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Ottawa, 11 May 2012
Our files.: 8740-A53-201205021
8740-A53-201205105
BY E-MAIL
M. Denis E. Henry
Vice-President – Regulatory, Government Affairs and Public Law
Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership
Floor 19, 160 Elgin Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K2P 2C4
regulatory@bell.aliant.ca
RE: Tariff Notices 430 - 431 – Reclassification from Group A retail tariff fillings to Group B.
Dear Mr. Henry:
On 26 April 2012, the Commission received an application by Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership (Bell Aliant or the Company), under Tariff Notice 430 (TN 430), in which the company submitted changes to various items in its CRTC 21491 General Tariff (GT) and CRTC 10001 Maritime Tel & Tel Limited GT as part of its 2012 Annual Price Cap filing for the Business Services basket, pursuant to Price cap framework for large incumbent local exchange carriers, Telecom Decision CRTC 2007-27, 30 April 2007 (Telecom Decision 2007-27). The company indicated that its application was filed as a Group A tariff filing.
On 30 April 2012, the Commission also received an application by the Company under Tariff Notice 431 (TN 431), in which the company submitted changes to various items of its CRTC 21491 GT as part of its 2012 Annual Price Cap filings for the Other Capped Services basket pursuant to Telecom Decision CRTC 2007-27.
Commission staff notes that pursuant to Approval processes for tariff applications and intercarrier agreements, Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2010-455, 5 July 2010, as amended from time to time (Information Bulletin 2010-455), the applicant is required, as a group A tariff filing, to submit changes to previously approved rates for retail services where the revised rates meet the Commission’s price cap or price regulation rules and the price floor test, as applicable. And thus in this particular case to comply with Telecom Decision 2007-27 in which the Commission states that business and other capped service rate increases are limited to the rate of inflation overall and a maximum increase of 10% per year for individual rates.
Regarding TN 430, the proposed change in Item 631 of the CRTC 10001 tariff is not in accordance with the Commission’s requirements. The current rate for this item is $ 53.25 and the proposed maximum rate is $ 64.40, resulting in a proposed increase greater than 10%.
Regarding TN 431 on page 515.1, Section 5, the Newfoundland and Labrador single wire centre 4-wire service’s minimum price listed in the proposed tariff filing is not consistent with the minimum price listed in the previous tariff version. In the proposed tariff filing, the minimum price is below the price in the previous version. The proposed maximum price of $43.25 is consistent with the calculation having been done based upon the previous version’s minimum rate, however as currently proposed, it falls outside of the 10% allowable increase for the Other Capped Services basket.
Commission staff therefore considers that these applications do not meet the definition of Group A retail tariff filings as indicated in Information Bulletin 2010-455. In particular, they do not meet the Commission’s price cap rules set out in Telecom Decision 2007-27.
For efficiency, the Commission will process these applications as Group B retail tariff filings rather than close these files and require the company to refile them as new applications. Accordingly, these applications will not receive interim approval on the 15th calendar day after they were received. The company is to file, without delay, amended applications that address the above mentioned concerns. The company is not to implement these tariff revisions until these applications receive approval.
Yours sincerely,
Original signed by:
Michel Murray
Director
Decisions and Operations
cc: Imen Arfaoui, CRTC (819) 997-4663, imen.arfaoui@crtc.gc.ca
Cameron Warriner, CRTC (819) 953-6081, cameron.warriner@crtc.gc.ca
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