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Ottawa, 24 May 1994
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Telecom Public Notice CRTC 94-26
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EQUAL ACCESS
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References:
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AGT Tariff Notices 473, 473A and 474
BC TEL Tariff Notices 3065 and 3070
Bell Tariff Notices 5144, 5144A and 5155
Island Tel Tariff Notices 310 and 313
MT&T Tariff Notices 438, 438A and 441
NBTel Tariff Notices 334, 334A and 336
Newfoundland Tel Tariff Notices 363, 363A and 365
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I BACKGROUND
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Pursuant to Competition in the Provision of Public Long Distance Voice Telephone Services and Related Resale and Sharing Issues, Telecom Decision CRTC 92-12, 12 June 1992 (Decision 92-12), AGT Limited - Interconnection of Interexchange Carriers and Related Resale and Sharing Issues, Telecom Decision CRTC 93-17, 29 October 1993, and Trunk-side Access by Resellers to the Public Switched Telephone Network, Telecom Decision CRTC 93-8, 23 July 1993, the telephone companies have been required to file agreements between themselves and various competitors setting out, among other things, the procedures of their respective Interexchange Carrier Groups (ICGs).
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In March and April of 1993, each of the telephone company respondents to Decision 92-12 filed either an agreement or a proposed draft agreement with Unitel Communications Inc. (Unitel). These telephone companies indicated that there would eventually be four schedules to the agreements, three of which were either attached or to be filed shortly. The fourth schedule, Primary Interexchange Carrier (PIC) Information Processing, which would be required only for implementation of equal access (1+ dialing), would be filed at a later date.
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The Commission granted final approval to the filed ICG agreements, including the first three schedules, in Telecom Order CRTC 93-867, 30 September 1993, Telecom Order CRTC 94-12, 10 January 1994, and Telecom Order CRTC 94-259, 16 March 1993. On 15 April 1994, AGT Limited (AGT) filed a proposed ICG agreement with Unitel, with the first three schedules attached. The Commission granted interim approval to this agreement in Telecom Order CRTC 94-501, 12 May 1994.
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II APPLICATIONS
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A. Primary Interexchange Carrier Information Processing
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On 24 February 1994, Bell Canada (Bell) filed and requested approval of Schedule 4 to its ICG agreement with Unitel. Bell stated that it and Unitel concurred as to the terms and conditions in the Schedule and that they had agreed to deal with other considerations relating to PIC information processing, but not specifically to the procedures of Bell's ICG, outside of Schedule 4.
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Bell stated that both it and Unitel anticipated that unauthorized PIC changes could represent a problem for end-customers and carriers; accordingly, Schedule 4 contained provisions intended to protect end-customers from such changes. Bell stated that it intended to incorporate the same provisions in agreements to be concluded with other providers of long distance services requesting trunk-side access.
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On 14 March 1994, Unitel filed comments with respect to Schedule 4. Unitel stated that it had negotiated and agrees with the procedures outlined in Schedule 4. Unitel added, however, that those procedures do not cover all of the issues that it had attempted to address during its negotiations with Stentor and Bell. In order to permit it and other long distance providers to prepare for the implementation of equal access on 1 July 1994, Unitel requested that the Commission grant interim approval to Schedule 4. However, Unitel also requested that the Commission proceed to consider the additional issues identified in its submission.
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On a more general level, Unitel submitted that the entire ICG agreement, including the four schedules, should be filed as part of Bell's Access Services Tariff for Interconnection with Interexchange Carriers.
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The Commission gave interim approval to Schedule 4 of the agreement between Bell and Unitel in Telecom Order CRTC 94-329, 5 April 1994. Other telephone companies have also filed and requested approval of Schedule 4 of their respective ICG agreements with Unitel. The Commission has given interim approval to these filings. The Commission has also given interim approval to ICG agreements, with schedules, between certain of the telephone companies and other competitive service providers.
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B. Billing and Collection Service
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The Commission has also received applications from the telephone companies for approval of proposed Billing and Collection Services Agreements and related tariff revisions. The Agreements and proposed tariff revisions set out the terms and conditions on which the telephone company would bill and collect on behalf of competitors for casual calls.
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C. Tariff to Unbundle the Switching and Aggregation Charge
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The Commission has also received applications from the telephone companies for approval of tariff revisions related to the provision, on an unbundled basis, of the various components required for equal access by competitors. These proposed tariffs also include the charges for the Billing and Collection Services described above and for PIC processing.
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III SCOPE OF THE PROCEEDING
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The Commission invites comment on Schedule 4 of the ICG agreement, the proposed unbundled tariff for equal access, and on the proposed tariffs and agreements related to billing and collection. The Commission is of the preliminary view that most of the matters dealt with in the agreements filed by the telephone companies would be more appropriately incorporated into the telephone companies' tariffs. Parties are also asked to comment on this view.
