ARCHIVED -  Letter

Ottawa, 15 October 2013

Our reference: 8663-C12-201313601

BY EMAIL

Distribution

RE: Review of wholesale services and associated policies, Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2013-551 – Requests for information

Dear Madam, Sir:

Pursuant to the procedure set out in Review of wholesale services and associated policies, Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2013-551, 15 October 2013, attached are requests for information addressed to Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership (Bell Aliant), Bell Canada, Cogeco Cable Canada LP (Cogeco), MTS Inc. (MTS), Rogers Communications Partnership (RCP), Saskatchewan Telecommunications (SaskTel), Shaw Cablesystems G.P. (Shaw), Télébec, Limited Partnership (Télébec), TELUS Communications Company (TCC) and Videotron G.P. (Videotron).

Reponses to these requests for information are to be filed with the Commission by
6 December 2013.

As set out in Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin 2010-961, Procedures for filing confidential information and requesting its disclosure in Commission proceedings, companies may designate certain information as confidential. Companies must provide an abridged version of the document involved, accompanied by a note explaining how the information removed is confidential.

Yours sincerely,

Original signed by

Lyne Renaud
Director, Competitor Services & Costing
Telecommunications Sector

cc: Philippe Kent, CRTC, (819) 953-4057, philippe.kent@crtc.gc.ca

Distribution List

regulatory@bell.aliant.ca; bell.regulatory@bell.ca ; telecom.regulatory@cogeco.com;
iworkstation@mtsallstream.com; regulatory.aff@fidomobile.ca; document.control@sasktel.sk.ca; Regulatory@sjrb.ca;reglementa@telebec.com; regulatory.affairs@telus.com; regaffairs@quebecor.com;

Bell Aliant, Bell Canada, Cogeco, MTS, RCP, SaskTel, Shaw, Télébec, TCC, Videotron

Wholesale services market

101. Provide a list of the telecommunications service providers (TSPs) that purchase your wholesale services.

102. For each TSP, provide the total wholesale revenue associated with each wholesale service provided by the company for the most recent calendar year. For each wholesale service, provide a description of the service in question, and identify the associated tariff item (if regulated) or that the wholesale service is forborne.

103. Provide each wholesale service provided by the company (identify the tariff item if regulated, otherwise indicate that the wholesale service is now forborne), provide the total revenue associated with the wholesale service in question

104. For each of the years 2008 – 2012, as well as the most up-to-date information for 2013, provide total wholesale service revenues generated by your company, broken down by regulated and forborne wholesale services.

105. For each of the years 2008 – 2012, as well as the most up-to-date information for 2013, and for each wholesale service provided by the company (identify the tariff item if regulated, otherwise indicate that the wholesale service is now forborne), provide the total revenue associated with the wholesale service in question as well as the total number of subscribers to that service.

The information should be provided in the table format identified below

106. For the services identified above, identify whether any service group (e.g. Ethernet Access services, CDN services, wholesale high-speed access services, local loops, support structures) has undergone an important increase or decrease in demand (i.e. compounded annual growth rate of +/- 10% over a five year period), and provide an explanation as to why the change in demand.

Broadband network infrastructure

201. With respect to the technologies the company is currently deploying in its network to support the provisioning of services that use broadband access:

a) Identify the major network technologies (e.g. Fibre to the node (FTTN), DOCSIS 3.0, Fibre to the premises (FTTP), etc) deployed to support services that use broadband access and identify the retail services (e.g. Internet, IPTV, Video on Demand) provided and the range of upstream and downstream bandwidth requirements for each service.

b) For each of the years 2009 to 2013 (up to latest month available), provide the total capital expenditures associated with the network technologies identified in part a) above and any related network upgrades (e.g. node splitting) to increase broadband access speeds, and further provide a breakdown of these capital expenditures by those attributable to high speed Internet access, and other services, specifying and describing each service.

c) For each of the years 2009 to 2013 (up to latest month available), provide the number of homes passed by each of the major network technologies identified above in a)

202. With respect to the technologies the company is planning to deploy in its network to support provisioning of services that use broadband access:

a) Identify the major technologies and/or technology upgrades planned to be deployed from 2014 to 2016 to support services using broadband access including high speed Internet access. Describe how each of these technologies will impact the high speed upstream and downstream bandwidth capability per end-user; and if the bandwidth is shared by a community of end-users, specify the average number of end-users per community.

b) For the technologies identified in response to part a) above, identify other services planned to be offered over these technologies and the associated range of upstream and downstream bandwidth requirements. To the extent that TV distribution services are to be offered, indicate whether the services will be delivered as unicast, multicast, or broadcast.

c) For each technology identified in response to part a) above, provide schematic diagrams and identify the major components used. Further provide a description of each major component including its functions.

d) For each of the major technologies and technology upgrades identified in response to part a) above, for each of the years 2014 to 2016, provide the company’s forecast capital expenditures in broadband network infrastructure, and further provide a breakdown of these capital expenditures into those that are attributable to high speed Internet access, and other services, specifying and describing each service.

e) For each technology identified in response to part a) above, provide the forecast number of homes passed for each of the years 2014 to 2016.

f) For each technology identified in response to part a) above, for each of existing and new neighbourhoods, provide the company’s estimate of the average capital expenditure required to pass a home and to connect a home with such capability, with supporting assumptions.

g) For each technology identified in response to part a) above, identify the criteria used to assess whether or not to implement the technology in the market, including provisioning guidelines, construction costs, services, revenues, competitive threat, and take-rate considerations. Explain whether and how the above criteria will be different for markets of different sizes.

203. In the event that the company currently deploys fibre to the premises (FTTP) in a serving area, (e.g. neighbourhood, community, business park, city):

a) Indicate whether the company will continue to provide retail and/or wholesale services over the existing access infrastructure (for ILECs, copper access, including fibre to the node (FTTN); for cable carriers, hybrid fibre coax access) in that serving area with supporting rationale. If yes, provide the company’s plans to deliver services on both technologies.

b) Describe, with supporting rationale, how the company’s FTTP architecture could be unbundled to provide a wholesale high-speed access service to competitors. The response should indicate the entry point(s) in the architecture where the competitor could gain access to support its end-users and specify any equipment limitations that could impact the type of wholesale service that could be provided.

Date modified:

2013-10-15