ARCHIVED -  Telecom Order CRTC 96-1392

Telecom Order

Ottawa, 2 December 1996

Telecom Order CRTC 96-1392

IN THE MATTER OF an application dated 4 April 1996 filed by Stentor Resource Centre Inc. (Stentor) on behalf of and with the concurrence of BC TEL, Bell Canada (Bell), The Island Telephone Company Limited, MTS NetCom Inc., Maritime Tel & Tel Limited, The New Brunswick Telephone Company, Limited, NewTel Communications Inc. and TELUS Communications Inc. (the companies), requesting forbearance from regulation of the companies' electronic messaging and information (EMI) services.

Reference: 96-2067

WHEREAS Stentor requested that the Commission forbear wholly and unconditionally from exercising its powers under sections 24, 25, 27, 29 and 31 of the Telecommunications Act (the Act) and that the forbearance also apply to any future services of the same class;

WHEREAS the company stated that its EMI services are marketed under the Intelligent Communication Network (ICN) family of services and include Envoy 100, TradeRoute, ICN Enhanced Fax and iNet 2000, as well as customized applications of these services provided on a special facilities basis by Bell;

WHEREAS the Commission issued Stentor - Forbearance Application for Electronic Messaging and Information Services, Telecom Public Notice CRTC 96-16, 14 May 1996, requesting comments from interested parties;

WHEREAS comments were received from AT&T Canada Long Distance Services Company (AT&T Canada) and Vidéotron Télécom ltée (Vidéotron);

WHEREAS Stentor addressed the criteria, identified by the Commission in Review of Regulatory Framework, Telecom Decision CRTC 94-19, 16 September 1994, that should be considered in determining whether a market for a service was sufficiently competitive to permit forbearance;

WHEREAS Stentor submitted market share data showing that its share of the Canadian EMI market is approximately 20% and that, in some sectors of the market, it does not have the largest share;

WHEREAS Stentor also submitted that the competitors in this market are well funded large international firms and that these firms are pursuing aggressive marketing strategies;

WHEREAS Stentor provided copies of the promotional material from these companies to support its contention that they are pursuing aggressive marketing strategies;

WHEREAS Stentor submitted that the resale and sharing restrictions dealing with end customers billing arrangements that were established in Telecom Order CRTC 95-520, 28 April 1995 (Order 95-520), should not apply to services granted forbearance;

WHEREAS Vidéotron stated that granting forbearance to future services could permit the companies to introduce asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) services without Commission approval even though in Telecom Order CRTC 96-130, 19 February 1996 (forbearance from regulation of packet data services) the Commission had not extended the forbearance to ATM service;

WHEREAS Stentor submitted that should the companies wish to pursue petitions for forbearance relative to services provided by means of ATM or other technologies, such initiatives would be the subject of other applications;

WHEREAS the Commission considers that ATM transport service, per se, would not be in the same class of service as the EMI services and would not be covered by this forbearance application;

WHEREAS in the Commission's view, based on the record of this proceeding, the Canadian EMI market is highly competitive and the Stentor companies' ability to control this market in any way is very limited;

WHEREAS, based on the above, the Commission is of the view that it would be appropriate to forbear to some extent from the regulation of the provision of EMI services by the Stentor companies;

WHEREAS, with regard to section 24 of the Act, the Commission considers it necessary to retain the authority to impose certain conditions on the offering and provision of the telecommunications services forborne from in this Order;

WHEREAS, in the Commission's view, powers under section 24 of the Act should be retained to deal with issues related to customer confidentiality and sharing and resale;

WHEREAS the existing conditions governing the treatment of customer confidential information shall continue to apply;

WHEREAS, on a forward-going basis, commencing immediately, conditions concerning customer confidentiality are to be included, where appropriate, in all contracts or other arrangements with customers;

WHEREAS the resale and sharing conditions dealing with end customer billing arrangements set out in Order 95-520 shall continue to apply, where appropriate, at this time;

WHEREAS, with regard to section 27 of the Act, the Commission considers that, generally, there is competition sufficient to ensure that rates are just and reasonable, and to prevent instances of unjust discrimination or undue preference, in connection with the provision of the services in question by Stentor companies;

WHEREAS, however, in the Commission's view, its powers with respect to subsections 27(2), 27(3) and 27(4) of the Act should be retained to deal with issues related to the sharing and resale of the forborne services; and

WHEREAS pursuant to section 34 of the Act, the Commission finds, as a question of fact that to refrain from exercising powers and performing duties under section 25, subsections 27(1), 27(5) and 27(6) and sections 29 and 31 of the Act to the extent set out in this decision with respect to the Stentor companies' EMI services would be consistent with Canadian telecommunications policy objectives, that the provision of these services is subject to competition sufficient to protect the interests of users and that to refrain from regulating the services is not likely to impair unduly the establishment or continuance of a competitive market -

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:

1. Pursuant to subsection 34(4) of the Act, effective the date of this Order, sections 25, 29 and 31 and subsections 27(1), (5) and (6) of the Act do not apply to the companies' Envoy 100, TradeRoute, ICN Enhanced Fax, iNet 2000, customized applications of these services provided under Bell's special facilities tariffs and future EMI services of the same class to the extent that they are inconsistent with the Commission's determinations herein.

2. The Stentor companies are directed to issue tariff pages, within 15 days of the date of this Order, withdrawing the tariffs for Envoy 100, TradeRoute, ICN Enhanced Fax iNet 2000 and the customized applications of these services provided on a special facilities basis by Bell.

Allan J. Darling
Secretary General