Search

ARCHIVED - Telecom - Commission Letter - 8657-C12-200503947 - Regulatory filing requirements by carriers with respect to certain agreements filed pursuant to section 29 of the Telecommunications Act

This page has been archived on the Web

Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. Archived Decisions, Notices and Orders (DNOs) remain in effect except to the extent they are amended or reversed by the Commission, a court, or the government. The text of archived information has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Changes to DNOs are published as “dashes” to the original DNO number. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats by contacting us.

Archived

This page has been archived on the Web.

Letter

Ottawa, 6 April 2005

BY E-MAIL

Our File No.:  8657-C12-200503947

To:   Distribution List 


Re: Regulatory filing requirements by carriers with respect to certain agreements filed pursuant to section 29 of the Telecommunications Act

Section 29 of the Telecommunications Act (the Act) states that:

29. No Canadian carrier shall, without the prior approval of the Commission, give effect to any agreement or arrangement, whether oral or written, with another telecommunications common carrier respecting

(a) the interchange of telecommunications by means of their telecommunications facilities;

(b) the management or operation of either or both of their facilities or any other facilities with which either or both are connected; or

 (c) the apportionment of rates or revenues between the carriers.

Sub sections 34(1) and 34(3) of the Act further state that: 


34. (1) The Commission may make a determination to refrain, in whole or in part and conditionally or unconditionally, from the exercise of any power or the performance of any duty under sections 24, 25, 27, 29 and 31 in relation to a telecommunications service or class of services provided by a Canadian carrier, where the Commission finds as a question of fact that to refrain would be consistent with the Canadian telecommunications policy objectives.
 
34. (3) The Commission shall not make a determination to refrain under this section in relation to a telecommunications service or class of services if the Commission finds as a question of fact that to refrain would be likely to impair unduly the establishment or continuance of a competitive market for that service or class of services.

The Commission has in the past forborne from its powers and duties with respect to section 29 agreements with respect to certain forborne services.

With the objective of streamlining current regulatory requirements, Commission staff has reviewed a number of agreements currently filed by carriers pursuant to section 29 of the

Act and is of the view that it may be appropriate, in certain circumstances, to relieve the carriers of the obligation to file each individual agreement for Commission approval.

Parties on the distribution list are, therefore, invited to provide comments on whether the Commission should forbear, in whole or in part, conditionally or unconditionally, from its powers and duties under section 29 of the Act with respect to the following types of agreements: 

1.  Transit agreements between LECs;

2.  Carrier services group agreements;

3.  Agreements for CLEC-IXC interconnection; and

4.  Agreements for local interconnection between LECs.

Parties are also invited to comment, for each type of agreement above, on the appropriateness of imposing conditions such as a requirement that each agreement must, in all material respects conform to a Commission-approved model agreement, or a requirement that the parties file with the Commission, on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis, a listing of all such agreements entered into and the parties concerned.

Parties are requested to file comments with the Commission by 20 April 2005 . Reply comments must be filed by 2 May 2005 . All submissions will be posted on the Commission's website. Where a document is to be filed by a specific date, the document must be actually received, and not merely sent, by that date.

Yours sincerely,

(Original signed by)

Scott Hutton
Director General
Competition, Costing and Tariffs
Telecommunications

cc: Lynne Fancy, CRTC (819) 997-4400

Distribution List

(The complete list of names and addresses can be found at the CRTC web site identified below each heading.)

1.  "The Telephone Companies and Other Carriers":
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/public/Iplists/Carriers.html
 
2.  "Competitive Local Exchange Carriers - CLEC List": 
http://support.crtc.gc.ca/tlcmlsts/default.aspx?indx=16
 
3.  "Competitive Local Exchange Carriers - Proposed CLEC List": 
http://support.crtc.gc.ca/tlcmlsts/default.aspx?indx=24
 
4.  "Independent Carriers":
http://support.crtc.gc.ca/tlcmlsts/default.aspx?indx=6
 
5.  "Non-dominant Carriers":
http://support.crtc.gc.ca/tlcmlsts/default.aspx?indx=10

Date modified: 2005-04-06

Date modified: