ARCHIVED -  Telecom Public Notice CRTC 96-25

Telecom Public Notice

Ottawa, 10 July 1996

Telecom Public Notice CRTC 96-25

TELEGLOBE CANADA INC. - RESALE AND SHARING OF INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LINE SERVICES

In Teleglobe Canada Inc. - Regulation After the Transitional Period, Telecom Decision CRTC 91-21, 19 December 1991 (Decision 91-21), the Commission liberalized the rules governing the resale and sharing of the international private lines (IPLs) of Teleglobe Canada Inc. (Teleglobe). Specifically, the Commission permitted the resale and sharing of Teleglobe's IPLs to provide interconnected joint-use voice services, provided that such arrangements are also permitted in the other country involved.

The Commission responded to issues raised during the proceeding leading to Decision 91-21 by approving the following provisions in Teleglobe's resale and sharing tariff:

(2c) Resellers of jointly-used interconnected international private line services are prohibited from carrying the international telephone service traffic of domestic carriers on these facilities.

(2d) Except where alternate routing has been agreed to by all countries or operating agencies involved, it is prohibited to route Canadian originating or terminating joint-use voice traffic to or from a third country over international private line services leased between Canada and the country where the international private line service terminates.

On 12 April 1996, fONOROLA Inc. (fONOROLA) filed an application requesting that the Commission allow Canadian carriers to engage in switched hubbing for their international traffic. Switched hubbing would entail routing Canadian overseas traffic to a second country over resold IPLs supplied by Teleglobe, and subsequently routing that traffic on to a third country. Inbound Canadian traffic would be routed similarly in the opposite direction.

In comments dated 13 May 1996 with regard to fONOROLA's application, Unitel Communications Company (Unitel) requested that the Commission issue a public notice initiating a proceeding to examine the extent to which current restrictions relating to switched hubbing and to the participation of domestic facilities-based carriers in international resale should be relaxed.

In light of the above, the Commission requests comment as to whether it would be in the public interest to eliminate or amend the above-cited provisions of Teleglobe's resale and sharing tariff.

The Commission specifically requests comment as to whether the removal or amendment of the current restrictions would contribute to the attainment of the Canadian telecommunications policy objectives set out in section 7 of the Telecommunications Act (the Act). In this context, the Commission notes that Canadian telecommunications policy, in addition to promoting the use of Canadian transmission facilities for telecommunications within Canada and between Canada and points outside Canada (subsection 7(e) of the Act), seeks to render reliable and affordable telecommunications services of high quality accessible to Canadians in both urban and rural areas in all regions of Canada (subsection 7(b) of the Act), to enhance the efficiency and competitiveness, at the national and international levels, of Canadian telecommunications (subsection 7(c) of the Act), and to respond to the economic and social requirements of users of telecommunications services (subsection 7(h) of the Act).

In Decision 91-21, the Commission concluded that restrictions on the use of resold IPLs by foreign carriers or their affiliates were not warranted. The Commission also requests comment as to whether or not such restrictions would be in the public interest, should it decide to eliminate or amend the tariff provisions set out above.

Procedure

1. Teleglobe, fONOROLA and Unitel are made parties to this proceeding. Other persons wishing to participate in the proceeding are to file a notice of intention to participate by writing to Mr. Allan J. Darling, Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2, fax: (819) 953-0795, by 31 July 1996. The Commission will issue a complete list of parties and their mailing addresses.

2. fONOROLA's application of 12 April 1996, and the comments and reply filed in connection with it, are made part of the record of this proceeding. The record of the proceeding may be examined at the offices of the CRTC in the following locations:

Central Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
1 Promenade du Portage
Room 201
Hull, Quebec

Bank of Commerce Building
1809 Barrington Street
Suite 1007
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Place Montréal Trust
1800 McGill College Avenue
Suite 1920
Montréal, Quebec

275 Portage Avenue
Suite 1810
Winnipeg, Manitoba

580 Hornby Street
Suite 530
Vancouver, British Columbia

3. Parties may file comments with the Commission, serving copies on all other parties, by 14 August 1996.

4. Parties may file reply comments with the Commission, serving copies on all other parties, by 11 September 1996.

5. In addition to hard copy filings, parties are encouraged to file with the Commission electronic versions of their submissions in accordance with the Commission's Interim Telecom Guidelines for the Handling of Machine-Readable Files, dated 30 November 1995. The Commission's Internet email address for electronically filed documents is public.telecom@crtc.x400.gc.ca. Electronically filed documents can be accessed at the Commission's Internet site at http://www.crtc.gc.ca.

6. 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.

Allan J. Darling
Secretary General

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