ARCHIVED - Letter
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Ottawa, 15 July 2010
File No. 8678-B2-201010610
By email
To: Distribution List (attached)
Subject: Telecom Decision CRTC 2008-1, Use of deferral account funds to improve access to telecommunications services for persons with disabilities and to expand broadband services to rural and remote communities
Commission staff is in receipt of a letter from Bell Canada dated 23 July 2010. In that letter, Bell Canada requested confirmation that an independent and impartial Video Relay (VRS) feasibility study can be included as part of the VRS initiative originally filed by the Company on 1 September 2006 and approved by the Commission in Telecom Decision CRTC 2008-1, Use of deferral account funds to improve access to telecommunications services for persons with disabilities and to expand broadband services to rural and remote communities.
Attached are interrogatories associated with Bell Canada’s request as set out in that letter.
Please file responses to these interrogatories with the Commission by 29 July 2010. These responses are to be received, and not merely sent, by this date.
Sincerely,
[ ORIGINAL SIGNED BY Mary-Louise Hayward for ]
Martine Vallee
Director, Social and Consumer Policy
Policy Development and Research.
c.c.: Jane Britten, Manager, Social and Consumer Policy, PDR
CRTC distribution list
Bell: bell.regulatory@bell.ca, CAD -- Jroots@cad.ca; info@cad.ca CHS -- gmalkowski@chs.ca Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf (CCSD) – info@deafculturecentre.ca Ontario Association of the Deaf (OAD) – jj@deafontario.ca Centre québécois de la déficience auditive (CQDA) -- cqda@videotron.ca
Enc.
ATTACHMENT – Interrogatories
To Bell Canada
Bell Canada(CRTC)16 August10-100
Regarding your letter of 23 June 2010, please provide the following clarifications:
1. You state in paragraph 11 of your letter of 23 June 2010 that you described the proposed feasibility study to stakeholders as being “the first phase of the Company’s VRS trial”. In this regard,
a) confirm that it is Bell’s intention to proceed with a VRS trial within the timeframe established in Telecom Decision 2008-1, that is, by 2011; andb) explain if and how the proposed feasibility study will impact the design and implementation of a VRS trial
2. You state that, subject to Commission approval, the proposed feasibility study “can be added to the Company’s VRS trial and funded from the deferral account”. Accordingly, please clarify whether the funds for the proposed feasibility study are to come out of the portion of Bell’s deferral account accessibility funds earmarked for Bell’s VRS initiative or from the portion of Bell’s deferral account accessibility funds slated for future accessibility initiatives (as per Telecom Decision 2008-1).
3. Explain, with supporting rationale and examples, how data collected via the proposed feasibility study pertaining to such factors as volume and usage patterns, as outlined in Appendix A, will be applicable to the Canadian market in the absence of hard data from Canadian consumers’ experience in using VRS.
4. You characterize your proposed feasibility study to stakeholders as “impartial and objective”. Please elaborate on the steps that you will take to ensure impartial and objective results.
To: Canadian Association of the Deaf (CAD), the Canadian Hearing Society (CHS), The Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf (CCSD), the Ontario Association of the Deaf (OAD) and the Centre québécois de la défiencience auditive CQDA (the consulted stakeholders)
Insert your organization’s name here (CRTC)16 August10-200
In regard to Bell Canada’s letter of 23 June 2010, please provide your views on:
1. The steps required to ensure that a feasibility study of VRS in Canada, as proposed by Bell Canada in its letter of 23 June 2010 (Request by Bell Canada to amend the Video Relay Service Proposal to include a feasibility study), would result in impartial and objective data.
2. The level of end-user consultation that, in your opinion, is required to ensure an effective feasibility study.
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