ARCHIVED - Telecom Order CRTC 96-1176
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Telecom Order |
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Ottawa, 24 October 1996
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Telecom Order CRTC 96-1176
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IN THE MATTER OF an application by TELUS Communications Inc. (TCI) (formerly AGT Limited) under Tariff Notice 699 dated 22 November 1995, for the introduction of province wide enhanced 9-1-1 (E9-1-1) service.
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WHEREAS, in Telecom Order CRTC 96-60 dated 22 January 1996, the Commission approved the proposed tariff revisions on an interim basis;
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WHEREAS in AGT Limited - Introduction of Provincial E9-1-1 Service, Telecom Public Notice CRTC 96-3, 7 February 1996, the Commission invited comments from interested parties;
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WHEREAS the company used a seven and a half year study period in its economic study;
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WHEREAS, given the nature of the service, the Commission is of the view that a ten-year study period would more accurately reflect the life of the service;
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WHEREAS, in the Commission's view, a mark-up in the 10% range is appropriate for E9-1-1 service;
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WHEREAS, in response to the Commission's questions, the company indicated that with a 10-year study period and 10% mark-up, the rate would be reduced from $0.42 to $0.39 per month per subscriber for the scenario under which the service would be rolled out to the currently unserved municipalities (i.e., excluding the City of Calgary and the six municipalities currently served with stand-alone systems);
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WHEREAS TCI proposed to apply the E9-1-1 charge to all exchange services equipped for outward calling to the PSTN;
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WHEREAS the company stated that the charge would be applied per PSTN connection for Cellular Service Operators;
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WHEREAS, as an incentive to existing operators of stand-alone 9-1-1 systems, the company proposed a rebate policy and a methodology for calculating the price of the components that it would buy back;
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WHEREAS the company also proposed a methodology to calculate the rate reduction for the City of Calgary to account for the fact that the proposed service would share facilities used by the City of Calgary in its stand-alone 9-1-1 system;
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WHEREAS the company proposed an optional billing and collection arrangement whereby TCI, acting as a billing agent for the municipality, would bill and collect monthly user fees in the form of a municipal charge (Municipal Charge Collection Service);
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WHEREAS TCI proposed to charge a monthly fee of $0.07 per subscriber to collect a monthly charge of $0.37 per subscriber on behalf of the municipality;
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WHEREAS TCI filed, for approval, form agreements between the company and a municipality for Provincial E9-1-1 service and for the Municipal Charge Collection Service;
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WHEREAS the Alberta Council on Aging submitted that the fee for the Municipal Charge Collection Service should be reduced to provide no more than a 10% mark-up to TCI;
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WHEREAS TCI submitted that the Municipal Charge Collection Service is a competitive service, in as much as any other utility could provide the same service, and that its rate of return would be commensurate with that of a competitive service;
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WHEREAS, given that TCI's Municipal Charge Collection Service is not essential for the delivery of 9-1-1 service, the Commission considers that a mark-up in excess of 10% is acceptable;
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WHEREAS the Commission has considered interveners' comments and the subsequent TCI responses on various articles within the two agreements;
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WHEREAS, in its application, the company proposed that subscription to its proposed Provincial E9-1-1 service should be optional;
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WHEREAS the City of Calgary stated that it should have now, and in the future, the choice as to whether or not to subscribe to TCI's Provincial E9-1-1 service;
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WHEREAS, in reply comments, TCI stated that elective participation may not be sufficient to attain the objective of universal Provincial E9-1-1 service in TCI's serving territory;
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WHEREAS the Commission is of the view that where municipalities are served by a stand-alone system provided on the basis of a Special Facilities Tariff contract, they should be allowed to continue with their service until their contract expires if they so wish; and
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WHEREAS the Commission is nevertheless of the view that the use of the General Tariff would be appropriate once the contract expires and that it is in the public interest that rate averaging be used in this case as it allows the greatest number of people to obtain the E9-1-1 service at the lowest price -
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IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:
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1. The proposed tariff revisions are approved, subject to the following modifications:
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(a) The rate for service in formerly unserved areas is to be $0.39; and
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(b) The company is to rebate the difference between the final and the interim rate to any customers who were charged the rate given interim approval.
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2. The Agreement to Provision Provincial E9-1-1 Service is approved subject to the following modifications:
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(a) Add a new Article 4.7 to read as follows:
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"Be responsible for any other requirements that are not specifically identified in the Agreement that are related to matters of the kind listed in Article 4.
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(b) Amend Article 5.3 to read as follows:
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"Provide, operate and manage the personnel and the equipment, including terminal equipment, required to receive and process all emergency calls directed to the Call Answer Centre.
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(c) Amend Article 5.7 to read as follows:
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"Be responsible for any other requirements that are not specifically identified in the Agreement that are related to matters of the kind listed in Article 5."
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(d) Delete Article 6.2.
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(e) Delete Article 8.2.
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(f) Renumber Article 8.3 as Article 8.2 and amend it to read as follows:
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"TCI shall use reasonable efforts to restore service as quickly as possible and on a priority basis should there be any interruption, delay, mistake or defect in transmission or in its facilities.
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(g) Replace Article 12.1 with the following:
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"TCI's liability for the performance of its obligations pursuant to this Agreement shall be subject to and governed by the General Terms of Service, Items 1.0 to 25.0.
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(h) Delete Article 12.2.
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(i) Delete Article 12.3.
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(j) Delete Article 12.4.
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(k) Renumber Article 12.5 as Article 12.2.
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(l) Renumber Article 12.6 as Article 12.3.
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(m) Amend Article 18.1 to read as follows:
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"Except with respect to any matter within the jurisdiction of the Commission, any dispute or disagreement that may occur pursuant to this Agreement will be settled in a binding manner by way of arbitration in accordance with the Arbitration Act (Alberta), as amended. Each party will bear its own costs of arbitration. All decisions of the arbitrator(s) are fully binding and enforceable upon the parties.
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(n) Amend Article 19.1 to read as follows:
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"Any notice required pursuant to this Agreement will be in writing and delivered personally, by courier, or sent by registered mail (with proper postage), to the addresses listed hereinafter. In the event of a strike or other disruption of postal service, delivery either personally or by courier only will be effective.
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3. The agreement to Collect Municipal Charges for Provincial E9-1-1 Service is approved subject to the following modifications:
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(a) Amend Article 7.1 to read as follows:
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"The Municipality is responsible for informing TCI of all applicable taxes and the rates in respect thereof which must be applied to the Call Answer Fee. TCI shall bill the rates to the subscriber and shall remit such taxes to the appropriate authorities. The Municipality agrees to save TCI harmless from any claims arising in connection with the remitting of such taxes.
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(b) Amend Article 10.3 to read as follows:
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"If either party shall breach this Agreement, the party not in breach may give to the other party written notice specifying the breach and, if within a period of seven (7) days the breach is not remedied, or, in the case of a breach which cannot reasonably be remedied within such period, the party not in breach has not accepted a schedule for remedying the breach, the party not in breech may, by a further written notice, terminate this Agreement immediately without penalty.
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(c) Amend Article 10.4 to read as follows:
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"In the event that either party terminates the Agreement pursuant to paragraph 10.3, TCI shall be compensated on a quantum merit basis for any work performed or in process under this Agreement.
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(d) Amend Article 15.1 to read as follows:
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"Any notice required pursuant to this Agreement will be in writing and delivered personally, by courier, or sent by registered mail (with proper postage) to the addresses listed hereinafter. In the event of a strike or other disruption of postal service, delivery either personally or by courier only will be effective.
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Allan J. Darling
Secretary General |
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- Date modified: