ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter - 8663-C12-200402892 - Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2004-2 , Regulatory framework for voice communication services using Internet Protocol, 7 April 2004, as amended (Public Notice 2004-2)

Our File: 8663-C12-200402892

Ottawa, 8 September 2004

To: Interested Parties

Re: Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2004-2, Regulatory framework for voice communication services using Internet Protocol, 7 April 2004, as amended (Public Notice 2004-2)

This letter addresses requests for disclosure of information filed in confidence with the Commission and for further responses to interrogatories to interested parties filed in the above noted proceeding.

On 16 August 2004, the Commission received requests for further responses to interrogatories and for disclosure of information filed in confidence from Aliant Telecom Inc. (Aliant), Bell Canada, Saskatchewan Telecommunications, and Télébec, société en commandite (collectively, The Companies), ARCH, Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA), City of Calgary, MTS Allstream Inc., Ontario 9-1-1 Advisory Board (OAB), Pulver.com (Pulver), Yukon Government (Yukon) and Xit Telecom Ltd. (Xit).

On 23 August 2004, responses to those requests were received from The Companies, TELUS Communications Inc., AT&T Global Services Canada Co. (AT&T), Call-Net Enterprises Inc., CCTA, Coalition for Competitive Telecommunications Pricing (Coalition), Comwave Telecom Inc. (Comwave), Primus Telecommunications Canada (Primus), Pulver, New North Networks Ltd., Northwestel Inc., and WorldCom Canada Ltd. (MCI Canada).

Requests for public disclosure are addressed in Part I below to this letter while requests for further responses are addressed in Part II and in Attachment 1. Part III addresses other matters related to interrogatories posed by ARCH.

Unless otherwise expressly indicated, relevant parties are to file with the Commission all information to be provided pursuant to this letter by 15 September 2004 , serving a copy on all interested parties by the same date. These submissions must be received, not merely sent, by that date.

Part 1 - Requests for Disclosure

Requests for disclosure of information for which confidentiality has been claimed are addressed in light of sections 38 and 39 of the Telecommunications Act and section 19 of the CRTC Telecommunications Rules of Procedure (the Rules).  In evaluating a request, an assessment is made as to whether there is any specific direct harm likely to result from disclosure of the information in question.  Further, in order to justify a claim of confidence, any such harm must be sufficient as to outweigh the public interest in disclosure.  In making this evaluation, a number of factors are taken into consideration, including the following.

The degree of competition that exists in a particular market or that is expected to occur is an important consideration in assessing requests for disclosure. All things being equal, the greater the degree of actual or expected competition, the greater the specific harm that could be expected to result from disclosure.

Another factor in assessing the extent of harm is the expected usefulness of the information at issue to parties in furthering their competitive position. In this regard, an important consideration is the degree to which the information at issue is disaggregated. Generally speaking, the more aggregated the information, the less likelihood that harm will flow from its disclosure.

The expectation that specific direct harm might result from disclosure is not, by itself, sufficient to justify maintaining a claim of confidentiality.  In certain circumstances, substantial harm from disclosure may still be outweighed by the public interest in disclosure. 

Finally, the treatment of confidentiality requests should not be taken as an indication of the manner in which such matters would be dealt with in the future in different circumstances.

Having regard to the considerations set out above, in the case of the specific requests dealt with in this letter, it is considered that no further disclosure of information filed in confidence is required.

Part II - Requests for Further Responses

With regard to requests for further responses, the requirements of subsection 18(2) of the Rules apply. The general principles enunciated by the Commission in past proceedings include the following considerations.

The major consideration is the relevance of the information requested to the matter at issue.

The availability of the information requested is also a factor, which is balanced against the relevance of the information.  If the provision of the information sought would require an effort disproportionate to the probative value of the information itself, further responses will not be required.

Another factor considered is the extent to which an interrogatory answer is responsive to the interrogatory as it was originally asked.  Generally, parties are not required to provide further information from a party that did not ask the original interrogatory.

Having regard to all of the above considerations, the parties in question are to provide further responses to the extent set out in Attachment 1 to this letter. 

In addition, parties are to provide further responses to the following Commission staff interrogatories:

To Comwave Telecom Inc.:

Comwave(CRTC)16Jul04-1 b), c)

Comwave to provide a full response, which may be filed in confidence.

To Shaw Cablesystems GP:

Shaw(CRTC)16Jul04-1 a) i)

Shaw to provide a full response.

To TELUS Communications Inc.:

TELUS(CRTC)16Jul04-4, part a)

TELUS to provide the requested information for Hosted IP sales.

To Vonage Holdings Corp.:

Vonage(CRTC)16Jul04-1 b), c)

Vonage to provide a full response, which may be filed in confidence.

Part III  Other Matters

It is noted that ARCH addressed a number of interrogatories to parties who did not file Comments in this proceeding. In accordance with paragraph 34(a) of Public Notice 2004-2, as amended by letter dated 22 April 2004 , parties were only permitted to address interrogatories to any party who filed submissions pursuant to paragraph 33.   

Sincerely,

(Original signed by Chris Seidl)

Chris Seidl
Senior Manager, Telecommunications

Attachments

c.c. May Lynn Soong, CRTC, 819-997-4555

Date modified:

2004-09-08