ARCHIVED -  Telecom Public Notice CRTC 96-34

Telecom Public Notice

Ottawa, 31 October 1996

Telecom Public Notice CRTC 96-34

BC TEL - CLASSIFICATION OF INDIVIDUAL LINE EXCHANGE SERVICE AS BUSINESS OR RESIDENTIAL SERVICE

References: Tariff Notices 3520 and 3520A

The Commission has received applications under Tariff Notices 3520 and 3520A from BC TEL, dated 16 September 1996 and 3 October 1996 respectively, proposing tariff revisions related to the classification of individual line exchange service as business or residence.

In its applications, BC TEL proposes that the requirement that service be used "primarily for domestic or family purposes" would be deleted from the residence service classification, resulting in classification as residence service only when none of the conditions requiring the business classification exists.

In addition, the company proposes revisions to and the addition of various circumstances under which service will be presumed to be primarily of a business nature, including, (1) when the service is advertised or publicized in a BC TEL Yellow Pages directory in connection with any business use, (2) when the information in a BC TEL White Pages directory listing indicates business use, (3) in premises owned by a business which are used to provide temporary accommodation to employees, and/or (4) when a property management company or other business initiates or adjusts service on behalf of the title owner, tenant or other type of resident for the purpose of operating a business associated with an institution or management of a property.

BC TEL also proposes to apply a new nine-individual line threshold, whereby service to subscribers of nine or fewer individual lines located at the same residential service address may be classified as residential service, whereas all individual lines in excess of the ninth line at that address may be classified as business service.

In addition, BC TEL indicated its intention to grandfather all existing services in their current classification and to re-classify services only when a customer requests changes to the number of lines provided. BC TEL stated that the proposed revisions respond to changes in the telecommunications industry and the economy, as well as to the proliferation in the number of home-offices which has occurred since its current service classifications were last revised over 15 years ago.

The Commission notes that issues related to the classification by various Stentor-member companies of service as business and residential have been raised in several recent proceedings. Accordingly, in this Public Notice, the Commission seeks the comments of the Stentor-member companies on the appropriateness of the classifications proposed by BC TEL to its member companies, and any proposals for new or alternative service classifications. Following the Stentor submissions, interested parties are invited to submit comments as provided for in the procedure which follows.

PROCEDURE

1. BC TEL, TELUS Communications Inc., MTS NetCom Inc., Bell Canada, The New Brunswick Telephone Company, Limited, The Island Telephone Company, Limited, Maritime Tel & Tel Limited and NewTel Communications Inc. (the Stentor-member companies) are made parties to this proceeding.

2. The Stentor-member companies are to file their submissions or proposals by 2 December 1996. Copies of their submissions or proposals may be obtained on that date upon request directed to Mrs. Catherine R. Cooper, Director - Tariffs, Stentor Resource Centre Inc., Document Control & Distribution Centre, Floor 22, 160 Elgin Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 3J4, fax: (613) 781-3514.

3. Persons wishing to comment on the Stentor-member companies' submissions or proposals, including Tariff Notices 3520 and 3520A, (interveners) may do so by writing to Mr. Allan J. Darling, Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2, fax: (819) 953-0795, by 30 December 1996. Copies of any comments are to be served on the Stentor-member companies at the address noted above by the same date.

4. The Stentor-member companies may file a reply to any comments, serving copies on interveners by 29 January 1997.

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.

$TEXTENG>In light of the comment period specified in this Public Notice, the Commission expects to issue a ruling with respect to BC TEL's applications in the second quarter of 1997.

Allan J. Darling
Secretary General

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