ARCHIVED - Telecom Order CRTC 2013-300
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Ottawa, 21 June 2013
Saskatchewan Telecommunications – Payphone compensation per call
File numbers: Tariff Notices 275 and 275A
1. Payphone compensation per call (toll-free call rate) refers to an amount paid to a payphone service provider for each call made from one of its payphones to access the network of a long distance carrier by dialing a toll-free number, such as an 800 service. The amount of compensation to be collected is billed to the long distance carrier and not to the person making the call.
2. The Commission received an application from Saskatchewan Telecommunications (SaskTel), dated 19 October 2012 and amended on 22 November 2012, in which the company proposed a revision to its Competitor Access Tariff item 650.24 – Payphone Compensation Per Call. Specifically, SaskTel proposed to increase its toll-free call rate from $0.2055 per call to $0.5048 per call.
3. SaskTel filed a cost study as part of its application. In the company’s view, this cost study provided evidence that the current toll-free call rate is no longer compensatory. In this regard, the company noted that the number of its payphones and the average call volume per payphone have been decreasing since 2002.
4. The Commission received comments regarding SaskTel’s application from MTS Inc. and Allstream Inc. (collectively, MTS Allstream).1 The public record of this proceeding, which closed on 14 January 2013, is available on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca under “Public Proceedings” or by using the file numbers provided above.
5. The Commission has reviewed the costs included in SaskTel’s cost study relating to toll-free calls and finds them to be acceptable. The Commission considers that the revised rate should help the company maintain its payphones, thus maintaining customers’ access to payphones, without unreasonably impacting long distance carriers.
6. Accordingly, the Commission approves a toll-free call rate of $0.5048 for SaskTel.
7. The Commission directs SaskTel to issue revised tariff pages2 within 10 days of the date of this order.
Secretary General
Footnotes:
[1] In their comments dated 19 November 2012, MTS Allstream requested disclosure of certain costing information included in SaskTel’s cost study; SaskTel provided the requested information in its 22 November 2012 amendment to the application. MTS Allstream did not provide further comments relating to SaskTel’s application.
[2] Revised tariff pages can be submitted to the Commission without a description page or a request for approval; a tariff application is not required.
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