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Ottawa, 13 January 2011
Our Ref.: 8640-T69-200910324
BY E-MAIL
Ted Woodhead
Vice-President, Telecom Policy and Regulatory Affairs
TELUS Communications Company
215 Slater St., 8th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 0A6
regulatory.affairs@telus.com
Dear Mr. Woodhead:
Re: Part VII application for forbearance from the regulation of residential local exchange services in the exchange of Saint-Agapit, Quebec
On 16 July 2009, the Commission received the above-mentioned Part VII application by TELUS Communications Company (TCC). In this application, TCC asked for forbearance based on the regulatory frameworks of Telecom Decision 94-19 and modified Telecom Decision 2006-15. In a letter dated 24 September 2009, Commission staff informed TCC that, for forbearance from the regulation of local services, the forbearance criteria in
Decision 2006-15 as amended replaced the criteria that were established in Decision 94-19. As a result, TCC’s application would be considered in light of the forbearance criteria established in modified Decision 2006-15.
On 23 July 2010, TCC sent a letter asking the Commission to make a statement to the effect that the regulatory framework of Decision 94-19 remained valid so that incumbent local exchange carriers (ILEC) could apply for forbearance from the regulation of local services.
In modified Decision 2006-15, the Commission emphasizes the importance of establishing a framework for local forbearance applications to set out clear criteria that the Commission could use to determine when it would be appropriate to forbear from regulating local exchange services. Furthermore, the Commission states that the local forbearance framework set out in modified Decision 2006-15 will apply to applications for forbearance from the regulation of retail local exchange services field by ILECs that are made parties to the proceeding involving TCC.
The Commission also stresses that in modified Decision 2006-15, it established a forbearance framework and set forth criteria that will enable it to determine whether forbearance in a particular relevant market would be consistent with the requirements of section 34 of the Telecommunications Act, and hence whether forbearance should be granted, to the degree set out in this Decision, in that relevant market. The Commission concludes that these criteria should be used to determine the appropriateness of forbearance from the regulation of local exchange services, rather than the regulatory framework set out in Decision 94-19.
Consequently, the Commission reiterates to TCC that applications for forbearance from the regulation are considered in light of the forbearance criteria established in modified
Decision 2006-15.
Because the above-mentioned file has been outstanding for some time and the record is incomplete, the Commission hereby closes the record in question. The record is incomplete because TCC failed to file quality of service results for competitors that meet the standards, and provide all the information required for the competitor presence test, in accordance with the structured rule of reason approach.
TCC may file a new application with the Commission for forbearance from the regulation of residential local exchange services in Saint-Agapit, Quebec, when it can provide information demonstrating that it meets all the criteria set out in the regulatory framework of
Decision 2006-15.
Sincerely,
Secretary General
Original signed by
Robert A. Morin
c.c.: Donald Woodford, Bell Canada
bell.regulatory@bell.ca
Teresa Griffin-Muir, MTS Allstream Inc.
iworkstation@mtsallstream.com
Alexander Adeyinka, Rogers Communications Inc.
alexander.adeyinka@rci.rogers.com
Dennis Béland, Vidéotron ltée
beland.dennis@quebecor.com
- Date modified: