ARCHIVED -  Telecom Public Notice CRTC 99-25

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Telecom Public Notice CRTC 99-25

Ottawa, 3 December 1999

Terms and conditions for access to municipal property in the City of Vancouver

File Nos.: 8690-V15-01/99 and 8690-L8-01/99
8690-C12-01/99

Summary

In this Public Notice, the Commission is initiating the proceeding outlined in its 8 April 1999 letter to the City of Vancouver (the City) and Ledcor Industries Limited (Ledcor) to consider the terms and conditions of access by Canadian carriers and distribution undertakings to municipal property in Vancouver for the purpose of constructing, maintaining and operating transmission lines.

Introduction

1. On 19 March 1999, Ledcor filed a Part VII application requesting relief pursuant to sections 43 and 61(2) of the Telecommunications Act (the Act), naming the City as respondent. Ledcor stated that it and its affiliate customers seek access to street crossings and other municipal property in the city for the purpose of installing, operating and maintaining fibre optic transmission lines. Ledcor stated that the parties had been unable to reach a mutually acceptable agreement regarding terms and conditions of access.

2. In a ruling dated 8 April 1999, the Commission referred to the Ledcor application and to an application that it anticipated would be filed by the City. The Commission denied the City's request to suspend Ledcor's application pending disposition of the City's application. The Commission noted that the two applications would, in essence, raise the same issues, namely, the terms and conditions of access to municipal property in Vancouver for the purpose of constructing, maintaining and operating transmission lines. The Commission concluded that it would be in the public interest to deal with both applications concurrently. The 8 April ruling set out the procedure for answer and reply, with the record closing 28 June 1999. The Commission also stated that following closure of the record on the applications, it would issue a Public Notice initiating a proceeding to consider the issues raised.

3. On 17 May 1999, the City filed a Part VII application, naming BCT.TELUS Communications Inc. (TELUS), Call-Net Enterprises Inc. (Call-Net) and Bell Canada (Bell) (collectively the Carriers) as respondents. The City requested an order to establish the terms and conditions of access, by the Carriers, to street crossings and other municipal property to construct, operate and maintain transmission facilities. In its application, the City also requested that the Commission make an interim order for a zero rate of consideration, for the sole purpose of permitting the Commission to make its final order in this matter take effect on the date of the interim order.

4. On 27 October 1999, the Commission granted the City's request for an interim order, pending its final determination. The Commission ordered, as a condition of access, the payment of $1.00 forthwith by each of the Carriers to the City.

Scope of proceeding

5. In this proceeding, the Commission will consider what the terms and conditions of access by Canadian carriers and distribution undertakings to municipal property in Vancouver should be for the purpose of constructing, maintaining and operating transmission lines.

6. The Commission notes that while the proceeding will be limited to the terms and conditions of access in Vancouver, it expects that the principles developed in this proceeding may inform the Commission's consideration of any disputes that may arise elsewhere. There may well be other parties in negotiations for access to municipal rights-of-way in other parts of the country, and the Commission would expect that access be made available on reasonable terms and conditions pending its consideration of the principles that should be employed. Absent the availability of such access, requests for interim relief could be considered on an expedited basis.

7. The Commission invites parties to comment on the scope and nature of the Commission's jurisdiction to set the terms and conditions of access, as discussed above, in light of sections 42 - 44 of the Act, and any other provisions of the Act that may be relevant.

8. In addition, the Commission seeks comment on the terms and conditions, including for example, whether some form of monetary compensation could and should be ordered as a condition of access. Parties are also requested to comment on what form any monetary compensation should take, including submissions as to costing methodology.

9. Parties are also invited to address whether any terms and conditions imposed by the Commission in relation to the agreements for access in Vancouver that are in dispute could and should replace the terms and conditions in existing agreements that are not in dispute relating to municipal access in Vancouver.

Procedure

10. Ledcor, the City, TELUS, Call-Net, Bell, AT&T Telecom Services Company Inc., GT Group Telecom Services Corp., BC TEL, and all affiliates of these entities which are Canadian carriers with any part of their transmission facility located on municipal property within the City of Vancouver are made parties to this proceeding. The names of the affiliates must be registered with the Secretary General by 7 January 2000 for inclusion on the list referred to in paragraph 13, below.

11. Other parties wishing to participate in this proceeding must notify the Commission of their intention to do so by writing to Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2, fax: 819-953-0795, by 7 January 2000.

12. Parties are to indicate in the notice their e-mail 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.

13. The Commission will issue a complete list of parties and their mailing addresses (including e-mail addresses, if available), identifying those parties who wish to receive disk versions.

14. All parties referred to in paragraphs 10 and 11, above (hereinafter "Parties") are directed to file any submissions by 28 January 2000, serving copies on all Parties. As noted above, the purpose of this proceeding is to consider the terms and conditions of access in Vancouver, and accordingly the Commission does not intend to consider in this proceeding factual contexts outside Vancouver. In order to streamline the process and reduce the workload for all concerned, the Commission encourages Parties with similar interests to file joint submissions and to participate jointly in subsequent stages of the proceeding.

15. Parties may address interrogatories to any person who files submissions pursuant to paragraph 14. Any such interrogatories must be filed with the Commission and served on the relevant person by 28 February 2000.

16. Responses to interrogatories addressed pursuant to paragraph 15 are to be filed with the Commission and served on all Parties by 29 March 2000.

17. 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 relevant person by 12 April 2000.

18. Written responses to requests for further responses to interrogatories and for public disclosure must be filed with the Commission and served on all Parties by 26 April 2000.

19. The Commission will issue a determination with respect to requests for disclosure and for further responses as soon as possible.

20. In the determination referred to in paragraph 19, the Commission will also establish further procedures for the filing of comment and reply arguments by all Parties.

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

22. 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 e-mail address for electronically filed documents is procedure.telecom@crtc.gc.ca. Electronically filed documents can be accessed at the Commission's Internet site at http://www.crtc.gc.ca.

23. The documents made part of the record of this proceeding may be examined during normal business hours at the CRTC offices listed below:

Central Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
1 Promenade du Portage
Room G-5
Hull, Quebec K1A 0N2
Tel: (819) 997-2429
Fax: (819) 953-0795
TDD: (819) 994-0423

580 Hornby Street              Suite 530                       Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3B6                              Tel: (604) 666-2111            Fax: (604) 666-8322        TDD: (604) 666-0778

24. The documents made part of the record of this proceeding will be made available promptly upon request at the CRTC offices listed below:

Bank of Commerce Building   1809 Barrington Street         Suite 1007                        Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3K8

CRTC Documentation Centre 405 DeMaisonneuve Boulevard East                      2nd Floor, Suite B2300        Montreal, Quebec                 H2L 4J5

CRTC Documentation Centre   55 St. Clair Avenue East     Suite 624                          Toronto, Ontario                   M4T 1M2

Kensington Building              275 Portage Avenue            Suite 1810                     Winnipeg, Manitoba              R3B 2B3

CRTC Documentation Centre   Cornwall Professional Building                             2125, 11th Avenue                Room 103                      Regina, Saskatchewan          S4P 3X3

Scotia Place Tower Two      10060 Jasper Avenue              19th Floor, Suite 1909         Edmonton, Alberta                T5J 3R8

Secretary General

This notice is available in alternative format upon request, and may also be viewed at the following Internet site: http://www.crtc.gc.ca

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