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ARCHIVED - Telecom - Commission Letter - 8638-C12-46/01 - draft minutes of BMTCommittee meeting of July 31st 2001

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Letter

Ottawa, 3 October 2001

Our file: 8638-C12-46/01

Dear BMT Committee Members,

Please find attached the draft minutes of BMT Committee meeting of July 31st 2001. Please send your comments, if any, on these draft minutes by 15 October 2001 to philippe.tousignant@crtc.gc.ca.

We have not received any request for amendments to the 31 July 2001 draft consensus document, sent to Committee members on 10 August 2001.

We have received and noted the comments of Sasktel and ARC on this draft consensus document.

Sasktel stated that the consensus on IPP was "understood [as being] a proposal and not consensus reached by the Committee members." We note that a vote was taken on IPP at the July 31st meeting and a consensus was reached at that meeting, subject to comment from Committee members on the drafting of that consensus. No other Committee member commented on this item of the draft consensus document.

In its comments on the draft consensus document, Sasktel also stated that : "We also discussed the toll limit proposal. Due to major system limitations and the high cost of systems IT development I understood this proposal would not be pursued and as such dropped from any further discussion."

No vote was taken on this issue therefore it is not included in the consensus items. However, as noted in the attached draft minutes, the Chair recognised the companies' concerns with this item and suggested that there was no value in continuing to pursue this issue at the present time.

Accordingly, the draft consensus document sent 10 August 2001 may now be considered finalized. A copy of this final consensus document is attached for your records.

Regards,

Philippe Tousignant
BMT Committee Chair
Telecommunications

Attach.

Bill Management Tool and Access to telephone service Committee

BMT Committee Meeting 31 July 2001

Final Consensus Document

A. BMT Promotion

  1. BMT promotion will be clearly identified and described as a Commission initiative. There is one exception - see points 4 and 5, below.
  2. The Commission will make official contact with appropriate federal agencies that provide income security to Canadians with a view to having BMT information included in mail-outs to the clients of these agencies.
  3. The Commission will make official contact with appropriate federal agencies whose staff work with low-income Canadians to make them aware of BMTs and the planned promotional campaign.
  4. The Commission will make official contact with appropriate provincial agencies (or an equivalent), that provide income security programs, with a view to having BMT information included in mail-outs to the clients of these agencies. However, in Saskatchewan, SaskTel and not the Commission will make this official contact and will identify the initiative as a joint CRTC-SaskTel initiative.
  5. The Commission will make official contact with provincial agencies (or an equivalent) whose staff works with low-income Canadians to make them aware of BMTs and seek co-operation in the planned promotional campaign. However, in Saskatchewan, SaskTel and not the Commission will make this official contact and will identify the initiative as a joint CRTC-SaskTel initiative.
  6. The ILECs will assist the Commission achieve the actions set out as needed.
  7. The Commission will make official contact with appropriate associations/federations of front line community groups (with a primary focus on social workers, credit counselling services and food banks) to make them aware of BMTs and the planned promotional campaign. ARC/NAPO/PIAC will help Commission staff achieve this action by providing, as needed and on a case by case basis, information such as contact information.
  8. Written requests to the agencies relating to consensus points 1 through 7 inclusive will be circulated in draft form to BMT Committee members before being sent. BMT Committee members will have an opportunity to provide feedback on it.

    B. Installment Payment Plan (IPP)

  9. ILECs who charge interest to subscribers on their installment payment plans (IPP) will ensure that their customer service representatives (CSR) routinely inform all customers of the availability of the IPP when:
  • Connection service charges are $45 (or more);
  • if the CSR detects an affordability issue should the connection charge be less than 45$ (including all cases where a security deposit or an alternative to a deposit is required).

This does not preclude CSRs from informing customers of the availability of IPP in other cases.

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