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ARCHIVED -  Telecom Order CRTC 96-1120

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Telecom Order

Ottawa, 8 October 1996
Telecom Order CRTC 96-1120
IN THE MATTER OF an application by Stentor Resource Centre Inc. (Stentor) submitted under Tariff Notice 314 (TN 314) dated 5 June 1996, filed on behalf of and with the concurrence of all federally regulated Stentor owners, to modify the usage charges rating structure of National Services Tariff Item 515, Advantage 900, such that the usage charge would be applied to the initial 30 seconds for each call rather than the current initial one minute, and to modify the Advantage 900 Accounts Receivable Management (ARM) Agreement.
WHEREAS Stentor proposed to change the ARM Agreement by establishing dedicated NXXs which would be reserved solely for Advantage 900 Premises-Based Service programs which meet a business/government focus (Business/Government Exchanges);
WHEREAS Stentor also proposed to remove the $50 per call maximum charge limitation for 900 programs assigned to a Business/Government Exchange;
WHEREAS Stentor further proposed to lower the ARM fee for 900 programs assigned to a Business/Government Exchange from 10% to 5%;
WHEREAS Stentor submitted that in order to attract the emerging promotional, non-profit and other business programs characterized by short call duration of less than one minute, a reduction to the minimum usage charge per call is required;
WHEREAS Stentor submitted that the current $50 per call maximum charge policy is a barrier to the entry of governments, business and non-profit organizations into the Advantage 900 market;
WHEREAS Stentor submitted that removal of the $50 per call maximum charge limitation for these customer segments would permit these customers to recover their operational and administrative costs, while at the same time stimulate demand for Advantage 900 service;
WHEREAS Stentor submitted that, because of the generally low charge back levels associated with governments, businesses and non-profit organizations, the costs for the management of the accounts receivable related to these newly-generated revenues are expected to be lower than the similar costs associated with the traditional Advantage 900 entertainment programs;
WHEREAS the Commission received comments from the security and alarm services industry opposing TN 314 and one comment from the Metropolitan Toronto Police (Metro Police) in support of TN 314;
WHEREAS the record of this proceeding indicates that, in order to recover the costs associated with responding to false alarms, it is the intention of the Metro Police to require all central monitoring stations to call intrusion alarms into the Metro Police Communications Centre via a 1-900 number;
WHEREAS such a call will cause a fee of $73.50 to be charged to the caller's telephone bill;
WHEREAS the fee will be refunded for calls that are deemed to be valid alarms;
WHEREAS the Canadian Alarm and Security Association (CANASA) submitted that the established Service Provider and ARM agreements make it clear that programs eligible for telephone company billing as Advantage 900 services involve only the transfer of information between the service provider and the caller during the course of the call itself;
WHEREAS CANASA submitted that the service contemplated by Metro Police does not constitute the provision of a "program" within the meaning of these agreements;
WHEREAS CANASA submitted that the municipal by-law authorizing the fee proposed to be charged by Metro Police is unlawful;
WHEREAS CANASA noted that the ARM Agreement expressly excludes an account receivable where the program charge is wholly or partly for the purchase of merchandise ordered;
WHEREAS CANASA and other interveners encouraged the Commission to establish a full public process to review the proposed revisions to the Advantage 900 tariff and ARM agreement, and Stentor members' plan for the types of services that may become Business/Government Exchange Services and thereby subject to the ARM agreement;
WHEREAS Stentor submitted that the concern identified by CANASA and other interveners is whether the police should be allowed to levy fees in connection with responses to alarm signals;
WHEREAS Stentor submitted that such an issue is irrelevant for the purposes of TN 314;
WHEREAS the term program is defined in the Advantage 900 tariffs and agreements as:
"the content of a message provided by a service provider for a specific Advantage 900 program number";
WHEREAS Stentor submitted that a message could include the retrieval of information and the provision of general information related to responses to alarm calls;
WHEREAS the Commission considers that the establishment of dedicated NXXs for Advantage 900 programs which meet a business/government focus, as described by Stentor, is appropriate;
WHEREAS the Commission considers that, given the nature of the Advantage 900 programs that will be classified as Business/Government, the elimination of the $50 maximum charge and the introduction of a 5% ARM fee are appropriate;
 WHEREAS the Commission notes that Article 2.4 of the ARM Agreement sets out the requirements for programs to be assigned or retained in the Business/Government Exchange;
WHEREAS paragraph (a) of Article 2.4 of the Scope of the Agreement states:
"The Program must clearly have a non-profit, business or government focus, as determined by Stentor at its sole discretion;";
WHEREAS paragraph (c) of Article 2.4 of the Scope of the Agreement states:
"The Program must not be entertainment in nature, including Program(s) involving any element of chance, as determined by Stentor at its sole discretion;";
WHEREAS the Commission considers that Stentor's discretion in determining the appropriateness of programs for the Business/Government exchange should be subject to a standard of reasonableness;
WHEREAS the Commission considers that requirements (a) and (c) of Article 2.4 should be amended to read as follows:
"(a) The Program must clearly have a non-profit, business or government focus, as reasonably determined by Stentor;
(c) The Program must not be entertainment in nature, including Program(s) involving any element of chance, as reasonably determined by Stentor;";
WHEREAS the Commission considers that, to the extent that information is in fact transferred, the provision of such information would likely constitute a "program" as defined in the agreements;
WHEREAS the Commission notes that, in both the ARM Agreement and the Advantage 900 Service Provider Agreement, a "service provider" is defined as:
"a Stentor customer who subscribes to Advantage 900 for the sole purpose of providing passive, interactive and/or live programming to the general public"; and
WHEREAS the Commission considers that the use of Advantage 900 service contemplated by the Metro Police, as described in the record of this proceeding, would not satisfy the current definition of "service provider" and thus would not be consistent with the ARM Agreement and the Advantage 900 Service Provider Agreement, since the provision of programming would not be the sole purpose of the Metro Police subscribing to Advantage 900 -
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:
1. The proposed tariff revisions and revisions to the Accounts Receivable Management Agreement submitted by Stentor under TN 314 are approved as amended in paragraph 2 below.
2. Requirements (a) and (c) of Article 2.4 of the Accounts Receivable Management Agreement are to be amended to read as follows:
(a) The program must clearly have a non-profit, business or government focus, as reasonably determined by Stentor.
(c) The Program must not be entertainment in nature, including Program(s) involving any element of chance, as reasonably determined by Stentor.
Allan J. Darling
Secretary General

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