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The submissions filed to date in relation to the tariffs and agreements noted above will be placed on the record of this proceeding.
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IV INTERIM ARRANGEMENTS
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It is apparent that the Commission will not be able to conduct a full proceeding and issue a ruling with respect to all aspects of these applications by 1 July 1994. Accordingly, the Commission will be setting out in separate Orders the interim arrangements that will apply.
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V PROCEDURE
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The telephone companies and Stentor Resource Centre Inc. (Stentor) submitted that the review of the various filings would be facilitated if interested parties, where practicable, were to address common interrogatories and/or comments on these filings to Stentor rather than to each of its member telephone companies. The Commission agrees, and directs parties to address any comments or interrogatories to Stentor, except where they pertain exclusively to a particular telephone company.
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1. AGT, BC TEL, Bell, The Island Telephone Company Limited, Manitoba Telephone System, Maritime Telegraph & Telephone Company Limited, The New Brunswick Telephone Company Limited, Newfoundland Telephone Company Limited (the telephone companies) and Stentor are made parties to this proceeding.
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2. The mailing addresses to be used in this proceeding are:
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Mr. Allan J. Darling
Secretary General
CRTC
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0N2
Fax: 819-953-0795
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Mr. Bohdan S. Romaniuk
Vice President
Regulatory Affairs
AGT Limited
Floor 32-G, 10020 - 100 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
T5J 0N5
Fax: 403-493-6577
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Ms. Sandra Hertz
Director
Regulatory Matters
BC TEL
3777 Kingsway
18th Floor
Burnaby, British Columbia
V5H 3Z7
Fax: 604-430-9653
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Mr. B.A. Courtois
Vice-President
Corporate & Legal Affairs
Bell Canada
105 Hôtel-de-Ville Street
6th Floor
Hull, Quebec
J8X 4H7
Fax: 819-778-3437
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Mr. F.D. Morash
President, Chief Operating Officer
The Island Telephone Company Limited
69 Belvedere Avenue
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
C1A 7M1
Fax: 902-566-4665
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Mr. David Werthman
Director
Regulatory Affairs
Manitoba Telephone System
489 Empress Street - B501E
Box 6666
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3C 3V6
Fax: 204-775-2560
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Ms. Wendy J. Paquette
Regulatory Affairs Manager
Maritime Telegraph and Telephone Company Limited
P.O. Box 880, Station M
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 2W3
Fax: 902-421-1538
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Mr. Steve J. Palmer
Manager
Pricing and Regulatory Matters
The New Brunswick Telephone Company Limited
One Brunswick Square (BS19)
P.O. Box 1430
Saint John, New Brunswick
E2L 4K2
Fax: 506-694-2473
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Mr. Donald R. Tarrant
General Manager
Regulatory Matters
Newfoundland Telephone Company Limited
Fort William Building
P.O. Box 2110
St. John's, Newfoundland
A1C 5H6
Fax: 709-739-3122
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Mr. R.J. Davis
Acting Director, Tariffs
Stentor Resource Centre Inc.
160 Elgin Street
Floor 22
Ottawa, Ontario
K1G 3J4
Fax: 613-781-0448
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3. Other persons wishing to participate in this proceeding must notify the Commission of their intention to do so by writing to the Commission at the address noted above by 21 June 1994. The Commission will issue a complete list of parties and their mailing addresses.
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4. Parties may address interrogatories to Stentor and, where necessary, to the telephone companies. Any such interrogatories are to be filed with the Commission and served on the party or parties in question by 21 June 1994.
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5. Interrogatory responses are to be filed with the Commission and served on all parties by 12 July 1994.
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6. Requests by parties for further responses to their interrogatories, specifying in each case why a further response is both relevant and necessary, and requests for public disclosure of information for which confidentiality has been claimed, setting out the reasons for disclosure, must be filed with the Commission and served on the party or parties in question by 19 July 1994.
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7. Written responses to requests for further responses and for public disclosure must be filed with the Commission and served on the party making the request by 26 July 1994.
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8. The Commission will issue a determination with respect to requests for further responses and for disclosure as soon as possible. The Commission intends to direct that any information to be provided pursuant to that determination be filed with the Commission and served on all parties by 5 August 1994.
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9. Parties may file comments with the Commission, serving copies on all other parties, by 15 August 1994.
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10. Parties may file reply comments with the Commission, serving copies on all other parties, by 25 August 1994.
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11. Where a document is to be filed or served by a specific date, the document must be actually received, not merely mailed, by that date.
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12. In light of the comment period specified in this Public Notice, the Commission expects to issue rulings with respect to the subject applications in the fourth quarter of 1994.
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Allan J. Darling
Secretary General
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