ARCHIVED - Telecom - Commission Letter - 8638-C12-46/01 - The Bill Management Tools(BMT) Committee's mandate
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LetterOur File: 8638-C12-46/01 Ottawa, 21 December 2001 By electronic mail and fax To: Committee members (list attached) Re: The Bill Management Tools (BMT) Committee's mandate Dear Sir or Madam: The purpose of this letter is to address the concerns raised by Committee members about the BMT Committee's mandate. Some members have stated that the Committee lacks the mandate to address issues beyond bill management tools (BMTs) themselves and their promotion. Some members also raised that there was no formal record on the other issues identified in the Executive Director's letter of 15 March 2001. The BMT Committee was created pursuant to CRTC Telecom Order 2000-393. At paragraph 16 of that order the Commission stated that it would ".set up a new committee to examine avenues and approaches to promote BMTs and facilitate access to telephone service..." The Executive Director's letter of 15 March 2001 noted that, in addition to addressing specifically the task of promoting BMTs, the committee would address "consumer literacy" issues such as (but not confined to) detailed billing. The letter added the Commission's hope that the committee's work would achieve consensus on "these and other issues". Thus, the 15 March 2001 letter clarified the Commission's goal of facilitating access to telephone service through the work of the BMT Committee, which is not confined solely to BMTs. The Committee's task includes other aspects of assisting consumers in respect of their access to and use of telephone service. As for the concern that the Committee may be dealing with issues that lack any prior formally generated specific record, this is not an impediment to discussion. Nor would it be a unique situation. A myriad of issues were dealt with in various CISC sub-groups to implement local competition from 1996 on, beginning with those that fell out of local number portability. Many of these issues had no prior formally generated specific record but they arose in discussions (and the record was then generated) in the sub-groups as they grappled with the more overarching issues. I hope that this explanation is sufficient to cause the Committee to recognise that its mandate encompasses an array of consumer issues to facilitate access to telephone service that are well beyond the boundaries of bill management tools and their promotion. In the event that a Committee member disagrees, however, I would ask that they respond by 18 January 2002 stating their disagreement, explaining their position and providing justification. Please copy all the Committee members on the attached list. Seasons Greetings, Original signed by
C.J.R. Laidlaw Attachment c.c. Philippe Tousignant, BMT Committee chair, 819-997-1334 Follow-up CRTC Order 2000-393, BMT Committee. File number: 8638-C12-46/01 List of members of the Committee as of 11 July 2001
Action Réseau Consommateur et
Aliant Telecom Inc.
Bell Canada
Bell Canada
Bell Canada
BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre
MTS Communications Inc.
Public Interest Advocacy Centre
Manitoba Public Interest Law Centre
National Anti-Poverty Organisation
Ontario Telecommunications Association
Sasktel
Télébec ltée (and/et Northern Telephone Limited)
TELUS
TELUS-Québec
Northwestel Inc.
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