ARCHIVED - Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2014-44-1

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Additional reference: Telecom Notice of Consultation 2014-44 and 2014-44-2

Ottawa, 2 June 2014

Call for comments

[Submit an intervention or view related documents]

Appointment of an Inquiry Officer to review matters related to transport services provided by satellite

File number: 8663-C12-201401041

Changes to procedure

1. With this notice, further process is announced related to the inquiry initiated by Telecom Notice of Consultation 2014-44.
2. In Telecom Notice of Consultation 2014-44, the Commission announced the appointment of an Inquiry Officer to review matters related to transport services provided by satellite. The Inquiry Officer is conducting her review through requests for information and a review of relevant literature. As part of the information gathering process, the Inquiry Officer has been meeting with a number of key stakeholders and other persons who identified themselves pursuant to paragraph 13 of the Telecom Notice of Consultation 2014-44 as having an interest in the inquiry.

Requests for information

3. The Inquiry Officer issued a letter dated 22 April 2014 to satellite operators offering fixed satellite services in Canada and interested persons who identified themselves pursuant to paragraph 13 of Telecom Notice of Consultation 2014-44. In this letter, the Inquiry Officer requested, among other things, copies of agreements between satellite operators and their customers for the provision of fixed satellite services.
4. Concurrent with this notice, the Inquiry Officer has issued requests for information to satellite operators offering fixed satellite services in Canada and to the interested persons identified in response to Telecom Notice of Consultation 2014-44, by way of separate letters. Responses to these requests for information are to be filed with the Commission by 23 June 2014.
5. The Inquiry Officer intends to issue a final round of requests for information on 14 July 2014. Responses to these requests for information are to be filed with the Inquiry Officer by 28 July 2014.

Call for comments

6. The Inquiry Officer invites comments on the following areas, which were initially set out in Telecom Notice of Consultation 2014-44 as the areas of focus for the inquiry:

1. satellite services provided by satellite operators to telecommunications service providers (TSPs) [e.g. providers of voice, wireless, Internet, and data services], including

a. which satellite operators are providing services to Canadian TSPs

b. the rates TSPs pay for satellite services and how these rates are established

c. technical limitations on satellite services that affect the quality of services that TSPs can provide

d. current and future satellite capacity that is available to TSPs to provide telecommunications services to Canadians

e. potential changes to technology, the competitive environment, sources of funding, or the regulatory environment that may affect the rates, quality, and/or capacity of satellite services in the future

f. whether the Commission’s existing regulatory framework for satellite services remains appropriate, and, if not, what changes are required

2. the use of satellite services by TSPs to provide telecommunications services, including

a. which TSPs use satellite services, where these TSPs operate, the numbers of customers who have access to their services and the numbers of customers they serve, what services they deliver to end-users, and what, if any, limitations apply to these services

b. the costs to a TSP of providing telecommunications services by way of satellite technology, both in terms of the rates charged by satellite operators and the costs that TSPs bear for ancillary infrastructure, such as ground stations, and sources of funding that impact the overall costs to TSPs

c. potential changes to the TSPs’ costs arising from technological or other changes

Procedure

7. Satellite operators offering fixed satellite services in Canada are made parties to this proceeding.^{Footnote 1}
8. Parties to this proceeding, as well as interested persons who wish to become parties to this proceeding, must file an intervention with the Inquiry Officer regarding the above-noted issues by 23 June 2014. Interventions must be filed in accordance with
   section 26 of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules of Procedure).
9. Parties are permitted to coordinate, organize, and file, in a single submission, interventions by other interested persons who share their position. Information on how to file this type of submission, known as a joint supporting intervention, as well as a template for the accompanying cover letter to be filed by parties, can be found in Telecom Information Bulletin 2011-693.
10. Interventions will be posted on the Commission’s website shortly after they are filed.
11. All parties who filed an intervention may file reply comments with the Inquiry Officer by 11 August 2014.
12. Submissions longer than five pages should include a summary. Each paragraph of all submissions should be numbered, and the line ***End of document*** should follow the last paragraph. This will help the Inquiry Officer verify that the document has not been damaged during electronic transmission.
13. Submissions must be filed by sending them to the Secretary General of the Commission using only one of the following means:

by completing the
[Intervention form]

or

by mail to
CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2

or

by fax to
819-994-0218

14. Parties who send documents electronically must ensure that they will be able to prove, upon request by the Inquiry Officer, that service/filing of a particular document was completed. Accordingly, parties must keep proof of the sending and receipt of each document for 180 days after the date on which the document is filed. The Inquiry Officer advises parties who file and serve documents by electronic means to exercise caution when using email for the service of documents, as it may be difficult to establish that service has occurred.
15. In accordance with the Rules of Procedure, a document must be received, not merely sent, by 5 p.m. Vancouver time (8 p.m. Ottawa time) on the date it is due. Parties are responsible for ensuring the timely delivery of their submissions and will not be notified if their submissions are received after the deadline. The Inquiry Officer will not formally acknowledge submissions.
16. Paragraphs 16 to 21 of Telecom Notice of Consultation 2014-44 apply to submissions as a result of this notice.

Secretary General

Related documents

• Appointment of an Inquiry Officer to review matters related to transport services provided by satellite, Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2014-44, 6 February 2014
• Filing of joint supporting interventions, Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2011-693, 8 November 2011

Date modified:

2014-06-02