ARCHIVED - Telecom - Commission Letter - 8665-A83-200409492 - 8698-C12-200415522 - Reclamation of 8-1-1 and 5-1-1

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Letter

Ottawa, 24 December 2004

Transmitted electronically

Reference: 8665-A83-200409492 - 8698-C12-200415522 - 8698-C12-200415928

To: Aliant Mobility, Bell Mobility, SaskTel, TELUS Communications Inc., TELEMOBILE

Subject: Reclamation of 8-1-1 and 5-1-1

This letter is in reference to requests received by the Commission to stay the decision to reclaim the 8-1-1 and 5-1-1 access codes as discussed further below. Parties are asked to visit the Commission's website http://www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2004/8665/a83_200409492.htm  for complete details regarding this issue.

On 24 August 2004 , the Commission received an application from Alberta Health and Wellness, on behalf of the provincial and territorial Deputy Ministers of Health, requesting the assignment of 3-1-1 for non-urgent health triage services.

On 5 November 2004 , the Commission issued CRTC Decision 2004-71 Assignment of 3-1-1 for non-emergency municipal government services. (CRTC 2004-71). On that same day, Commission staff issued a letter announcing the reclamation of 5-1-1 and 8-1-1 resources and invited the applicant to amend its application, given that the 3-1-1 resource was no longer available.

On 26 November 2004 , the Commission received a letter from Alberta Health and Wellness dated 19 November 2004 , amending its application to request any available N-1-1, but stated a preference for 8-1-1.

On 30 November 2004 , the Commission released two staff letters in respect of the above noted amended application. The first letter established the process to be following in respect of the Alberta Health and Wellness application. The second staff letter recognized that parties other than Northwestel had implemented 8-1-1 for access to the business office. Among other things, staff requested that parties who were using 8-1-1 , file proposals in regard to vacating the 8-1-1 resource as part of the Alberta Health and Wellness proceeding.

On 6 December 2004, the Commission received a letter from SaskTel, on 10 December 2004, the Commission received a letter from Aliant Mobility and Bell Mobility, and on 15 December 2004, the Commission received a letter from TELUS Communications Inc. (TELUS), and TELEMOBILE COMPANY (TELEMOBILE), all of which were in response to the CRTC's letters of 5 November 2004 and 30 November 2004 respectively.

In the above noted submissions, SaskTel, Aliant Mobility, Bell Mobility, TELUS and TELEMOBILE (the parties) indicated that 5-1-1 and 8-1-1 were in use in various degrees in their networks. In its letter, SaskTel indicated that it would require 90 days to assess the consequences of any reclamation of the 5-1-1 and/or 8-1-1 access codes, and to propose remedial actions. The other parties requested that the Commission stay the directive in the staff's reclamation letter of 5 November 2004 and provide them with 90 days within which to assess the impact of the reclamation on their customers and operations and to report back to the Commission in this regard. Aliant Mobility, Bell Mobility, TELUS and TELEMOBILE noted that the wireless carriers are currently engaged in the "critical fourth quarter sales period" and that the resources required to assess the situation would not be available prior to early 2005.

8-1-1 Resource

In regard to 8-1-1 , having considered the above noted requests, it is appropriate that procedure be amended as follows:  

The date for comments from parties to the Alberta Health and Wellness application will be modified from 14 January 2005 to 28 January 2005 . Parties wishing to submit comments may do so by 28 January 2005 , serving a copy on the applicant. Parties that have already filed comments may file supplemental comments with the Commission by 28 January 2005, serving a copy on the applicant.

As indicated in the 30 November 2004 staff letter, parties are, if appropriate, requested to develop a proposal to vacate the 8-1-1 resource and submit the proposals during the comment cycle provided for the Alberta Health and Wellness application as amended above.

The reply comment date will be also be modified from 28 January 2005 to 11 February 2005. Alberta Health and Wellness will have until this date to file any reply comments it may have to the comments received during the comment phase of this proceeding.

These modified dates recognize the pressures on the resources of the wireless community in the fourth quarter; however staff is of the view that the request for a 90 day stay is excessive given the alternative access arrangements to 8-1-1 that currently exist and the time period already provided since the 5 November 2004 notification of reclamation. In addition, a 90 day delay in the process would be unfair to the applicant, given that the applicant had filed its original application on 24 August 2004.

In addition, the Commission will establish an Interested Parties' list; therefore parties who have not yet done so, and who are interested in participating in this proceeding are required to register with the Commission, by 1 February 2005 . Parties may register by sending an email to procedure@crtc.gc.ca or writing to the Commission at Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, Ottawa , Ontario K1A 0N2.

Parties are reminded that 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.

5-1-1 Resource

In regard to 5-1-1 , a separate file has been opened to deal with this matter (#8698-C12-200415522).   Aliant Mobility, Bell Mobility, SaskTel, TELUS and TELEMOBILE are to submit their comments in this matter by no later than 18 March 2005.

In its submission, the above noted parties are asked to address the following:

1. Pursuant to what authority wastworks of the above noted parties?   Please provide a specific 5-1-1 numbering resource assigned for use in the ne citation and date of any such authority.

2. Comment on the reservation of 5-1-1 to access to MRS by the hearing as recommended by the Canadian Steering Committee on Numbering (CSCN), authorized by Industry Canada and announced by the Canadian Numbering Administrator in 1994.

3.  Comment on numerous references to the 511 reservation for access to MRS by the hearing referred to in;

a) various CSCN recommendations to Industry Canada and to the Commission, as well as recommendations contained in CSCN developed CRTC approved numbering guidelines.

b)  the Canadian Numbering Administrator's website from 1999 until the release of CRTC 2004- 71.

c)  the application from the City of Calgary , and in Public Notice 2000- 151 Seeking public input on three-digit dialing for national agencies' information services 8 November 2000 and which led to CRTC 2004-71.

d)  the Commission letter of 16 February 2001 to Mr. Tom Fosey regarding Enhanced 9-1-1 Wireless Trial - Province of Ontario http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2001/lt010216.htm   with regard to the 511 access code.

4.  Identify if, when, and how the parties communicated to the CSCN, Industry Canada, the Commission, the Canadian Association for the Deaf or any interested party involved in public proceedings relating to the use of N-1-1 resources in Canada, and specifically 5-1-1, of the parties' apparent long standing use of this resource.

5.  Identify how quickly the 5-1-1 resource can be vacated.

As noted above, Aliant Mobility, Bell Mobility, SaskTel, TELUS and TELEMOBILE are to respond by no later than 18 March 2005 . The Commission may initiate further process following receipt of these submissions.

Sincerely,

Original signed by Scott Hutton for/

Shirley Soehn
Executive Director
CRTC Telecommunications

Cc Alberta Health and Wellness
      ILECs, including Independent Companies
      Wireless Service Providers
      Competitive Local Service Providers

      Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association     

Date modified: 2004-12-24

Date modified: