ARCHIVED - Telecom Order CRTC 2013-182
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Ottawa, 10 April 2013
Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership – Hospital Patient Telephone Service
File number: Tariff Notice 444 (Aliant Telecom)
1. The Commission received an application from Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership (Bell Aliant), dated 7 March 2013, in which the company proposed revisions to its General Tariff item 348 ? Hospital Patient Telephone Service. Specifically, the company proposed to decrease the rates for this service in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador in order to align them with the rates set out in its tariff for the provinces of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, which the company has been charging for the service throughout the Atlantic provinces since 1 June 2009. The company also requested that the Commission ratify the lower rates charged for this service in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador from 1 June 2009 to the date of approval of its application.
2. Bell Aliant noted that in Tariff Notice (TN) 341 (Aliant Telecom), effective 3 April 2009, it had proposed to increase the rates for its Hospital Patient Telephone Service in each of the four Atlantic provinces, effective 1 June 2009. However, the company submitted that these increases were never implemented in its billing system due to an administrative oversight, and that customers continued to be charged the previously approved lower rates.
3. Bell Aliant noted that in a subsequent application, TN 372 (Aliant Telecom), dated 29 April 2010, it proposed to address the above-noted oversight by reversing the changes to its tariffed rates that resulted from TN 341, which would change the rates back to the actual lower rates that had been charged to customers.
4. In Bell Aliant’s current application, the company stated that upon filing TN 372, due to another administrative error, it failed to include one of its tariff pages. Consequently, the Hospital Patient Telephone Service rates for New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador currently listed in the company’s tariff remain the higher rates initially proposed in TN 341.
5. The Commission received no comments regarding this application. The public record of this proceeding can be found on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca under “Public Proceedings” or by using the file number provided above.
6. The Commission notes that Bell Aliant’s proposal would result in aligning the company’s tariffed Hospital Patient Telephone Service rates across the four Atlantic provinces. The Commission considers that approving the proposal would be consistent with the company’s intention in filing TN 372.
7. The Commission also notes that Bell Aliant did not provide a price floor test, since the proposed rates were previously approved by the Commission.
8. With respect to Bell Aliant’s rate ratification request, the Commission notes that, pursuant to subsection 25(4) of the Telecommunications Act, it may ratify the charging of a rate by a Canadian carrier otherwise than in accordance with a tariff approved by the Commission if the Commission is satisfied that the rate was charged because of an error or other circumstance that warrants the ratification.
9. The Commission is satisfied that Bell Aliant charged the rates in question without an approved tariff due to an administrative error. In the circumstances, the Commission finds it appropriate to ratify the charging of the rates as requested by the company.
10. Accordingly, the Commission approves Bell Aliant’s proposed revised tariff page, effective the date of this order. The Commission also ratifies the rates charged by the company for its Hospital Patient Telephone Service in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador from 1 June 2009 to the date of this order.
Secretary General
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