ARCHIVED - Telecom Decision CRTC 2002-49

Telecom Decision CRTC 2002-49

Ottawa, 16 August 2002

Ontario Telecommunications Association - Review and vary regarding the regulatory framework decision and the national subsidy requirement order

Reference: 8662-O2-02/02

In a review and vary application, the Ontario Telecommunications Association (OTA) claimed that the OTA made an inadvertent error in the provision of base data used by the Commission in the determination of the amount of contribution subsidy. In this decision, the Commission approves the application by OTA to review and vary the amount of contribution subsidy determined for North Renfrew Telephone Company Limited, Nexicom Telephones Inc. and Nexicom Telecommunications Inc. in Regulatory Framework for the small incumbent telephone companies, Decision CRTC 2001-756, 14 December 2001 and in Interim 2002 revenue-percent charge, national subsidy requirement and procedures for the revenue-based contribution regime, Order 2001-876, 14 December 2001.

The Application

1.

On 25 March 2002, the Ontario Telecommunications Association (OTA) filed an application pursuant to section 62 of the Telecommunications Act, requesting the Commission to review and vary the amount of contribution subsidy determined for North Renfrew Telephone Company Limited (North Renfrew), Nexicom Telephones Inc. (Nexicom Telephones) and Nexicom Telecommunications Inc. (Nexicom Telecommunications) in Regulatory Framework for the small incumbent telephone companies, Decision CRTC 2001-756, 14 December 2001 (Decision 2001-756) and in Interim 2002 revenue-percent charge, national subsidy requirement and procedures for the revenue-based contribution regime, Order 2001-876, 14 December 2001 (Order 2001-876).

2.

OTA submitted that there is substantial doubt as to the correctness of the regulatory framework decision and the national subsidy requirement order due to an error in fact regarding the number of seasonal network access service (NAS) numbers reported by the applicant.

3.

On 17 June, 2002, the OTA revised its application to restate the number of NAS that had not been reported by OTA in its original application leading to Decision 2001-756.

4.

Under the proposal submitted by OTA in its review and vary application, the number of NAS used in the calculation of the annual transition subsidy amounts (the subsidy) should be increased by 127 for North Renfrew, 150 for Nexicom Telephones and 14 for Nexicom Telecommunications.

5.

OTA submitted that as a result of its error, the Commission understated the subsidy amounts for North Renfrew, Nexicom Telephones and Nexicom Telecommunications as follows:

9.

The Commission did not receive any comment on this application.

Commission determination

10.

The Commission finds that OTA did make an error of fact in its provision of base data used by the Commission to determine the amount of contribution subsidy for North Renfrew, Nexicom Telephones, and Nexicom Telecommunications in Decision 2001-756.

11.

The Commission concludes that as a result of an inadvertent error on the part of OTA, there is substantial doubt as to the correctness of Decision 2001-756 consistent with the Guidelines for Review and Vary applications, Telecom Public Notice CRTC 98-6, 20 March 1998, and hereby approves OTA's application to review and vary that decision.

12.

Therefore, the annual transition subsidy amounts approved in Decision 2001-756 are revised for North Renfrew, Nexicom Telephones, and Nexicom Telecommunications as follows:

15.

As a result of this decision, Order 2001-876 that provides the payment details of contribution for the small incumbent local exchange carriers from 1 January to 31 December 2002 is amended to reflect the revised contribution amounts for 2002 as set out in paragraph 9 above.

Secretary General