Letter
Ottawa, 19 December 2002
File No: 8638-C12-76/02
By Facsimile and by email
Monsieur Michel Gilbert
Directeur corporatif - Réglementation
Société en commandite Télébec
1050 Côte du Beaver Hall
8e étage
Montréal (Québec)
H2Z 1S4
Madame Isabelle Plante
Vice-présidente adjointe, Finances et Affaires réglementaires
TELUS Communications (Québec) Inc.
6, rue Jules-A. Brillant, R 0622
Rimouski (Québec)
G5L 7 E4
Re: Follow-up to Implementation of price regulation for Télébec and TELUS Québec, Telecom Decision CRTC 2002-43 - Show cause proceeding - Monthly Itemized Billing Statements
Dear Sir, Madam:
In Implementation of price regulation for Télébec and TELUS Québec, Telecom Decision CRTC 2000-43, 31 July 2002 (Decision 2002-43), the Commission directed Société en commandite Télébec (Télébec) and TELUS Communications Québec Inc. (TELUS Québec) («the Companies») to show cause why they should not be directed to send their customers monthly itemized billing statements at the same level of detail as is currently provided on an annual basis.
Pursuant to the procedure established in Decision 2002-43, the Companies filed their responses to this direction to show cause on 30 August 2002. L'Union des consommateurs filed its comments on 10 September 2002. The Companies filed their reply comments on 20 September 2002.
The current record needs to be more fully developed to allow the Commission to make its decision,. The attached interrogatories are therefore addressed to Télébec and TELUS Québec.
The procedure established in Decision 2002-43 is modified as follows:
1. The Companies are to file their responses to interrogatories, serving all parties, by 12 January 2003.
2. Parties may file comments with respect to the Companies' responses to interrogatories, serving all other parties, by 27 January 2003.
3. The Companies may file reply comments on other parties' comments, serving all other parties, by 4 February 2003.
4. Where a document is to be filed or served by a specific date, the document is actually to be received, not merely sent, by that date.
5. Parties can file their submissions on paper or electronically. Submissions longer than five pages should include a summary.
6. Electronic submissions should be in the HTML format. As an alternative, those making submissions may use ''Microsoft Word'' for text and ''Microsoft Excel'' for spreadsheets.
7. Please number each paragraph of your submission. In addition, please enter the line ***End of document*** following the last paragraph. This will help the Commission verify that the document has not been damaged during transmission.
8. Only those submissions filed in electronic form will be placed on the Commission's web site at http://www.crtc.gc.ca, and only in the official language and format in which they are submitted.
9. The Commission also encourages parties to monitor the public record of this proceeding (and/or the Commission's web site) for additional information that they may find useful when preparing their submissions.
Yours sincerely,
original signed by
Campbell Laidlaw
Director
Consumer Policy and Numbering Administration
Att.
c.c: Interested parties to Order 2000-393
Marcel Boucher, Union des Consommateurs (previously Action Réseau consommateur)
Marie Vallée, CRTC (819) 953-7159
Interrogatories addressed to Société en commandite Télébec (Télébec)
Télébec(CRTC)19dec2002 -100 -101 -102
100. Provide estimated additional costs - total costs and costs per residential Network Access Service (NAS), broken down by major activity/expense - that would be incurred if Télébec were required to provide to all residential subscribers (including those who receive their bill in an alternative format) a monthly itemized billing statement for primary exchange services, local optional and other tariffed services. Separate and explain the start-up and recurring costs. Identify the major cost assumptions to derive these estimates.
101. Provide estimated additional costs - total costs and costs per residential NAS, broken down by major activity/expense - that would be incurred if Télébec were required to provide monthly itemized billing statements for primary exchange services, local optional and other local tariffed services only to those residential subscribers (including those who receive their bill in an alternative format) who indicate their preference for it ("opt-in scenario"). Separate and explain the start-up and recurring costs. Identify the major cost assumptions to derive these estimates.
102. Assume Télébec is required to provide all its residential subscribers with a monthly itemized billing statement for primary exchange services, local optional and other local tariffed services. Assume also that Télébec is allowed to offer an option to opt-out to subscribers ("opt-out scenario") who wish to continue receiving their bill under the conditions set in Review of the General Regulation of the Federally Regulated Terrestrial Telecommunications Common Carriers, CRTC Telecom Decision 86-7, Ottawa, 26 March 1986 (Decision 86-7). Provide estimated additional costs, total costs and costs per residential NAS, broken down by major activity/expense. Separate and explain the start-up and recurring costs. Identify the major cost assumptions to derive these estimates.
