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Telecom Public Notice CRTC 98-4
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Ottawa, 27 February 1998 |
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CONTRIBUTION ON TRAFFIC CARRIED BY ALTERNATE PROVIDERS OF LONG DISTANCE
SERVICES OVER DIRECT ACCESS LINES
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Reference: 8695-C12-04/98 |
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I INTRODUCTION |
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In Telecom Order CRTC
97-590, 1 May 1997 (Order
97-590), the Commission noted that declining contribution rates had not
provided the necessary incentive to reduce contribution avoidance on
traffic carried by alternate providers of long distance services (APLDS) on
direct access lines (DALs), and that the 2% contribution surcharge (which
was intended to provide a reasonable level of compensation to the telephone
companies for traffic carried over DALs) did not adequately account for
such traffic. |
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In Order
97-590, the Commission
concluded that the existing treatment of DALs for contribution purposes
should be replaced, effective 1 January 1998, with a differential
contribution rate based on originating and terminating toll traffic,
whereby the rate at the terminating end would be higher. |
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The Commission stated in Order
97-590 that it would finalize
the details of the new contribution mechanism and the resulting
contribution rates in the proceeding initiated by Implementation of
Price Cap Regulation, 1997 Contribution Charges and Related Issues,
Telecom Public Notice CRTC 97-11, 25
March 1997 (PN 97-11). |
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As a result of concerns raised in the PN 97-11
proceeding, the Commission, on 22 October 1997, issued a letter to
interested parties stating that it was of the preliminary view that the
de-averaged contribution mechanism proposed in Order
97-590 is likely to prove
unworkable and initiated a process to determine whether that portion of
Order 97-590 requiring the
implementation of a de-averaged contribution mechanism should be varied. |
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In a letter dated 18 December 1997, the
Commission concluded that there is substantial doubt as to the correctness
of the portion of Order 97-590
relating to the de-averaging of contribution by originating and terminating
traffic and that, accordingly, that portion of the Order should be varied
to remove the requirement to implement a de-averaged mechanism. |
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The Commission concluded at the same time that
it would be appropriate to retain the current 2% contribution surcharge as
a temporary measure and stated that it intended to issue a public notice in
the first quarter of 1998 to determine what type of alternative mechanism
should be put in place to recover contribution on APLDS' DAL traffic. |
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II ISSUE |
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Accordingly, the Commission hereby initiates a
proceeding to examine alternative mechanisms that may be used to recover
contribution on APLDS' traffic which either originates or terminates on a
DAL. In this context, the Commission considers a DAL to be a network
arrangement used to transmit traffic between an APLDS' interexchange voice
network and a subscriber's premises. |
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The Commission seeks comments on all issues
relating to an appropriate alternative mechanism to recover contribution on
APLDS' DAL traffic, including, but not limited to, administrative and
technical aspects, audit and reporting requirements, implementation issues,
as well as estimates of potential implementation costs and required lead
times. |
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III PROCEDURE |
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BC TEL, Bell Canada, The Island Telephone
Company Limited, Maritime Tel & Tel Limited, MTS NetCom Inc., The New
Brunswick Telephone Company, Limited, NewTel Communications Inc., TELUS
Communications Inc. and TELUS Communications (Edmonton) Inc. (the telephone
companies) are made parties to this proceeding. ACC TelEnterprises Ltd.,
AT&T Canada Long Distance Services Company, fONOROLA Inc., London Telecom
Network Inc., Sprint Canada Inc. and Westel Telecommunications Ltd. (the
entrants) are also made parties to this proceeding. |
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Other parties 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 27 March 1998. Parties are to
indicate in the notice their Internet email address, where 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. |
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The Commission will issue a complete list of parties and
their mailing addresses (including Internet email addresses, if available),
identifying those parties who wish to receive disk versions. |
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The Commission has addressed interrogatories
to the telephone companies and the entrants by letter dated today. The
telephone companies and the entrants are directed to file responses to the
interrogatories with the Commission and serve copies on all parties by 8
April 1998. |
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The telephone companies and the entrants are
directed to file with the Commission, serving copies on all parties, their
submissions in this proceeding by 8 April 1998. In addition, any other
party may file submissions by the same date, serving copies on all parties. |
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Any party may address interrogatories to any
party who files evidence or submissions pursuant to paragraph 13 above. Any
such interrogatories must be filed with the Commission and served on the
party or parties in question by 6 May 1998. |
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Responses to interrogatories addressed
pursuant to paragraph 14 are to be filed with the Commission and served on
all parties by 29 May 1998. |
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Requests by parties for further responses to
their interrogatories, specifying in each case why a further response is
both relevant and necessary, and requests for public disclosure of
information for which confidentiality has been claimed, setting out the
reasons for disclosure, must be filed with the Commission and served on the
party or parties in question by 5 June 1998. |
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Written responses to requests for further
responses to interrogatories and for public disclosure must be filed with
the Commission and served on the party making the request by 12 June 1998. |
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The Commission will issue a determination with
respect to requests for disclosure and for further responses as soon as
possible, and intends to direct that any information to be provided
pursuant to that determination be filed with the Commission and served on
all parties to the proceeding by 26 June 1998. |
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All parties may file comments with the
Commission on any matter within the scope of this proceeding, serving
copies on all other parties, by 6 July 1998. |
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All parties may file replies to any comments
made pursuant to paragraph 19, serving copies on all parties who filed
comments by 13 July 1998. |
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Where a document is to be filed or served by a
specific date, the document must be actually received, not merely sent, by
that date. |
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The record of this proceeding may be examined
at the Commission's offices in the following locations: |
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Central Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
1 Promenade du Portage
Room 201
Hull, Quebec |
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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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580 Hornby Street
Suite 530
Vancouver, British Columbia |
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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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This document is available in alternative
format upon request. |
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Laura M. Talbot-Allan
Secretary General |