|
Telecom Order
|
|
Ottawa, 15 April 1994
|
|
Telecom Order CRTC 94-376
|
|
IN THE MATTER OF applications by AGT Limited (AGT) under Tariff Notice 462A dated 30 March 1994, by Bell Canada (Bell) under Tariff Notice 5084 dated 11 February 1994, by BC TEL under Tariff Notice 3036 dated 15 February 1994, as amended by Tariff Notice 3036A dated 3 March 1994, by Island Telephone Company Limited (Island Tel) under Tariff Notice 305 dated 11 March 1994, by Maritime Telegraph & Telephone Company Limited (MT&T) under Tariff Notice 431 dated 11 March 1994, by Manitoba Telephone System (MTS) under Tariff Notice 27 dated 10 March 1994, and by New Brunswick Telephone Company, Limited (NBTel) under Tariff Notice 323 dated 15 February 1994, for approval of tariff revisions providing for the introduction of Advantage 800 GOLD.
|
|
WHEREAS Bell filed the proposed contract associated with Advantage 800 GOLD on 1 March 1994;
|
|
WHEREAS, under Advantage 800 GOLD, customers would be required to commit to a one year contract, entailing a monthly minimum of 40,000 minutes of nationally aggregated domestic and U.S. Advantage 800 traffic;
|
|
WHEREAS the rating of each minute of eligible Advantage 800 GOLD usage would be on a flat rate basis that decreases as various thresholds are achieved;
|
|
WHEREAS there would be no additional volume discounts or time of day discounts associated with Advantage 800 GOLD;
|
|
WHEREAS the monthly recurring charges associated with 800 Plus features would be removed;
|
|
WHEREAS, in its application, AGT also proposed tariff revisions providing for the national aggregation of Advantage 800 usage;
|
|
WHEREAS the Commission received comments from American Express Canada Inc. requesting that the Commission approve Advantage 800 GOLD;
|
|
WHEREAS the Commission received comments from Unitel Communications Inc. (Unitel), and reply comments from BC TEL and Bell;
|
|
WHEREAS Unitel submitted, among other things, that the applicants' proposal to introduce long-term contracts will foreclose the entry of new competitors in the 800 market before comparable interconnection and full carrier portability is made available;
|
|
WHEREAS Bell claimed that comparable interconnection is available;
|
|
WHEREAS Bell stated that there is no requirement for all of a customers' traffic to be placed on Advantage 800 GOLD, therefore if and when Multi Carrier Routing is introduced customers could split their traffic among different carriers;
|
|
WHEREAS, in the Commission's view, long-term contracts, in general, do not create an undue advantage for the telephone companies and, therefore, are not anti-competitive;
|
|
WHEREAS the Commission considers that the issues surrounding 800 access have not as yet been resolved;
|
|
WHEREAS the Commission is of the view that, in the absence of the resolution of the issues surrounding 800 access, the proposed Advantage 800 GOLD contracts could grant the applicants an undue advantage;
|
|
WHEREAS the Commission considers that the applicants have not provided sufficient costing information in support of the proposed rates; and
|
|
WHEREAS, if the applicants choose to refile Advantage 800 GOLD proposals, the Commission is of the view that the costs of the more complex billing system required by Advantage 800 GOLD and the costs of providing 800 PLUS features should be identified in the supporting information -
|
|
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:
|
|
1. The proposed tariff revisions submitted by Bell under Tariff Notice 5084, BC TEL under Tariff Notice 3036, as amended by Tariff Notice 3036A, Island Tel under Tariff Notice 305, MT&T under Tariff Notice 431, MTS under Tariff Notice 27 and NBTel under Tariff Notice 323 are denied.
|
|
2. The tariff revisions proposed by AGT under Tariff Notice 462A providing for the national aggregation of Advantage 800 usage are approved and AGT shall file, within seven days, tariff pages reflecting the appropriate tariff revisions.
|
|
3. The tariff revisions proposed by AGT under Tariff Notice 462A providing for the introduction of Advantage 800 GOLD are denied.
|
|
Allan J. Darling
Secretary General
|
|
|