Télébec(CRTC)19dec2002 -103 -104 -105
103. If applicable, provide the rationale for all differences in the costs per residential NAS (if any), between responses for Q 100, 101 and 102. In particular, provide separately the estimated additional costs, if any, specifically required to administer the consumer registration process for the opt-in scenario and for the opt-out scenario. Separate and explain the activities/expenses incurred as start-up costs from recurring costs. Identify the major cost assumptions to derive these estimates.
104. Please refer to page 2 of Télébec's reply comments of 20 September 2002 in which the Company stated that: (translation) "[Its]. clientele has never expressed the need for monthly detailed billing statements and that the monthly surveys did not demonstrate such a need".
a) Provide detailed monthly results derived from those surveys for the last twelve months. Provide the survey methodology including the data relating to sampling information and the margin of error associated with each result concerning billing; and
b) Provide a complete copy of the questionnaire(s) used for the surveys.
105. Provide the percentage of Télébec's residential customers who subscribe to:
a) no local optional services;
b) at least one local optional service.
Télébec (CRTC)19dec -106
106. Assume Télébec is required to send monthly itemized billing statements to residential customers for primary exchange services, local optional and other local tariffed service:
a) On average, how many additional lines would need to be printed on a monthly residential billing statement?
b) For what percentage of Télébec's residential subscribers will it be necessary to print additional pages?
c) What possible changes to the current layout /template of the billing statement could offset the need for additional paper costs on an on-going basis? If the company considers that changes to the layout/template of the billing statement are not a viable option to reduce paper costs, justify.
d) Disregarding the toll portion, non-telecom services and non-tariffed services of a residential billing statement provide estimated additional costs to implement the possible changes in 106 c) above to the lay-out/template, broken down by major activity/expense. Differentiate start-up costs and recurring costs. Identify the major cost assumptions to derive these estimates.
Télébec(CRTC)19dec2002 -107
107. Please refer to Bell Canada's responses to the Bell(CRTC)-18oct2002-108 and Bell(CRTC)18oct2002-109 interrogatories filed on 4 November 2002 as part of the follow-up proceeding to telecom decision CRTC 2002-43 - Show Cause Monthly Itemized Billing. These interrogatory responses are regarding services that could have appeared on a residential itemized billing statement in 1985 and those that can appear on such statements today. They can be found on the CRTC web site at: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2002/8638/c12-60.htm. Would Télébec's responses be similar to those of Bell Canada?
a) If yes, set out all the differences, excluding those related to trade-mark names and tariff item numbers.
b) If not, answer the following questions:
(i) Provide a complete list (by trade-mark names) of all available local optional and all other tariffed services that could have appeared on a residential itemized billing statement as of 1 May 1985, the close of the record for the proceeding associated with Decision 86-7.
(ii) Provide a complete list (by trade-mark names) of all available local optional and all other tariffed services that could appear on a residential itemized billing statement as of 1 October 2002. Provide a brief description of the services. Also list separately all available bundled service offerings, indicating for each bundle if individual services included in the bundle are detailed, on the itemized billing statements that Télébec currently provides.
(iii) Provide a complete list (trade-mark names) with a brief description of all non-tariffed telecom services, all non-telecom services and all other charges that can be printed on any residential local telephone billing statement as of 1 October 2002.
Télébec (CRTC)19dec - 108 -109
108. Télébec's residential subscribers can now receive or consult their monthly billing statement via the Internet.
a) Are primary exchange services, local optional and other local tariffed services itemized on a monthly basis on these billing statements? If not, what level of detail is provided on these billing statements?
b) Provide the current percentage of residential subscribers who use this service rather than receive their billing statements via mail. Provide an estimate of the expected growth in users (in percentage) of Internet billing services over the next 4 years. Identify the assumptions to derive these estimates.
109. Provide two examples (in paper format) of 2002 residential monthly billing statements: one itemized and one non-itemized.
Interrogatories addressed to TELUS Communications Québec Inc.
TELUS Québec (CRTC)19dec2002 -100- 101- 102
100. Provide estimated additional costs - total costs and costs per residential Network Access Service (NAS), broken down by major activity/expense - that would be incurred if TELUS Québec were required to provide to all residential subscribers (including those who receive their bill in an alternative format) a monthly itemized billing statement for primary exchange services, local optional and other tariffed services. Separate and explain the start-up and recurring costs. Identify the major cost assumptions to derive these estimates.
101. Assume TELUS Québec is required to provide all its residential subscribers with a monthly itemized billing statement for primary exchange services, local optional and other local tariffed services. Assume also that TELUS Québec is allowed to offer an option to opt-out to subscribers (opt-out scenario) who wished to continue receiving their bill under the conditions set in Review of the General Regulation of the Federally Regulated Terrestrial Telecommunications Common Carriers, CRTC Telecom Decision 86-7, Ottawa, 26 March 1986 (Decision 86-7). Provide estimated additional costs, total costs and costs per residential NAS, broken down by major activity/expense. Separate and explain the start-up and recurring costs. Identify the major cost assumptions to derive these estimates.
