ARCHIVED -  Telecom Public Notice CRTC 97-4

Telecom Public Notice

Ottawa, 14 February 1997

Telecom Public Notice CRTC 97-4

References: BC TEL Tariff Notice 3536 and Bell Canada Tariff Notice 5892

In Provision of Directory Database Information and Real-time Access to Directory Assistance Databases, Telecom Decision CRTC 95-3, 8 March 1995 (Decision 95-3), the Commission ordered BC TEL, Bell Canada (Bell), The Island Telephone Company Limited (Island Tel), Maritime Tel & Tel Limited (MT&T), The New Brunswick Telephone Company, Limited (NBTel), NewTel Communications Inc. (NewTel) and TELUS Communications Inc. (TCI) to, among other things, issue general tariffs making non-confidential residential and business listing information available in machine-readable form, unbundled on an exchange-level basis, hereafter referred to as Directory File Service (DFS).

By letter dated 29 July 1996, following the Governor in Council's disposition of a petition to Cabinet regarding Decision 95-3, the Commission issued directions to the above-noted companies as to the filing of interim and final tariffs for DFS. In Telecom Order CRTC 96-1522, 23 December 1996, the Commission directed MTS NetCom Inc. (MTS) and Northwestel Inc. (Northwestel) to file tariffs making DFS available.

Pursuant to its letter of 29 July 1996, the Commission has received applications from BC TEL, under Tariff Notice 3536 dated 25 October 1996, and from Bell, under Tariff Notice 5892 dated 12 December 1996, proposing final rates, terms and conditions for the provision of DFS to independent telephone directory publishers. With their applications, the two companies have filed associated licensing agreements and supporting economic information.

Among other things, the proposed final tariffs provide for rates ranging from $0.165 to $0.18 per listing for master file listings, and $0.33 to $0.36 per listing for update listings. Decision 95-3 and the Commission's letter of 29 July 1996, contemplated that final rates would be made effective back to the effective date of interim rates. BC TEL and Bell therefore propose that final rates be effective as of 25 October 1996.

In Decision 95-3, the Commission sought comment in relation to the appropriateness of Bell making available eight additional data elements. In a letter dated 21 August 1996, Bell noted that it had begun discussions with the parties requiring these additional elements. In another letter dated 28 November 1996, Bell noted that Directory Files are only available on an exchange basis as listed in Item 60 of its General Tariff. In addition, Bell's DFS tariffs provide that government listings supplied correspond to the listings in Bell's published directory for the exchanges involved. Accordingly, Bell stated in its letter that government listings are provided on a directory basis, rather than on an exchange basis.

The Commission notes that in Telecom Order CRTC 97-179 dated 14 February 1997, it granted interim approval to the revisions to the proposed licensing agreements filed by Bell and BC TEL with Tariff Notices 5892 and 3526 respectively as well as to the limitation of liability in relation to the provision of DFS filed by BC TEL under Tariff Notice 3536A.

The Commission requests comment on BC TEL's and Bell's proposed final tariffs for DFS.

Procedure

1. The mailing addresses to be used in this proceeding are:

Mr. Allan J. Darling
Secretary General
CRTC
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A ON2
Fax: 819-953-0795

Ms. Sandra Hertz
Director, Regulatory Matters
BC TEL
3777 Kingsway
Burnaby, British Columbia
V5H 3Z7
Fax: 604-430-9653

Mr. B.A. Courtois
Vice-President
Corporate and Legal Affairs
Bell Canada
105 Hôtel-de-ville Street
Hull, Quebec
J8X 4H7
Fax: 819-778-3437

2. Copies of the applications may be obtained by any interested person upon request directed to the companies at the addresses shown above.

3. The applications may be examined at any of the companies' business offices or at the offices of the CRTC in the following locations:

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

4. BC TEL, Bell, Island Tel, MT&T, MTS, NBTel, NewTel, Northwestel and TCI are made parties to this proceeding.

5. Those who registered to participate in the proceeding initiated by Provision of Directory Database Information, Telecom Public Notice CRTC 94-3, 14 January 1994, will be considered parties to this proceeding.

6. Other persons wishing to participate in this proceeding must file a notice of intention to participate with the Commission by 17 March 1997. The Commission will issue a complete list of parties and their mailing addresses.

7. Parties may address interrogatories to BC TEL and Bell. Any such interrogatories must be filed with the Commission and served on BC TEL and/or Bell by 17 March 1997.

8. Responses to interrogatories are to be filed with the Commission and served on all parties by 15 April 1997.

9. Parties may file comments, serving copies on all other parties, by 15 May 1997.

10. The telephone companies may file reply comments, serving copies on all parties, by 16 June 1997.

11. 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.

12. Where a document is to be filed or served by a specific date, the document must actually be received, not merely mailed, by that date.

13. The Commission expects to issue a ruling with respect to these applications by the fourth quarter of 1997.

Allan J. Darling
Secretary General

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