ARCHIVED -  Telecom Order CRTC 99-956

Telecom Order

Ottawa, 5 October 1999

Telecom Order CRTC 99-956

By letter dated 14 April 1999, RSL COM Canada Inc. (RSL COM) requested an exemption with respect to certain interconnecting (line-side) circuits which are used by the company solely to carry Internet data traffic. The company indicated that the facilities in question are being configured to carry Internet data traffic only for its Residential Internet service which it is expecting to offer in the near future. In support of its application, the company indicated it would be filing a technical audit together with an engineer's affidavit within 45 days. RSL COM requested an effective date of the date of this application.

File No.: 8626-R7-01/99

1.By letter dated 2 June 1999, RSL COM indicated that its technical audit would be delayed, and that it anticipated it could file the audit by 30 June 1999.

2.By letter dated 18 June 1999, RSL COM provided its technical audit and an affidavit sworn by its Engineering Department. As part of its affidavit dated 17 June 1999, the company indicated that it has instituted a number of internal control procedures to ensure that the configurations outlined in its application remain eligible for contribution exemption on an ongoing basis.

3.By letter dated 16 July 1999, BC TEL stated that it has reviewed the company's technical audit, affidavit and proposed control procedures and considered that they satisfy most of the evidentiary requirements set out in Applications for Contribution Exemptions, Telecom Decision CRTC 93-2, 1 April 1993, and Telecom Order CRTC 98-929 dated 17 September 1998 (Order 98-929). BC TEL submitted that as directed in paragraph 33 of Order 98-929, RSL COM should also make available to BC TEL a no-charge, five-hour per month, low-speed access account, which would serve the purpose of enabling random audits of RSL COM's interconnecting circuits to ensure their continued eligibility for the requested contribution exemption. BC TEL agreed with an effective date of the date of RSL COM's application.

4.By letter dated 27 July 1999, RSL COM confirmed that it will provide a low-speed access account (five hours per month) at no charge to BC TEL, and its understanding that this account will be used by BC TEL to conduct random audits on the circuits in question, to ensure continued eligibility for contribution exemptions. RSL COM also filed a revised affidavit, which had been sworn by the professional engineer who conducted the technical audit and duly witnessed by a Commissioner of Oaths. As part of the affidavit, it was indicated that as of 2 June 1999 (date of site inspection), the circuits in question were physically separate from the company's voice network and provisioned in such a way that they are not carrying any voice traffic.

5.By letter dated 4 August 1999, BC TEL considered that RSL COM had now fully complied with the Commission's evidentiary requirements and agreed with the requested contribution exemption.

6.The Commission finds that RSL COM has filed a satisfactory technical audit which meets the relevant evidentiary requirements.

7.In light of the foregoing, RSL COM's application is approved effective the date of application such that no contribution is payable, subject to (1) the internal control procedures set out in Order 98-929 and those proposed by the company in its affidavit dated 17 June 1999 to ensure their continued eligibility for contribution exemption; and (2) the possibility of future random audits.

Secretary General

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