ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter - 8678-C12-200605553

Letter

Ottawa, 27 September 2006
(revised)

Our File: 8678-C12-200605553

Delivered by e-mail

To: Distribution List - Interested Parties, Review of price cap framework, Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2006-5, 9 May 2006

Re: Organization and conduct of the oral hearing

The Commission is scheduled to hold an oral hearing in connection with the above-noted proceeding commencing on Tuesday, 10 October 2006 at the Conference Centre, Phase IV, Outaouais Room, 140 Promenade du Portage, Gatineau, Quebec.

The purpose of this letter is to provide information to the parties on a variety of matters relating to the organization and conduct of the oral hearing.

Sitting schedule

The Commission intends to begin the hearing at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, 10 October 2006 , and to sit Monday through Fridays during the course of the hearing, with a normal sitting day of 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

While the Commission does not anticipate that sittings will extend into the evenings or into the weekend, it may be necessary to revisit the schedule and sit longer hours on one or more days, or to sit on Saturday, 14 October 2006 .   The Commission notes that it currently intends the hearing to conclude no later than Friday, 20 October 2006 followed by final arguments.

The Commission does not intend to reserve the first day of the hearing for comments from the general public and will proceed immediately with the testimony offered by the various interested parties.

Ruling on confidentiality and deficiency claims

The Commission's procedures in this hearing have provided for a round of requests for disclosure and for further responses regarding interveners' interrogatory responses filed on 20 September 2006 . It is expected that a ruling on any such requests will be issued as soon as possible.   Any information provided pursuant to that determination will be filed with the Commission and served on all interested parties by 4 October 2006.

CENTRAL HEARING

Order of witnesses to be presented

The following parties have advised the Commission of their intention to make one or more witnesses available for cross-examination. The Commission has determined that the parties should present their witnesses in the following order:

1. Bell Aliant Communications, Limited Partnership, Bell Canada, and Saskatchewan Telecommunications (the Companies)

2. MTS Allstream

3. TELUS Communications Company

•  Telus Policy Pane
•  Telus Marketing Panel
•  Telus Expert Panel

4. Quebecor Media Inc., Cogeco Cable Canada Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., and Shaw Communications Inc. (the Competitors)

5. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) as counsel for Consumer Association of Canada and the National Anti-Poverty Organization (the Consumer Groups)

6.   Union des consommateurs

7.   The City of Calgary

The Commission has been informed that certain witnesses are not available at all times. It will attempt to adjust the above schedule as necessary.

Order of cross-examination

Several parties have indicated that they wish to cross-examine one or more witnesses. The Commission has decided that parties wishing to cross-examine witnesses will proceed in the order set out in Attachment 1 to this letter. Any party who wishes to conduct cross-examination who is not on this list is to notify the Commission of their intention to do so no later than Friday, 6 October 2006 .

The Commission notes that, in the case of each witness, questions from the Commission and from Commission counsel, if any, will follow cross-examination by the parties.

Final oral argument

It is the Commission's intention to hear final oral argument at the hearing, with a maximum time allowed of 30 minutes per party.   Parties wishing to present final oral   argument should proceed in the order set out in Attachment 1 to this letter.   In addition to, or instead of, presenting final oral argument, parties may file written argument by serving a copy on all parties, by the later of 26 October 2006 or the end of the oral hearing.

Opening statements and the use of audio-visual presentations

The Commission will not permit opening oral statements by any party or their witnesses, whether at the commencement or during the course of the oral hearing and will not permit the use by any party or their witnesses of any audio-visual presentation.   However, parties may file a written opening statement as an exhibit on the first morning of the hearing, serving a copy on all interested parties at the hearing.

Responsibilities of the parties

Parties are reminded that it is their responsibility to monitor the progress and content of the hearing in order, among other things, to ensure that they are aware of any documents that may have been filed in their absence, any changes to the order of presentation of witnesses, and/or any rulings made by the Commission. The oral hearing will be webcast on the Commission's website at www.crtc.gc.ca)

a Record of Appearance and the name of their Legal Counsel/Representative on Thursday, 5 October 2006 . This will enable the Hearing Secretary to contact parties, if necessary, to obtain information or to inform them of matters relating to the hearing. Copies of the Record of Appearance may be obtained from the Hearing Secretary on the morning of 10 October 2006 .

Examination-in-chief

Parties are reminded that traditional examination-in-chief is not permitted at public hearings conducted by the Commission.   Rather, in accordance with section 21 of the CRTC Telecommunications Rules of Procedure , a party calling a witness should restrict its examination to the following:

• whether the evidence was prepared by or under the supervision of the witness;
• whether the evidence filed contains any errors or requires any routine updates; and
• the qualifications of the witness.

The introduction of witnesses by parties should be brief, with little or no reading from witnesses' curricula vitae.

