manner in which interested parties could make their views known to the Commission. Twenty-one parties submitted comments and two parties stated that they wished to participate in the central hearing scheduled to take place in Whitehorse on 12 June 1984.
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In CRTC Telecom Public Notice 1984-28, dated 9 May 1984, the Commission announced that in addition to the central hearing, regional hearings would be held in Yellowknife on 7 June 1984 and in Whitehorse on 12 June 1984.
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By 24 May 1984, NorthwesTel's application file had been completed with the exception of responses to four Commission interrogatories, which responses the Company undertook to provide prior to 7 June 1984, and an additional Commission interrogatory issued on 22 May 1984 for which a response was requested by 4 June 1984.
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On 29 May 1984, the Commission received a Telex from NorthwesTel withdrawing its application. Having reviewed the record of the proceeding and, in particular, the information regarding the excess of current revenues over earlier projections, the Commission was satisfied that the Company's action was appropriate. By Telecom Order CRTC 84-327 dated 4 June 1984 (Order 84-327), the Commission approved the withdrawal by the Company.
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Consequently, the central and regional hearings were cancelled. However, in Order 84-327 the Commission stated its intention to follow-up with NorthwesTel on certain matters raised by the proceeding and to issue details of its requirements in this regard in the near future. These details are as follows.
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II ACCESS TO AND QUALITY OF SERVICE
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1. Specific Matters Raised by Interveners
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The Commission notes that up to the date of the withdrawal of its application, NorthwesTel had not replied to any of the twenty-one interventions received. Subsequently, on 22 June 1984, the Company provided the Commission with copies of replies addressed to certain interveners. The Commission is of the view that interventions 002, 004, 006, 018 and 019 have been satisfactorily dealt with by the Company. However, no replies were provided with regard to interventions 003 and 021, and the replies to interventions 012 and 013 are not considered by the Commission to be satisfactory.
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The Commission wishes to ensure that the specific service problems identified in these interventions are dealt with in an effective and expeditious manner and directs the Company to treat interventions 003 and 021 as complaints under Part VI of the CRTC Telecommunications Rules of Procedure. Accordingly, NorthwesTel is directed to file with the Commission its comments on each of the matters raised in these interventions within twenty days of the date of this decision.
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The Company is also directed to ensure that each of the many concerns raised in the October 1983 submission of the Honourable Tom Butters, Minister of Government Services, Government of the Northwest Territories, which formed part of intervention 012, has been dealt with and to report its progress in this regard to the Commission within 45 days.
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With regard to the intervention 013, the Company is directed to provide the Commission with the results of its review of the comments raised in this intervention and referred to in its reply to the intervener dated 14 June 1984.
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Several of the interventions received concerned the lack of service in the Carcross Road area of Whitehorse and a proposal by NorthwesTel to provide basic exchange service in this area using automatic mobile telephone service. Although the Company has not yet introduced an automatic mobile service nor proposed rates for such a service to the Commission, it has discussed rate levels with its subscribers, and these were also addressed in the interventions.
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Further, in letters addressed to the interveners on 14 and 18 June 1984 the Company indicated that it intended to file rates for this service with the Commission within "the next few months".
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The Company is directed to provide a report to the Commission within 30 days setting out its position on the service problems which gave rise to interventions 009, 010 and 020 and to provide details, including costs, of the various alternatives considered by the Company in arriving at its choice of automatic mobile service for the provision of basic exchange service to subscribers in the Carcross Road area. Copies of this report should be provided to the interveners concerned.
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In several interventions, complaints were made by subscribers concerning service outages and the fact that no rebates are provided by NorthwesTel after such outages occur. Although this issue is being addressed in a separate proceeding in which the General Regulations of all federally regulated telephone companies are under examination, the Commission believes that this issue warrants a more timely response than that proceeding may allow.
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The Commission is of the view that continuity of service is especially important in the remote locations served by NorthwesTel where, due to weather conditions and distance, telephone service is often the only reasonable means of communication between communities. Where continuity of telephone service is not maintained, it is the Commission's view that rebates proportionate to the length of an outage should be provided to customers of NorthwesTel as they are to customers of other federally regulated telephone companies.
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The Company is therefore directed to provide the Commission within 60 days with the following:
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a) a statement of its current practice with respect to rebates for service outages; and
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b) if the response to a) indicates that the Company does not currently provide such rebates,
whether automatically or upon the request of a customer, the Company is directed to provide
a proposal for the introduction of rebates, together with a statement describing the costs
associated with implementing the proposal.
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2. Quality of Service Indicators
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Pursuant to Quality of Service Indicators for Use in Telephone Company Regulation, Telecom Decision CRTC 82-13, 9 November 1982, NorthwesTel is required to provide the Commission with regular reports on the quality of its service as measured by a series of indicators. These reports, together with more detailed evidence provided to the Commission while NorthwesTel's application was before it indicated that, on a prima facie basis, its quality of service as measured by the following indicators does not meet generally accepted standards. The Commission recognizes that NorthwesTel is currently developing standards applicable specifically to its operating territory.
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a) Outstanding Orders
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The Company's performance with respect to outstanding orders for telephone service
throughout 1983 is of concern to the Commission. The figures show that even in the most
recent quarter, for every 100 main telephones installed or relocated, there are 37 which
remain uninstalled due to lack of manpower, 14 of which remain uninstalled after a period of
30 days.
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The Company is required to bring its performance on these two indicators into line with normal
industry standards before the end of the third quarter of 1984. Until that time, the Company is
required to submit monthly reports on these indicators, by exchange.
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b) Dial Tone Delay
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Although the Company's performance on this indicator showed improvement in February 1984
over the January figures, performance in March showed a slight decline. The Commission
wishes to ensure that the Company will continue to achieve performance in line with normal
industry standards throughout the second and third quarters of 1984 to demonstrate that the
corrective measures taken have been and continue to be effective. Monthly reports are
required for this indicator for those exchanges in which the information is collected.
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c) Directory Assistance: Operator Answer Time
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Currently, less than 73% of calls to Directory Assistance operators in NorthwesTel's operating
territory are answered within 10 seconds. The Commission does not agree with the Company
that these results are satisfactory and expects performance in line with normal industry
standards to be achieved throughout the second and third quarters of 1984. Monthly reports
are therefore required for this indicator.
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III FINANCIAL MATTERS
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In light of the extent to which its revenues for the first four months of 1984 exceed the Company's budget, the Commission will continue to monitor closely the Company's financial performance in order to determine whether further rate action, including possible downward adjustments in rates, may be necessary.
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Fernand Bélisle
Secretary General
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