ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter Addressed to Various Parties in the Review of wholesale mobile wireless services, Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2014-76 - Request for disclosure of information designated as confidential

Ottawa, 30 October 2014

File number: 8620-C12-201401489

BY E-MAIL

To: Distribution list

Re:  Review of wholesale mobile wireless services, Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2014-76^{Footnote 1} - Request for disclosure of information designated as confidential

This letter addresses a request by TELUS Communications Company (TCC) for disclosure of certain information designated as confidential in the proceeding initiated by Telecom Notice of Consultation 2014-76.

On 14 October 2014, TCC requested disclosure of certain information for which confidentiality had been claimed in connection with Commission staff's requests for information dated 3 October 2014 which were addressed to the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (the CCSA), the Canadian Network Operators Consortium, Inc. (CNOC), Cogeco Cable, Inc. (Cogeco), and Tucows, Inc. (Tucows).^{Footnote 2} In particular, TCC requested that the content of any responses that involved interactions with TCC be disclosed to the company. TCC stated that this information was required so that the company may answer or respond to any assertions or claims made by these parties about specific interactions between the party and TCC.

On 14 October 2014, Tucows placed its response on the public record after initially filing it in confidence. On 23 October 2014, the CCSA provided TCC and the Commission with a revised version of its response containing only the portions relating to negotiations held between TCC and the CCSA.

In a letter dated 20 October 2014, Cogeco submitted that since the information requested by the Commission was subject to non-disclosure agreements, it had provided the relevant portions of its response to each of the wireless carriers, including TCC. Cogeco also requested that should the Commission allow TCC the opportunity to respond to any assertions made about specific interactions between TCC and the parties subject to the request for disclosure, each party should be allowed to reply to any assertions or claims made by TCC.

In a letter dated 15 October 2014, CNOC objected to TCC’s disclosure request. CNOC submitted that the Telecommunications Act (the Act) does not provide for selective disclosure, and that the Commission had rejected, in a Commission staff letter dated 20 May 2014, a request for selective disclosure from the Competition Bureau in the proceeding initiated by Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2013-551.^{Footnote 3} CNOC also requested that, should the Commission require disclosure in the manner requested by TCC, CNOC be allowed to withdraw from the record of the proceeding information filed in response to interrogatory CNOC(CRTC)3Oct14-1 relating to TCC and a certain CNOC member.

Commission staff notes that requests for disclosure of information designated as confidential are addressed in light of sections 38 and 39 of the Act and sections 30 and following of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules of Procedure). In evaluating a request, an assessment is made as to whether the information falls into a category of information that can be designated as confidential pursuant to section 39 of the Act. An assessment is then made as to whether there is any specific direct harm likely to result from the disclosure of the information in question and whether any such harm outweighs the public interest in disclosure. In making this evaluation, a number of factors are taken into consideration, including the degree of competition and the importance of disclosure of the information for the purpose of obtaining a fuller record.

Since Tucows placed its response on the public record, and since the CCSA and Cogeco disclosed the information in question to TCC, no determinations with respect to disclosure are required for these parties.

Commission staff considers that it would be appropriate to require CNOC to disclose to TCC the portions of its response relating to negotiations with TCC of which TCC would already be aware, including details of the negotiations and attached correspondence between CNOC members and TCC employees. However, it would not be appropriate for CNOC to disclose to TCC internal documents, including emails not addressed to / from TCC. Commission staff considers that the public interest in allowing TCC to verify parties’ description of their negotiations with TCC outweighs any harm that might come to the parties.

With respect to CNOC’s request to withdraw the portions of its response relating to one of its members’ negotiations with TCC, Commission staff considers that, given the lack of evidence of direct harm in disclosing information to TCC in this case, it would not be in the public interest to allow a party to withdraw information they undertook to provide or that was provided as a response to a request for information.

Having regard to the considerations set out above, unless otherwise expressly indicated, CNOC is to disclose to TCC, all information to be provided pursuant to this letter, as set out in Attachment 1, by 4 November 2014.

Commission staff considers that, given the specific facts of this case, it would be appropriate to allow TCC to file a supplemental submission, by 7 November 2014, with respect to the responses to request for information of the CCSA, CNOC, Cogeco and Tucows. TCC is required to limit its submission to a maximum of one page, and must limit its comments to the correction of any factual inaccuracies in the responses of the CCSA, CNOC, Cogeco and Tucows. Commission staff considers that since TCC’s comments must be limited to correcting any factual inaccuracies, it is not necessary to allow each party to respond to any comments from TCC, as requested by Cogeco.

Yours sincerely,

Original signed by

John Macri,
Director
Telecommunications Policy

cc: Kim Wardle, CRTC, (819) 997-4945, kim.wardle@crtc.gc.ca

Attach (1)

Distribution list:

TELUS Communications Company, regulatory.affairs@telus.com
Cogeco Cable Inc., telecom.regulatory@cogeco.com    
Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc., regulatory@cnoc.ca 
Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, cedwards@ccsa.cable.ca
Tucows Inc., enoss@tucows.com

DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION DESIGNATED AS CONFIDENTIAL

CNOC(CRTC)3Oct14-1

CNOC is to disclose to TCC the portions of its response relating to its members’ negotiations with TCC, including details of the negotiations and attached correspondence between CNOC members and TCC employees. CNOC is not required to disclose to TCC internal documents, including emails not addressed to / from TCC.

Date modified:

2014-10-30