ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter - 8657-B2-200500068

Letter

Ottawa, 30 May 2005

File No. 8657-B2-200500068

By E-Mail

bell.regulatory@bell.ca 

Mr. Mirko Bibic
Chief, Regulatory Affairs
Bell Canada
110 O'Connor St
7th Floor
Ottawa , ON
K1P 1H1

Dear Mr. Bibic:

Re:   Bell Canada Part VII Application requesting a new formal process for the disposition of applications to destandardize and/or withdraw tariffed services

This is in response to Bell   Canada 's application dated 5 January 2005 requesting that the Commission establish new formal procedures for a Canadian carrier to destandardize and/or withdraw a tariffed service.

The Commission has carefully reviewed and considered the comments and reply comments filed by all of the parties.

Bell Canada 's proposal was supported by Aliant Telecom Inc. and Saskatchewan Telecommunications.   TELUS Communications Inc. (TELUS) supported Bell Canada 's proposal with two qualifications.   TELUS indicated that points of difference arose in two areas: (1) the specific criteria that should be used to guide the new formal process to destandardize and/or withdraw tariffed services; and (2) the specific list of services that follows from the application of the criteria to the various incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) tariffed services.

The following parties did not support Bell Canada 's proposal: Call-Net Enterprises Inc. (Call-Net), the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association (CCTA), MTS Allstream Inc. (MTS Allstream), and Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. (Primus).   The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) expressed concerns with specific aspects of Bell Canada 's proposal. Two individuals, Edwin Heasell and Jo seph J. Hofer, also provided comments.

Call-Net, MTS Allstream and Primus favoured a more expeditious consideration of applications for destandardization and/or withdrawal of tariffed services, but did not believe that the establishment of a new process as proposed by Bell Canada would address this concern.

MTS Allstream, Call-Net and PIAC submitted, among other things, that they found it difficult to draw the line between the Class A and B services proposed by Bell Canada , and noted that it would be confusing to customers.

The CCTA submitted, among other things, that it was not appropriate to include Competitor services among those eligible for Bell Canada 's proposed procedures for destandardization and/or withdrawal.

The Commission has developed a new formal process with clearly identified steps and timelines, guided by formal criteria, to assess applications for the destandardization and/or withdrawal of tariffed services.   Attached to this letter, as Appendix 1, is a copy of New procedures for disposition of applications dealing with the destandardization and/or withdrawal of tariffed services, Telecom Circular CRTC 2005-7 dated 30 May 2005 .   This Circular provides notification of procedural changes that the Commission has implemented.

In issuing this Circular, the Commission recognized the need for timelier dispositions of tariff applications for the destandardization and/or withdrawal of tariffed services, given the rapid pace of innovation and competition in the telecommunications industry.   A formal process will provide greater regulatory certainty by identifying clear, publicly-known steps, timelines and criteria that can be consistently relied upon by customers and carriers alike, in the event that a destandardization and/or withdrawal is contemplated.

The process set out in the Circular does not allow for the automatic approval of proposed applications to destandardize and/or withdraw tariffed services.   In order to ensure that proposed applications comply with regulatory requirements and meet the Commission's obligations pursuant to the Telecommunications Act (the Act), the Commission must assess and approve all proposed applications before they become effective.

The initiatives outlined in the Circular balance the needs of customers, the proposals made by Bell Canada , and the views of the parties to this proceeding, and will provide more regulatory certainty within the telecommunications industry.   Currently, the timelines taken by the Commission in rendering decisions on applications for the destandardization and/or withdrawal of tariffed services have varied between applications.   Under the new procedural changes outlined in the Circular, the Commission anticipates that applications that do not raise significant policy issues will be disposed off within 45 to 65 business days of the date of the application.   In cases where there are no customers for a particular service and the Commission is of the view that there are no significant issues, the Commission intends to grant interim approval within 10 business days of a complete application being filed, and to issue a final decision within 45 business days of the date of the application.   In cases where further process is required, the Commission will issue a letter setting out the reasons why the application will not be disposed of within 45 business days, specifying the period of time within which the Commission intends to dispose of the application, in accordance with section 26 of the Act.

In light of the above, the file is now closed.

The Commission thanks Bell   Canada for its suggestions and notes that any future proposals for improvements are welcome.   The Commission will continue to monitor and assess its procedures with the objective of streamlining the disposition of these types of applications.

Sincerely,

'Original signed by Scott Hutton for L. Katz'

Len Katz
Executive Director

Att.

cc: ILECs and CLECS
     Carriers
     Parties to Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2003-10
     Parties to Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2004-2