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Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2002-6
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Ottawa, 5 December 2002
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Access to pay telephone service
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Reference: 8650-C90-01/01 and 8665-C12-18/02
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In this public notice, the Commission invites comments on issues relating to access to pay telephone service in Canada, including access by hearing-impaired and speech-impaired consumers.
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1.
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In Regulatory framework for second price cap period, Telecom Decision CRTC 2002-34, 30 May 2002 (Decision 2002-34) and in Implementation of price regulation for Télébec and TELUS Québec, Telecom Decision CRTC 2002-43, 31 July 2002 (the price cap proceedings), the Commission considered a number of pricing policy proposals with respect to pay telephone service. The comments in response to these proposals raised a number of fundamental access issues, which could not be thoroughly examined based on the record of those proceedings. The Commission therefore determined that it was premature to address these proposals before more general policy issues relating to pay telephones were addressed. The Commission concluded that the public and semi-public pay telephone services would be assigned to a separate category in the price cap regime and that the rates for these services would remain at current levels until the Commission considered policy issues related to pay telephone service in a forthcoming proceeding.
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2.
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The Commission considers that a number of issues relating to access to pay telephone service raised in the price cap proceedings require further examination. These include:
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· the extent to which consumers rely on pay telephone service;
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· the availability of pay telephone service; and
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· the rate at which pay telephones have been or will be removed from service.
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3.
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The Commission notes that it has, in the past, encouraged, rather than required, incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) to provide pay telephone service in locations where costs exceeded revenues. ILECs generally furnish public telephone services primarily to make outgoing service available to the general public, at their discretion, and at locations of their choice. However, in light of the issues raised in the price cap proceedings, the Commission is concerned that the current approach may not represent the most effective method of ensuring access to pay telephones to meet the health, safety and welfare requirements of consumers.
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4.
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The Commission notes that the need for public interest pay telephones was examined in the context of the introduction of competition in the provision of pay telephone service, in Local pay telephone competition, Telecom Decision CRTC 98-8, 30 June 1998 (Decision 98-8).
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5.
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In Decision 98-8, the Commission found that there was no need to establish a public interest pay telephone regime at that time. The Commission found that there was no compelling evidence on the record to indicate that the introduction of competition in the pay telephone market warranted creating such an obligation to serve. Furthermore, the Commission found that the vast majority of people who used pay telephones did so as a matter of convenience or emergency, not as a substitute for basic telephone service.
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6.
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The Commission considers that it should have as much information as possible regarding access to pay telephone service in order to assess whether the current regime continues to be effective. The Commission also considers it appropriate to examine whether it would be in the public interest to impose an obligation to provide public interest pay telephones.
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Access by deaf, deafened and hard-of-hearing consumers
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7.
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The Commission has received an application by the Canadian Association of the Deaf (CAD), dated 25 April 2001, pursuant to Part VII of the CRTC Telecommunications Rules of Procedure,requesting that the Commission initiate a public proceeding to consider issues regarding access to public pay telephones by deaf consumers.
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8.
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In its application, the CAD noted that it was a national organization that represented 300,000 Canadians who are profoundly deaf and whose preferred mode of communication is Sign language. The CAD also noted that it indirectly represented the hard-of-hearing as well as deafened Canadians who have become deaf later in life and thus continue to identify with the non-deaf community on an everyday basis. The CAD indicated that, for the purpose of its application, it also indirectly represented the interests of Canadians who cannot speak but have normal hearing, since these individuals face similar obstacles in accessing the telephone system. The CAD indicated that many hearing persons needed to communicate with deaf, deafened and hard-of-hearing persons by way of pay telephones, such that the number of affected persons was much larger than merely the 10% of the Canadian population that has a hearing and/or speech disability. For the sake of simplicity, the CAD referred to all of these consumers as deaf consumers in its application. For the same reason, that same abbreviated reference is utilized in this public notice.
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9.
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The CAD submitted that the existing consumer safeguards established in Decision 98-8 were insufficient to meet the needs of deaf consumers. In the CAD's view, the only effective method of ensuring access by deaf consumers to public pay telephones would be to equip such telephones with teletypewriter (TTY) units.
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10.
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The CAD explained that deaf consumers could not make use of public pay telephones unless either the pay telephone was equipped with a TTY unit or the consumer had a portable TTY unit that could be connected to the pay telephone. The CAD noted that portable TTY units were inconvenient and expensive and that, even if they were a practical solution, they were not an affordable option for many deaf consumers.
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11.
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The CAD submitted that the number of Canadians that needed TTY capability from pay telephones was much larger than the deaf community alone. In this regard, the CAD noted that TTY-enabled telephones were required to use Message Relay Service (MRS), a service by which hearing persons communicate, through an MRS operator, with TTY-enabled deaf persons. The CAD further submitted that hearing persons also required TTY-enabled telephones in order to communicate directly with deaf persons, in circumstances where it was not practicable to connect to MRS.
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12.
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The CAD noted that progress in the deployment of TTY-pay telephones had been minimal and that few banks of pay telephones in public locations currently included a TTY-equipped unit. In the CAD's view, the lack of consensus as to whom should be responsible for the purchase of TTY units was a key barrier to the broad deployment of TTY-equipped pay telephones.
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13.
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In light of the concerns raised in the CAD's submission, the Commission considers that it is appropriate to call for comments on access to pay telephone service by deaf consumers.
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Call for comments
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14.
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The Commission hereby initiates a proceeding to examine issues relating to access to pay telephone service, including access by deaf consumers.
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15.
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The Commission invites all parties to provide their views, with reasons and supporting information, where appropriate, on access to pay telephone service, including the following matters:
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a) the extent to which consumers rely on pay telephone service;
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b) the availability of pay telephone service to meet consumers' needs;
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c) the rate at which pay telephones have been or will be removed from service;
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d) the impact of the removal of pay telephones on consumers;
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e) whether there is a need to establish a regime for public interest pay telephones, including:
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i) who should be required to provide and maintain public interest pay telephones;
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ii) the circumstances under which public interest pay telephones should be required, having regard to the needs of consumers in different regions, areas, locations, etc.;
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iii) the appropriate approach to ensure that public interest pay telephones are added or removed as required;
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iv) whether public interest pay telephones should be subsidized and how;
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v) the appropriate rate for a local call placed from a public interest pay telephone;
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vi) the consumer safeguards that are appropriate for public interest pay telephones;
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vii) whether public interest pay telephones should be equipped to accommodate long distance calls; and
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viii) whether directory assistance should be provided free of charge.
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16.
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The Commission also invites all parties to provide their views, with reasons and supporting information, where appropriate, on access to pay telephone service by deaf consumers, including the following matters:
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i) the extent to which there is a need to improve access to pay telephone service by deaf consumers;
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ii) the alternatives available to improve access to pay telephone service by deaf consumers;
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iii) whether the provision of TTY-equipped pay telephones should be mandated;
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iv) who should be responsible for the provision, installation and maintenance of TTY equipment;
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v) the circumstances and conditions under which TTY-equipped pay telephones should be provided; and
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vi) the mechanisms for recovering the costs associated with improving access to pay telephones by deaf consumers.
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17.
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The Commission will only consider pricing policy issues and rate proposals relating to public interest pay telephones and to pay telephones equipped for deaf consumers, as part of this proceeding. The Commission intends to address other pricing policy issues and rate proposals in a separate proceeding.
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Procedure
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18.
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Bell Canada, Aliant Telecom Inc., MTS Communications Inc., Saskatchewan Telecommunications and TELUS Communications Inc., Société en commandite Télébec and TELUS Communications (Québec) Inc. (collectively, the companies) are made parties to this proceeding.
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19.
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Other parties wishing to participate fully in this proceeding must notify the Commission of their intention to do so, by 19 December 2002. They should contact the Secretary General by mail at CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2, by fax at (819) 953-0795 or by email at procedure@crtc.gc.ca. They are to indicate in the notice their email 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.
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20.
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The Commission will issue, as soon as possible after the registration date, a complete list of parties and their mailing addresses (including their email addresses, if available), identifying those parties who wish to receive disk versions.
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21.
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Any members of the public who only wish to file written comments, without receiving copies of the various submissions, may do so by submitting their comments in writing to the Commission, at the address noted in paragraph 19, by 1 May 2003.
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22.
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The companies are directed to file with the Commission responses to the initial interrogatories sent on the date of this public notice, and serve copies of these responses on all parties, by 23 January 2003.
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23.
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The companies are to file with the Commission, serving copies on all parties, their evidence on all matters within the scope of this proceeding. In light of the filing date for the responses to the Commission's initial interrogatories pursuant to paragraph 22, all such material is to be filed with the Commission and served on all parties, by 23 January 2003.
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24.
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Parties other than the companies may file evidence on any matter within the scope of this proceeding, serving copies on all other parties, by 23 January 2003.
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25.
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All parties may address interrogatories to any party who filed evidence pursuant to paragraphs 23 and 24. Any such interrogatories must be filed with the Commission and served on the party in question, by 20 February 2003.
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26.
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Responses to those interrogatories are to be filed with the Commission and served on all parties, by 13 March 2003.
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27.
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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 in each case the reasons for disclosure, must be filed with the Commission and served on the relevant party or parties by 3 April 2003.
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28.
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Written responses to requests for further responses to interrogatories and for public disclosure must be filed with the Commission and served on the party or parties making the request by 10 April 2003.
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29.
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A determination with respect to requests for further information and for public disclosure will be disposed of as soon as possible. Any information to be provided pursuant to that determination must be filed with the Commission and served on all parties, by 24 April 2003.
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30.
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All parties may file arguments with the Commission on any matters within the scope of this proceeding, serving copies on all other parties, by 1 May 2003.
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31.
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All parties may file reply arguments with the Commission, serving a copy on all other parties, by 8 May 2003.
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32.
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Where a document is to be filed or served by a specific date, the document must be actually received, not merely sent, by that date.
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33.
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Parties can file their submissions electronically or on paper. Submissions longer that five pages should include a summary.
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34.
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Where the submission is filed by electronic means, the line ***End of document*** should be entered following the last paragraph of the document as an indication that the document has not been damaged during electronic transmission.
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35.
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Please note that only those submissions electronically filed will be available on the Commission's web site and only in the official language and format in which they are submitted.
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36.
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Each paragraph of your submission should be numbered.
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37.
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The Commission also encourages parties to monitor the record of this proceeding (and/or the Commission's web site) for additional information that they may find useful when preparing their submissions.
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Location of CRTC offices
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38.
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Submissions may be examined or will be made available promptly upon request at the Commission offices during normal business hours:
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Central Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
1 Promenade du Portage, Room G-5
Hull, Quebec K1A 0N2
Tel: (819) 997-2429 - TDD: 994-0423
Fax: (819) 994-0218
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Metropolitan Place
99 Wyse Road, Suite 1410
Darmouth, Nova Scotia B3A 4S5
Tel: (902) 426-7997 - TDD: 426-6997
Fax: (902) 426-2721
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405 de Maisonneuve Blvd. East
2nd Floor, Suite B2300
Montréal, Quebec H2L 4J5
Tel: (514) 283-6607 - TDD: 283-8316
Fax: (514) 283-3689
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55 St. Clair Avenue East
Suite 624
Toronto, Ontario M4T 1M2
Tel: (416) 952-9096
Fax: (416) 954-6343
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Kensington Building
275 Portage Avenue
Suite 1810
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2B3
Tel: (204) 983-6306 - TDD: 983-8274
Fax: (204) 983-6317
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Cornwall Professional Building
2125 - 11th Avenue
Room 103
Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 3X3
Tel: (306) 780-3422
Fax: (306) 780-3319
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Suite 520 - 10405 Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3N4
Tel: (780) 495-3224
Fax: (780) 495-3214
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530-580 Hornby Street
Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3B6
Tel: (604) 666-2111 - TDD: 666-0778
Fax: (604) 666-8322
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Secretary General
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This document is available in alternative format upon request and may also be examined at the following Internet site: http://www.crtc.gc.ca
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