ARCHIVED -  Telecom Public Notice CRTC 97-3

Telecom Public Notice

Ottawa, 27 January 1997

Telecom Public Notice CRTC 97-3

NEWTEL COMMUNICATIONS INC. - PROPOSED PHASE III MANUAL REVISIONS TO REASSIGN CENTREX CONSOLES AND PROPRIETARY SETS TO THE COMPETITIVE TERMINAL CATEGORY AND ASSOCIATED TARIFF REVISIONS

References: NewTel Communications Inc. Phase III Manual Update Report, dated 31 October 1996 (96-2205) and Tariff Notice 497

In its Phase III Manual Update Report, NewTel Communications Inc. (NewTel) proposed to reassign Centrex consoles and proprietary sets from the Access category (Utility segment) to the Competitive Terminal (Multiline & Data) category (Competitive segment). NewTel indicated that because of successful bids for Centrex terminal sales by other vendors, a fully competitive Centrex terminal market now exists in its territory.

In Tariff Notice 497 (TN 497), NewTel proposed to revise its General Tariffs to remove references to Centrex consoles and proprietary sets, based on the proposed Phase III reclassification.

In Telecom Order CRTC 97-99, 27 January 1997, the Commission deferred disposition of NewTel's proposed reassignment of Centrex consoles and proprietary sets pending disposition of the matters to be considered in the proceeding initiated by this Public Notice.

Procedure

1. BC TEL, Bell Canada, The Island Telephone Company Limited, MTS NetCom Inc., Maritime Tel & Tel Limited, The New Brunswick Telephone Company, Limited and TELUS Communications Inc. (the other telephone companies) are made parties to this proceeding and are directed to file submissions by 13 March 1997, on the appropriateness of reassigning Centrex consoles and proprietary sets to the Competitive segment in their own Phase III Manuals, similar to NewTel's proposal. Copies of comments are to be served on all interested parties, once the Commission has issued the list of interested parties as provided for below.

2. Parties wishing to participate in this proceeding must notify the Commission of their intention to do so by writing to Mr. Allan J. Darling, Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2, fax: 819-953-0795, by 26 February 1997. The Commission will then issue a complete list of parties and their mailing addresses.

3. Parties are to file their comments on NewTel's proposal and TN 497 and on the submissions of the other telephone companies, serving copies on all other parties by 1 April 1997.

4. NewTel and the other telephone companies may file reply comments by 14 April 1997.

5. 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.

6. 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.gc.ca. Electronically filed documents can be accessed at the Commission's Internet site at http://www.crtc.gc.ca.

In light of the comment period specified in this Public Notice, the Commission expects to issue a ruling with respect to NewTel's Phase III proposal and TN 497, as well as the application of the proposed Phase III reassignment to the other telephone companies, during the second quarter of 1997.

Allan J. Darling
Secretary General

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