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Ottawa, 19 March 2014
Our reference: 8740-N51-201316472
BY EMAIL
Mr. Michel Gilbert
Assistant Director, Regulatory Affairs
NorthernTel, Limited Partnership
87 Ontario West, 6th floor
Montreal, Quebec H2X 1Y8
mgilbert@telebec.com
reglementa@telebec.com
RE: Tariff Notice 368 – Expiry of exogenous adjustment
Dear Sir:
On 15 November 2013, the Commission received an application by NorthernTel, Limited Partnership (NorthernTel, or the company), under Tariff Notice 368, in which the company proposed revisions to its General Tariff to reflect the expiry of a previous Commission-approved exogenous adjustment for the recovery of non-recurring local competition and local number portability costs. The application was approved on an interim basis on 3 December 2013.
On 19 February 2014, in response to a Commission staff request for information, NorthernTel provided by category the number of residential and business NAS that it proposed would receive either a credit or rebate.
Paragraph 28(1)(a) of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure provides that the Commission may request parties to file information or documents where needed.
NorthernTel is requested to provide a comprehensive answer, including rationale and any supporting information, to the attached question by 2 April 2014.
Sincerely,
Original signed by
Michel Murray
Director, Regulatory Implementation
Telecommunications Sector
c.c.: Marie-Josée Boivin, reglementa@telebec.com
Imen Arfaoui, CRTC, 819-997-4663, imen.arfaoui@crtc.gc.ca
Attachment (1)
Attachment
Request for information
1. In a letter dated 5 December 2013, NorthernTel submitted that it would be issuing credits to all customers who subscribed to any of the services mentioned in TN 368 during the 27 June 2013 to 31 December 2013 period. It also submitted that customers who were still subscribing to the company’s services would benefit from a credit on their account and that customers who had left the company and no longer receive an invoice from NorthernTel would be issued a cheque for the applicable amount.
In NorthernTel’s 19 February 2014 reply to a Commission staff request for information, the company explained how it had determined the number of network access services (NAS) for which it proposed to provide rebates, for each of the following service categories: Residential – PES, Residential – Resale, Business – Mono, Business – Multi, Business – Resale.
a) How many NAS did NorthernTel have in each of these five service categories in regulated exchanges as of 31 December 2013?
b) How many of those NAS, and in which categories, were “bundled NAS” as of that date?
2. In Telecom Decision 2006-15, the Commission imposed a price ceiling on stand-alone residential PES[1] in forborne markets. The Commission noted that this price ceiling would apply to the most recent approved rates at time of forbearance for stand-alone PES, including touch-tone and primary directory listing, as well as for connection charges. The Commission stated that it considered that, at the time of forbearance, the applicant ILEC would be required to modify its tariffs such that these charges and the limits on them would apply to stand-alone PES in a forborne market.
NorthernTel began applying its exogenous amount as of 27 June 2008. Residential local services were forborne in certain exchanges effective 24 March 2010, 8 October 2010, and 4 April 2011.
In Telecom Decision 2011-291[2], the Commission set the price ceiling for the monthly stand-alone residential PES rate at $30 in forborne exchanges.
a) What is the stand-alone PES rate in forborne areas in NorthernTel’s territory?
b) How many stand-alone residential primary exchange service (PES) NAS did NorthernTel have in forborne exchanges as of 31 December 2013?
c) Given that the exogenous factor was applied when these rates were regulated, provide NorthernTel’s view about
i. whether the price ceiling in forborne areas should be lowered, and
ii. whether customers in forborne areas should receive rebates for the period that the exogenous factor no longer applied – that is, since 27 June 2013?
[1] Stand-alone PES refers to the situation where the customer subscribes only to PES and to no other telecommunications service
[2] Obligation to serve and other matters, Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2011-291, 3 May 2011
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