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Telecom Public Notice CRTC 98-17
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Ottawa, 22 July 1998 |
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INTERNET FORBEARANCE
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File No : 8640-C12-01/98 |
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1. In several recent orders the Commission
found that, in the service territories of a number of telephone companies,
there is sufficient competition in markets for end-user access to Internet
services (IS) to protect user interests. Consequently, pursuant to section
34 of the Telecommunications Act (the Act), the Commission,
conditionally or unconditionally, forbore from regulation of the provision
of IS by those telephone companies. |
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2. In these rulings, the Commission found that
there were no significant barriers to entry, that numerous IS providers had
entered the market, that all the underlying transmission facilities were
available at tariffed, non-discriminatory rates from the telephone
companies, and that a supply of alternate facilities was emerging. |
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3. At the same time, the Commission expressed
concerns about the ability of the telephone companies to cross-subsidize IS
from utility revenues. |
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4. Generally, the Commission forbore
unconditionally if a telephone company had implemented the split rate base
regime set out in Implementation of Regulatory Framework - Splitting of
the Rate Base and Related Issues, Telecom Decision CRTC
95-21, 31 October 1995,
(Decision 95-21). If a telephone company had not implemented the split rate
base regime, the Commission forbore from regulating IS on the condition
that the company separate the financial results of the company's Internet
operations from the company's utility operations, through accounting
separations. |
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5. In Telecom Order CRTC
97-471, 8 April 1997, the
Commission forbore from the regulation of IS provided by TELUS
Communications Inc. and by the New Brunswick Telephone Company, Limited. In
Telecom Order CRTC 97-928,
30 June 1997, the Commission forbore from the regulation of IS provided by
TELUS Communications (Edmonton) Inc. In Telecom Order CRTC
97-1667, 14 November 1997, the
Commission forbore from regulating specified IS offered by NewTel
Communications Inc. All of these companies have implemented Decision
95-21, and accordingly, the
Commission forbore unconditionally. |
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6. In Telecom Order CRTC
97-1666, 14 November 1997, the
Commission disposed of an application for forbearance from regulation of IS
provided by certain Ontario Telephone Association (OTA) member companies
which had not implemented a split rate base regime. The Commission forbore
from regulation of IS provided by these OTA member companies conditional
upon the implementation of accounting separations. |
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7. In Telecom Order CRTC
98-619, 23 June 1998, the
Commission forbore unconditionally from the regulation of IS provided by
Maritime Tel & Tel Limited, which has implemented the split rate base
regime, and from the regulation of IS provided by Northwestel Inc. and
Sogetel inc., conditional upon these companies implementing the appropriate
accounting separations for IS. |
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8. In all of the above IS forbearance orders,
the Commission continued to exercise its powers and duties under
subsections 27(2), 27(3) and 27(4) of the Act. The Commission also retained
some of its powers under section 24 of the Act, in order to impose, among
other things, conditions on the offering and provision of IS as may be
necessary in the future. |
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9. The Commission is of the preliminary view
that the IS market is generally competitive, and that pursuant to section
34 of the Act, it would be appropriate to forbear from regulating IS
provided by all Canadian carriers in respect of which the Commission has
not already forborne. The Commission is also of the preliminary view that,
consistent with previous Commission rulings, it would be appropriate to
forbear conditionally or unconditionally, depending on whether the carrier
in question, if necessary, has the appropriate accounting separations in
place. |
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10. The Commission invites comments on the
preliminary view expressed above. Parties should also address in their
comments any other issues that they believe should be considered in
determining whether the companies that are parties to this proceeding
should be permitted to provide IS on a forborne basis. |
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11. The Commission notes that it recently
received applications for forbearance from regulation of IS by Bruce
Municipal Telephone System, Co-op de téléphone de Valcourt, North Renfrew
Telephone Company Limited, Northern Telephone Limited and The Corporation
of the City of Thunder Bay - Telephone Division. These applications will be
dealt with in this proceeding. |
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PROCEDURE |
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12. Canadian carriers that are not already
subject to a forbearance decision of the Commission with respect to, or
that includes, IS are made parties to this proceeding. |
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13. Other persons wishing to participate in
this proceeding must notify the Commission of their intention to do so by
writing to Mrs. Laura M. Talbot-Allan, Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa,
Ontario, K1A 0N2, fax: 819-953-0795, by 21 August 1998. Parties are to
indicate in the notice their Internet email address, if available. If
parties do not have access to the Internet, they are to indicate in their
notice whether they wish to receive disk versions of hard copy filings. The
Commission will issue a complete list of parties (including Internet email
addresses if available), identifying those parties who wish to receive disk
versions. |
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14. Parties are to file comments, serving
copies on all other parties, by 31 August 1998. |
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15. Parties may file reply comments, serving
copies on all other parties, by 14 September 1998. |
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16. The record of this proceeding may be
examined at the CRTC offices at the following addresses: |
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Central Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière 1 Promenade du Portage
Room 201
Hull, Quebec |
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530-580 Hornby Street
Vancouver, British Columbia |
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Bank of Commerce Building
1809 Barrington Street
Suite 1007
Halifax, Nova Scotia |
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Place Montréal Trust
1800 McGill College Avenue
Suite 1920
Montréal, Quebec |
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275 Portage Avenue
Suite 1810
Winnipeg, Manitoba |
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17. Other documents forming part of the record
of this proceeding may, as noted above, be examined at the Commission
office in Hull, or will be made available in the above Regional Office(s)
promptly upon request. |
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18. 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. |
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19. When a document is to be filed or served
by a specific date, the document must be actually received, not merely
mailed, by that date. |
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Laura M. Talbot-Allan
Secretary General |
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This document is available in alternative
format upon request. |