ARCHIVED -  Telecom Public Notice CRTC 99-4

Telecom Public Notice

Ottawa, 28 January 1999

Telecom Public Notice CRTC 99-4

BC TEL - PROPOSED EXPANSION OF THE GREATER VANCOUVER LOCAL CALLING AREA

File No.: Tariff Notice 3894

I INTRODUCTION

1.The Commission has received an application under Tariff Notice (TN) 3894 from BC TEL dated 18 December 1998, amended by TN 3894A dated 20 January 1999, that would provide for the creation of a common local calling area for all residents and businesses in the Greater Vancouver Region of British Columbia to become effective 1 May 2000. BC TEL proposed to convert three existing one-way extended area service (EAS) routes into two-way EAS routes and to add 81 new two-way EAS routes to the existing 87 two-way EAS routes in the Greater Vancouver Region.

2.BC TEL's proposal involves surcharges of $0.40 per month to residential customers in the Vancouver, New Westminster and Richmond exchanges. For residential customers who are served from the remaining 16 exchanges in the Greater Vancouver Region, a surcharge of $1.50 per month is proposed. BC TEL is also proposing surcharges for business local access services of $2.25 per line or per channel and for Centrex services of $0.75 per station line. The serving area affected by this proposal is comprised of over 1.2 million telephone lines in 19 separate telephone exchanges within 20 separate municipalities.

3.BC TEL proposes to conduct a referendum during September 1999 under the guidelines set out in BC TEL - Expansion of Toll-Free Calling and Restructuring of Local Rates in the Lower Mainland, Telecom Decision CRTC 93-7, 29 June 1993 (Decision 93-7), to seek customer approval for the proposed surcharges. In Decision 93-7, the Commission stated that it would require that prior to implementation, a simple majority of subscribers participating in the referendum (which was limited to those subscribers where the residential individual line rate would increase by more than $1.00 per month) vote in favour of the proposal.

4.BC TEL noted that its proposal addresses a long standing customer demand for improved local calling in Greater Vancouver by eliminating the inconsistencies and inequities in local calling areas. BC TEL submitted that the proposal is also in response to a request by the Greater Vancouver Regional District to find a solution for local calling in Greater Vancouver that will assist in the implementation of its "Liveable Region Strategic Plan".

5.BC TEL is currently under price cap regulation. BC TEL proposed to treat the surcharge as a new element in the price cap model such that the proposed charges apply only to those customers receiving expanded local calling versus altering the existing band structure. Accordingly, BC TEL proposed to make a one-time adjustment to the overall Price Cap Index and Service Band Limits equivalent to the amount of change in the respective Actual Price Index and Service Band Indices.

6.The Commission hereby initiates a proceeding to consider BC TEL TNs 3894/A.

II PROCEDURE

7.BC TEL is made a party to this proceeding. Parties who have commented on TN 3894 are also made parties to this proceeding. Other parties wishing to participate in this proceeding must file a notice of intention to participate with the Commission by writing to the Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2, Fax: (819) 953-0795, by 19 February 1999. 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 and their mailing addresses (including Internet email addresses if available), identifying those parties who wish to receive disk versions.

8.BC TEL's application can be examined at any of the company's business offices or at the offices of the CRTC at the following locations:

Central Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
1 Promenade du Portage
Room G-5
Hull, Quebec

580 Hornby Street
Suite 530
Vancouver, British Columbia

9.Other documents forming part of the record of this proceeding may be examined at the CRTC office in Hull or will be made available at the Vancouver Regional Office promptly upon request.

10.Copies of BC TEL's application may be obtained by any interested person upon request directed to the company by writing to Ms. Sandra Hertz, Director - Regulatory Matters, BC TEL, 18th Floor, 3777 Kingsway, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5H 3Z7, Fax: (604) 430-9653.

11.The Commission will address interrogatories to BC TEL shortly. The company is requested to respond to these interrogatories by 5 March 1999, serving copies on all interested parties.

12.Any person who wishes merely to file written comments in this proceeding, without receiving copies of the various submissions, may do so by writing to the Secretary General by 30 April 1999. A copy of your comments should be sent to BC TEL by writing to Ms. Sandra Hertz.

13.Any party may address interrogatories to BC TEL. Any such interrogatories must be filed with the Commission and served on BC TEL by 19 February 1999.

14.Responses to all interrogatories addressed pursuant to paragraph 13 are to be filed with the Commission and served on all parties by 5 March 1999.

15.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 12 March 1999.

16.BC TEL's reply to requests for further responses and requests for public disclosure is to be filed with the Commission and served on the parties making the request by 19 March 1999.

17.The Commission will issue a determination with respect to any such requests as soon as possible. The Commission intends to direct that any information to be provided pursuant to that determination be filed with the Commission and served on all parties by 16 April 1999.

18.Parties may file comments, serving copies on all other parties, by 30 April 1999.

19.BC TEL may file reply comments, serving copies on all parties, by 14 May 1999.

20.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.

21.When a document is required to be filed or served by a specific date, the document must be actually received, not merely sent, by that date.

22.The Commission expects to issue a ruling with respect to BC TEL TNs 3894/A by August 1999.

Secretary General

This document is available in alternative format upon request.