ARCHIVED -  Telecom Order CRTC 99-1221

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Telecom Order CRTC 99-1221

  Ottawa, 23 December 1999
  On 21 June 1999, the Canadian Alliance of Publicly-Owned Telecommunications Systems (CAPTS) filed an application on behalf of its members for approval of tariff revisions introducing a billing and collection service for interexchange carriers.
  File No.: Tariff Notice 4
  1. CAPTS noted that the proposed billing and collection service was filed in accordance with Review of contribution regime of independent telephone companies in Ontario and Quebec, Telecom Decision CRTC 99-5, 21 April 1999 (Decision 99-5).
  2. In Decision 99-5, the Commission directed the independent telephone companies (independents) in Ontario and Quebec to file tariffs unbundling their billing and collection services.
  3. The Commission noted that the direct toll portion of the independent Carrier Access Tariff (CAT) rates included expenses related to billing and collection services the independents were carrying out on behalf of Bell Canada. The Commission concluded that unbundling the direct toll component, to the extent of removing those services which can be provided by alternate providers of long distance services themselves, such as billing and collection, would reduce the independents' CAT rates and help to reduce the barriers to competitive entry.
  4. In Decision 99-5, the Commission recognized that the independents were already in the process of working on developing the costs required to set the unbundled billing and collection rates and stated that the companies would be allowed flexibility in submitting their costing proposals.
  5. Call-Net Enterprises Inc. (Call-Net) expressed concerns with regard to provisions relating to billing of casual calls. Call-Net requested that the application be modified to take its concerns into consideration.
  6. In reply, CAPTS noted that the provisions of concern to Call-Net were previously approved by the Commission in Telecom Order CRTC 97-1963, 30 December 1997. CAPTS noted that the provisions of concern to Call-Net were related to Section 4000-Casual Call Billing Service and that Tariff Notice 4 did not propose any changes to the provisions in question.
  7. CAPTS, by way of Tariff Notice 4A, proposed to remove Section 4000 in its entirety. CAPTS recognized that Section 4000 did not conform to industry standards. CAPTS further expressed the view that the terms and conditions of the billing and collection services being introduced in Tariff Notice 4 were similar to those approved for other companies and which accommodate billing for casual calls.
  8. The Commission notes that no other comments were received with respect to the application. Further the Commission is satisfied that the proposed rates are just and reasonable.
  9. In light of the foregoing the Commission approves the tariff revisions proposed in Tariff Notices 4 and 4A effective 1 January 2000.
  Secretary General
  This document is available in alternative format upon request and may also be viewed at the following Internet site: www.crtc.gc.ca
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