|
Telecom Order
|
|
Ottawa, 8 June 1994
|
|
Telecom Order CRTC 94-629
|
|
IN THE MATTER OF Access to Billing and Collection Services and Related Databases by Resellers with Trunk-Side Access.
|
WHEREAS Telecom Public Notice CRTC 93-70, Access to Billing and Collection Services and Related Databases by Resellers with Trunk-Side Access, 30 December 1993, initiated a proceeding to consider the following issues:
|
- whether, and under what terms and conditions, if any, the telephone companies should provide the billing and collection services contemplated by Telecom Decision CRTC 92-12 (Decision 92-12) to resellers with trunk-side access;
|
|
- the extent of the database access required by resellers with trunk-side access; and
|
|
- the appropriate safeguards, such as a licence or non-disclosure agreements, for governing access to databases, and, in particular, any provisions that may be required in order to protect the confidentiality of customer information;
|
|
WHEREAS comments were received from Canadian Business Telecommunications Alliance (CBTA), Competitive Telecommunications Association (CTA), Pronto Long Distance Inc. (Pronto), Smart Talk Network (STN), Thrifty Call Canada Ltd (Thrifty), and Unitel Communications Inc. (Unitel) and reply comments were received from Stentor Resource Centre Inc. (Stentor);
|
WHEREAS there was agreement among those who commented that the telephone companies should provide billing and collection services to resellers with trunk-side access on the same terms and conditions as enumerated in Decision 92-12 for IXCs;
|
|
WHEREAS Stentor supported the provision, at a fair and equitable price, of billing and collection services to trunk-side service providers, including resellers, subject to the satisfactory resolution of concerns related to the potential charging of unreasonable rates;
|
|
WHEREAS Thrifty submitted that the telephone companies could make the provision of billing and collection services conditional on not charging rates which were in excess of the dominant carrier's;
|
|
WHEREAS Stentor submitted that there could be some merit to Thrifty's proposal but that Stentor would have concerns related to enforcement and to such a measure acting as an impediment to the dominant carrier's pricing flexibility;
|
|
WHEREAS those commenting agreed that access to the telephone companies' databases is necessary and generally agreed that safeguards, such as non-disclosure agreements between the telephone companies and the IXCs, would be sufficient to protect consumers' privacy;
|
|
WHEREAS Unitel submitted that consumer safeguards, such as the confidentiality safeguards contained in Article 11 of its Terms of Service and the non-disclosure provisions contained in the Interexchange Carrier Group between Bell Canada and Unitel should be put in place;
|
|
WHEREAS Stentor submitted that any requirement for the telephone companies to furnish information from their databases to alternate service providers should be limited to the telephone companies existing databases containing information that the telephone companies have obtained through their role as the supplier of basic local services, specifically the Billed Number Screening (BNS) database;
|
|
WHEREAS Stentor stated that it supports mediated access by service providers using trunk-side access to the BNS database on an equivalent basis to that which is contemplated for IXCs and subject to the implementation of appropriate safeguards;
|
|
WHEREAS Stentor stated that the execution of suitable non-disclosure agreements would be sufficient to address concerns regarding the protection of confidential information where such information is accessible through queries to the BNS database;
|
|
WHEREAS Stentor stated that there was no Canadian equivalent to the Line Information Database (LIDB) available to provide on-line location and credit status information with respect to specific subscribers;
|
|
WHEREAS the Commission has considered the comments and reply comments filed in this proceeding;
|
|
WHEREAS the Commission is of the view that, provided that some mechanism is in place to assure that telephone companies are not required to bill and collect unreasonable charges associated with a reseller's services, resellers with trunk-side access should be permitted to have access to the billing and collection services and databases of the telephone companies on the same terms and conditions offered to IXCs;
|
WHEREAS the Commission notes that the telephone companies have filed proposed tariffs and agreements setting out the terms and conditions of the provision of billing and collection services to IXCs and that these are subject to review as part of the proceeding initiated by Telecom Public Notice CRTC 94-26 (Public Notice 94-26);
|
|
WHEREAS the Commission is of the view that several of the issues that arise as a result of the provision of billing and collection services to IXCs also arise in relation to the provisions of these services to resellers;
|
WHEREAS resellers with trunk-side access are invited to participate in the proceeding initiated by Public Notice 94-26;
|
|
WHEREAS the Commission considers that the concerns raised with respect to the billing and collection of resellers' unregulated rates can be addressed by placing conditions in the telephone companies' tariffs which place an upper limit on the charges for which the companies will bill and collect;
|
|
WHEREAS the only database used by Stentor members for the purposes of alternate billing is the BNS database which currently contains only those telephone numbers to which a call may not be billed and there is no Canadian equivalent to the LIDB used in the U.S.;
|
|
WHEREAS the provision of the limited information contained in the BNS database to resellers with access to the database is unlikely to raise any significant concerns regarding subscriber's privacy that cannot be addressed;
|
|
WHEREAS the Commission considers that it is in the public interest to permit resellers access to the BNS database; and
|
|
WHEREAS the Commission considers that, in expectation of the availability of equal access as of 1 July 1994, there is a need for arrangements to be in place on an interim basis -
|
|
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:
|
|
1. The telephone companies are to file proposed tariff revisions and agreements by 22 June 1994:
|
|
(a) to make available to resellers with trunk-side access billing and collection services under the same terms and conditions as are provided to IXCs, and
|
|
(b) to include the following provisions:
|
|
those charges which consumers dispute and which are found to be at a rate that is more than 50% higher than the rate charged by the telephone company for a similar service may be charged back by the telephone company to the reseller and, in such circumstances, the telephone company shall provide the reseller with the minimum billing information necessary to allow the reseller to bill and collect the charge itself (i.e., billing name, telephone number and address);
|
|
where over 15% of a reseller's charges that are disputed by customers are found to be more than 50% higher, the telephone company may terminate the provision of billing and collection services; provided that 10 days notice of the termination and the specific reasons therefor is provided to the reseller, and such notice is copied to the Commission; and
|
|
as a condition of receiving the billing and collection services, the reseller must sign a non-disclosure agreement whereby it undertakes to protect the confidentiality of any billing or other information received, using it only for the purpose of billing and not reselling it or otherwise disclosing it to any third party.
|
|
2. The telephone companies are to file proposed tariff revisions by 22 June 1994 to provide resellers with trunk-side access to the telephone companies' BNS databases, conditional on the recipient signing a non-disclosure agreement, and on any other terms and conditions that are applicable to IXCs obtaining access to such databases.
|
|
Allan J. Darling
Secretary General
|
|
|