102. If applicable, provide the rationale for all differences in the costs per residential NAS (if any), between responses for Q 100 and 101. In particular, provide separately the estimated additional costs, if any, specifically required to administer the consumer registration process for the opt-out scenario. Separate and explain the activities/expenses incurred as start-up costs from recurring costs. Identify the major cost assumptions to derive these estimates.
TELUS(Québec)19dec2002 -103-104
103. Provide the percentage of TELUS Québec's residential customers who subscribe to:
a) no local optional services;
b) at least one local optional service.
104. Assume TELUS Québec is required to send monthly itemized billing statements to residential customers for primary exchange services, local optional and other local tariffed service:
a) On average, how many additional lines would need to be printed on a monthly residential billing statement?
b) For what percentage of TELUS Québec's residential subscribers will it be necessary to print additional pages?
c) What possible changes to the current layout /template of the billing statement could offset the need for additional paper costs on an on-going basis? If the company considers that changes to the layout/template of the billing statement are not a viable option to reduce paper costs, justify.
d) Disregarding the toll portion, non-telecom services and non-tariffed services of a residential billing statement, provide estimated additional costs to implement the possible changes in 104 c) above to the lay-out/template, broken down by major activity/expense. Differentiate start-up costs and recurring costs. Identify the major cost assumptions to derive these estimates.
TELUS(Québec)19dec2002-105 -106
105. In TELUS Québec's reply comments filed 20 September 2002, at paragraph 5 of its revised Appendix 1, the company referred to :
Translation: «. consultations with focus groups of residential and business subscribers in 1996 and 1997 in the three regions of the Company territory following many complaints and observations from the Company's subscribers. They had complained that the invoice they were receiving at that time was much too detailed, and therefore difficult to understand. In order to satisfy its customers, TELUS Québec has adopted the current summary and detailed billing formats and sends summary billing statements by default.»
a) How often was TELUS Québec sending detailed billing statements to its residential subscribers before the company decided to send summary billing statements by default. Provide a copy of a 1996 detailed billing statement, (i.e. from before the change to the current format).
b) Provide the questionnaires, the billing statements and any other documentation relating to billing issues used in these focus groups. Also provide any reports prepared on the focus groups.
c) Indicate if the detailed billing statements used in these focus groups are in the same format as billing statements sent to subscribers today.
d) If the answer to 105 c) is no, provide details of the modifications made to the billing statements and indicate when the change occurred.
106. In TELUS Québec's reply comments filed 20 September 2002, at paragraph 8 of its revised Appendix 1, the company states that its customers have the option of requesting monthly detailed billing statements. Explain how and how often TELUS Québec informs its subscribers of such a possibility.
TELUS(Québec)19dec2002-107
107. Please refer to Bell Canada's responses to the Bell(CRTC)-18oct2002-108 and Bell(CRTC)18oct2002-109 interrogatories filed on 4 November 2002 as part of the follow-up proceeding to telecom decision CRTC 2002-43 - Show Cause Monthly Itemized Billing. These interrogatory responses are regarding services that could have appeared on a residential itemized billing statement in 1985 and those that can appear on such statements today. They can be found on the CRTC web site at: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2002/8638/c12-60.htm. Would TELUS Québec's responses be similar to those of Bell Canada?
a) If yes, detail all the differences excluding those related to trade-mark names and tariff items numbers.
b) If not, answer the following questions:
(i) Provide a complete list (by trade-mark names) of all available local optional and all other tariffed services that could have appeared on a residential itemized billing statement as of 1 May 1985, the close of the record for the proceeding associated with Decision 86-7.
(ii) Provide a complete list (by trade-mark names) of all available local optional and all other tariffed services that could appear on a residential itemized billing statement as of 1 October 2002. Provide a brief description of the services. Also list separately all available bundled service offerings, indicating for each bundle if individual services included in the bundle are detailed, on the itemized billing statements that TELUS Québec currently provides.
(iii) Provide a complete list (trade-mark names) with a brief description of all non-tariffed telecom services, all non-telecom services and all other charges that can be printed on any residential local telephone billing statement as of 1 October 2002.
TELUS(Québec)19dec2002-108
108. TELUS Québec's residential subscribers can now receive or consult their monthly billing statement via the Internet.
a) Are primary exchange services, local optional and other local tariffed services itemized on a monthly basis on these billing statements? If not, what level of detail is provided on these billing statements?
b) Provide the current percentage of residential subscribers who use this service rather than receive their billing statements via mail. Provide an estimate of the expected growth in users (in percentage) of Internet billing services over the next 4 years. Identify the assumptions to derive these estimates.
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