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Ottawa, 10 July 1998
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Telecom Order CRTC 98-680
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On 19 March 1998, Bell Canada (Bell) filed Tariff Notice 6198 (TN 6198) to introduce the Essentials option for Centrex III service in the company's General Tariff Item 680. Interventions were received from Municipal Telecommunications Inc., London Telecom Network Inc. and Optel Communications Corp. Bell filed imputation tests for this service on 12 and 26 May 1998.
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File No.: TN 6198
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1.In its filing, Bell stated that Centrex Essentials is a service designed to meet the challenges of competition in the small business market. Bell stated that the existing small Centrex service offering requires a significant amount of customization to meet individual customer needs, resulting in a complex and expensive set of implementation methods and procedures. In order to reduce these costs and remain competitive, the company proposed Essentials which has a limited set of features, a maximum of 10 locals and integrates access to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Furthermore, Bell stated that, for technical reasons, Centrex Essentials would not be available to single and multi-hop resellers.
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2.The interveners stated that this service targets resellers and that the features bundled with this service, particularly dial 9 suppression and PSTN connectivity, are prohibitively expensive for the resellers to provide to their customers. The interveners also objected to the provision that disallowed resale of this service.
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3.In its reply, Bell presented a table that compares the proposed rates for Centrex Essentials to the rates resellers would pay for similar configurations as part of a regular large Centrex package. As the proposed rates for Centrex Essentials are higher than the typical rates charged to resellers, Bell submitted that the difference will provide resellers with a substantial margin, contrary to their arguments.
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4.The Commission notes that the proposed rates pass the imputation test in rate bands A, B, and C, but fail the test in rate band D.
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5.The Commission considers that the proposed provision that prevents resale by single and multi-hop resellers is unjustly discriminatory pursuant to section 27(2) of the Telecommunications Act.
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6.The Commission therefore denies TN 6198.
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7.The Commission notes that it would be prepared to approve a similar filing which is restricted to rate bands A, B, and C, and which is available for resale.
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Laura M. Talbot-Allan
Secretary General
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This document is available in alternative format upon request.
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