Curricula vitae of witnesses

Curricula vitae of witnesses to be presented by parties are to be filed with the Commission and copied on all parties no later than Thursday, 5 October 2006 .

Procedure for introduction of exhibits

The Commission expects parties to introduce exhibits using the expedited procedure which was adopted in the proceeding leading to Review of regulatory framework , Telecom Decision CRTC 94-19, dated 16 September 1994 . For convenience, this procedure is reproduced below:

Responses to undertaking

• Parties must provide copies of their responses to undertakings to both the Hearing Secretary and to other parties in advance of they being introduced as exhibits. Wherever possible, oral or written responses to undertakings should include a reference to the transcript page where the undertaking was given, identifying both the witness giving the undertaking and the party to whom the undertaking was given.
• Before circulating these documents, parties should confirm with the Hearing Secretary the number assigned to the most recent exhibit. Parties themselves should then number the responses to undertakings accordingly, prior to distribution.
• The Hearing Secretary will then enter the responses to undertakings as exhibits at an appropriate time by briefly identifying the party in question and noting the exhibit numbers assigned to various responses to undertakings.

Documents other than responses to undertakings

• Unless there is sufficient reason for not doing so, parties should provide the Hearing Secretary and the other parties with copies of the proposed exhibits in advance. To facilitate recognition of a particular document, parties should ensure that exhibits have titles.
• During the cross-examination of a witness or panel of witnesses by a party, the Hearing Secretary will track the documents put to the witness or panel of witnesses, and will assign numbers accordingly.
• Following a party's completion of the cross-examination of the witness(es), the Hearing Secretary will enter as exhibits the documents that were in fact put to the witness(es) by that party. This will be done orally.

Copies of documents filed

All parties are reminded that, with respect to all documents filed at the oral hearing, 20 copies must be provided to the Hearing Secretary for the Commission's use.

At the same time, a copy of all such documents must be served on all other parties present at the oral hearing on the date the document is filed.

Pre-hearing briefing document

The Commission intends to make available for inspection by all parties, a pre-hearing briefing document prepared by Commission staff to aid Commissioners on various substantive matters likely to be addressed during the course of the oral phase of this proceeding. While this document does not represent an exhaustive discussion of the issues to be examined by the Commission, it does provide an indication of some of the matters arising from the record. The Commission will make copies of this document available in the Public Examination Room at the oral hearing on the morning of  10 October 2006 .

Assistance to parties

In order to ensure that the oral hearing may be conducted smoothly and efficiently, Commission counsel (Stephen Millington and Rachelle Frenette, Tel: (819) 953-0632     or (819) 994-2940) will be available, both prior to and during the hearing, to assist legal counsel or other representatives of the parties with regard to procedural matters and the practices and procedures of the Commission.

Sincerely,

Original signed by/

Diane Rhéaume
Secretary General

Attachment

Distribution List - Interested Parties; bell.regulatory@bell.ca ;  iworkstation@allstream.com ;  regulatory.affairs@telus.com ;  regulatory.matters@aliant.ca ;  document.control@sasktel.sk.ca ;  Regulatory.matters@corp.eastlink.ca ;  regulatoryaffairs@nwtel.ca ;  cataylor@cyberus.ca ;  david.watt@rci.rogers.com ;  befro@pilc.mb.ca ;  bywil@pilc.mb.ca ;  jeffrey.fan@ubs.com ;  dma2@telusplanet.net ;  dmckeown@viewcom.ca ;  piac@piac.ca ;  stinsond@comnet.ca ;  lefebvre@rogers.com ;  crtc@mhgoldberg.com ;  abriggs@cogeco.ca ;  rob.olenick@tbaytel.com ;  ghariton@sympatico.ca ;  regulatory@corporate.fcibroadband.com ;  lisangus@angustel.ca ;  calgaryregulatory@calgary.ca ;  cedwards@ccsa.cable.ca ;  duchesne@consommateur.qc.ca ;  christian.tacit@cybersurf.com ;  reglementa@telebec.com ;  regaffairs@quebecor.com ;  brovet@yak.ca ;  telecom.regulatory@cogeco.com ;  andre.labrie@mcc.gouv.qc.ca ;

Attachment 1

ORDER OF CROSS-EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES/
ORDER OF PRESENTATION OF FINAL ARGUMENT

1.  The Companies

2.  MTS Allstream

3.  TELUS Communications Company

4.  The Competitors

5.  The Consumer Groups

6.  Union des consommateurs

7.  BC Old Age Pensioners' Organization, Council of Senior Citizens' Organizations, federated anti-poverty groups of BC, End Legislated Poverty, BC Coalition of People with Disabilities, Active Support Against Poverty, and Tenants Rights Action Coalition, ( BCOAPO et al .).  

8.   Public Interest Law Centre, as counsel for the Consumers' Association of Canada (Manitoba Branch) and the Manitoba Society of Seniors ("CAC/MSOS")

9.  The City of Calgary