ARCHIVED - Letter
This page has been archived on the Web
Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. Archived Decisions, Notices and Orders (DNOs) remain in effect except to the extent they are amended or reversed by the Commission, a court, or the government. The text of archived information has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Changes to DNOs are published as “dashes” to the original DNO number. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats by contacting us.
Mr. Stephen Schmidt
Vice-President – Telecom Policy & Chief Regulatory Legal Counsel
TELUS Communications Company (TELUS)
215 Slater Street, 8th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 0A6
By email: regulatory.affairs@telus.com
Re: TELUS’ request to withdraw its Part 1 Application: Use of Deferral Account funds to improve access to telecommunications for persons with disabilities – Website accessibility initiative
Dear Mr. Schmidt:
With this letter Commission staff acknowledges TELUS’ request to withdraw the above
Part 1 application that pertains to the use of deferral account funds to improve the accessibility of its websites (the website accessibility initiative). TELUS filed this request with the Commission in a letter dated 7 February 2012.
Based on its review of that letter, Commission staff understands that this withdrawal request results from TELUS’ examination of costs for this initiative in response to a staff letter dated 23 January 2014. As a result of that examination, TELUS has indicated that it no longer believes that it requires the full amount of $1.8M of deferral account funds that it had originally proposed for its website initiative and that it intends to file a new comprehensive Part 1 application. The new application will include updated information and cost data, as well as the results of further consultation with advocacy groups representing persons with disabilities.
In light of the above, File # 8678-T66-201306845 is closed.
Though TELUS has signalled that it intends to file its new Part 1 application by the end of June 2014 given that it requires additional time to consult with the advocacy groups, Commission staff encourages TELUS to make best efforts to submit its application prior to the end of June 2014 so that these funds, which have their genesis in the mid 2000s, can begin to improve access to telecommunications services for persons with disabilities as soon as possible. To that end, Commission staff expects the application to contain a fulsome detailing of all of the necessary costing information to minimize the number of interrogatories that may be required.
Yours sincerely,
ORIGINAL SIGNED BY /
Nanao Kachi
Director, Social and Consumer Policy
cc: mary-louise.hayward@crtc.gc.ca;
eric.edora@telus.com;
Distribution List:
Canadian Association of the Deaf jroots@cad.ca; Ontario College of Art and Design, Treviranus, jtreviranus@faculty.ocad.ca; ARCH archlib@lao.on.ca; petricoi@lao.on.ca; Council of Canadians with Disabilities, laurie@ccdonline.ca; Council of Canadians with Disabilities, ccd@ccdonline.ca; Independent Living Canada, nationaldirector@ilc-vac.ca; Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), Christine.robbins@cnib.ca; diane.bergeron@cnib.ca; Canadian Council of the Blind, mpotvin@ccbnational.net; Ottawa Deaf Centre, newfiedjh@yahoo.com; Ontario Association of the Deaf, dean@deafontario.ca; The Canadian Hearing Society, ckenopic@chs.ca; Canadian Association for Community Living, mbach@cacl.ca; Centre québécois de la déficience auditive, cqda@videotron.ca; Public Interest Law Centre, mybow@legalaid.mb.ca; Disability and Information Technologies (Dis-IT), ine@ccdonline.ca; d_stienstra@umanitoba.ca; Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians/L'Alliance pour l'égalité des aveugles canadiens, mworkman@blindcanadians.ca; Farah.mughal@rci.rogers.com; Neil Squire Society, garyb@neilsquire.ca; Chris Stark, stark.chris@rogers.com; jeff.in.kanata@gmail.com; Clayton Zekelman, clayton@MNSi.Net; Beverley Milligan, Media Access Canada, bmilligan@mediac.ca; Confédération des organismes de personnes handicapées du Québec, direction@cophan.org; lisandkellett@gmail.com
- Date modified: