ARCHIVED -  Telecom Order CRTC 97-1097

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Telecom Order

Ottawa, 11 August 1997
Telecom Order CRTC 97-1097
The Commission received a letter dated 28 May 1997 from Call-Net Enterprises Inc. (Call-Net) requesting that the Commission review and vary Telecom Order CRTC 96-1596, 23 December 1996 (Order 96-1596) and Telecom Order CRTC 97-568, 29 April 1997 (Order 97-568) to change the effective date to no earlier than 60 days following the date of the final approval (29 April 1997).
File No.: 97-8662-S2-02
1. Bell Canada (Bell) filed Tariff Notice 5894 (TN 5894) on 13 December 1996. TN 5894 was an application to flow through to alternate providers of long distance service (APLDS) using the company's toll services to originate and terminate traffic in the territories of all Independent Telephone Companies (the Independents), the difference between the Independents' Carrier Access Tariff (CAT) charges and the appropriate Bell CAT contribution charges.
2. TN 5894 was granted interim approval effective 13 January in 1997 in Order 96-1596, and final approval in Order 97-568.
3. Call-Net submitted that there was substantial doubt as to the correctness of Orders 96-1596 and 97-568 in that the implementation date of 13 January 1997 did not provide affected parties with a reasonable time to adjust to a significant change to the regulatory regime concerning contribution charges.
4. Call-Net noted that Bell had failed to copy the interested parties of TN 5894 and thus delayed interested parties' awareness of the proposed change and hampered their ability to comment on the appropriateness of the interim application.
5. Call-Net further submitted that the contribution regime for APLDS had been significantly and adversely altered prior to the APLDS being provided with an opportunity to assess the business, network and pricing impacts of the application.
6. Call-Net noted that it had been the Commission's practice to provide affected parties a reasonable time period to adjust to significant changes to the contribution regime.
7. By letter dated 27 June 1997, Bell commented on the Call-Net application. The company submitted that the application had been on the Commission's web site on the Internet since 17 December 1997 and that Call-Net had been aware of it at minimum since 22 January 1997.
8. Bell submitted that a competitive inequity had been corrected in the provision of long distance services to and from the independents' territories.
9. Bell argued that Call-Net had been provided with sufficient opportunity to evaluate the impact of the available alternatives and to implement any required changes. The company submitted that Call-Net's application should be dismissed.
10. By letter dated 30 June 1997, AT&T Canada Long Distance Services Company supported Call-Net's application to change the effective date of the decision to no earlier than 60 days following the final approval date of 29 April 1997.
11. The Commission notes that, in the past, it has provided for periods for APLDS to adjust to a change in the contribution regime.
12. The Commission considers that a delay of 60 days from the effective date of the interim approval, 13 January 1997, is sufficient in light of the relative impact of the proposed change. Accordingly, the Commission directs that the effective date of the tariff revisions proposed under TN 5894 be modified to read 14 March 1997.
Laura M. Talbot-Allan
Secretary General
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