ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter Addressed to Various Parties Interested in Northwestel Inc. Tariff Notice 903/903A, Toll Free Origination Services

Ottawa, 18 November 2014

Our reference:  8740-N1-201317793

BY EMAIL

Mr. Dallas Yeulett
Senior Manager, Regulatory Compliance
Northwestel Inc.
P.O. Box 2727
Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 4Y4
regulatoryaffairs@nwtel.ca

Mr. Phillippe Gauvin
Senior Counsel- Regulatory Law & Policy
Floor 19
160 Elgin Street
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2C4
bell.regulatory@bell.ca

Mr. Stephen Schmidt,
Vice-President, Telecom Policy & Chief Regulatory Legal Counsel
Floor 8, 215 Slater St.
Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 0A6
regulatory.affairs@telus.com

Re:  Northwestel Inc. Tariff Notice 903/903A, Toll Free Origination Services

Dear Sirs:

On 16 December 2013, as amended on 22 January 2014, the Commission received an application by Northwestel Inc. (Northwestel) requesting amongst other things, approval of tariffs for its Toll-Free Origination service.  Specifically, the company sought approval of rates for 1) the Toll-Free Terrestrial Transport charge, and 2) the Satellite Southern Delivery charge.

Commission staff requests that Bell Canada, and TELUS Communications Company (TCC) respond to the attached interrogatories by 3 December 2014.

Where a document is to be filed or served by a specific date, the document must be actually received, not merely sent, by that date.

Copies of the documents should also be sent to nat.natraj@crtc.gc.ca.

Sincerely,

Original signed by

Lyne Renaud
Director, Competitor Service & Costing
Telecommunications Directorate

c.c : B.Natraj (Nat Natraj), CRTC, 819-953-5081, nat.natraj@crtc.gc.ca
Mohammed Omar, CRTC, 819-934-6378, mohammed.omar@crtc.gc.ca
Stephen Schmidt, Telus Inc. regulatory.affairs@telus.com
Samer Bishay, Iristel Inc. regulatory@iristel.ca
Allen Trafford, MTS Allstream iworkstation@mtsallstream.com

Attach. Interrogatories

ATTACHMENT

Interrogatories to Bell Canada

1. Refer to Northwestel’s response provided in The Companies(CRTC)17Jun14-1 NWT TN 903/903A dated 27 June 2014 where Northwestel stated that “pursuant to Telecom Decision 97-19 toll transport services provided by Bell Canada are forborne”.

   Further refer to MTS’ comments ^{Footnote 1} and TCC’s comments ^{Footnote 2} dated 22 July 2014 where both of these parties disagreed with Northwestel that Decision 97-19 is the relevant directive for the forbearance of toll transport service for western and eastern arctic traffic provided by Bell Canada to Northwestel.

   Further refer to paragraphs 15 and 16 in TCC’s comments dated 22 July 2014 where TCC states “with respect to toll transport service for eastern arctic traffic that Bell Canada is providing to Northwestel the special functionality associated with satellite gateway equipment in Telesat’s earth station is unaccounted for from a regulatory perspective”.

   1. Provide a brief description of the following services Bell Canada provides to Northwestel: (i) the service using the satellite gateway equipment for eastern arctic toll-free calls and (ii) toll transport service for western arctic toll-free calls.
   2. In light of the comments made by MTS and TCC, explain with supporting rationale, why Decision 97-19 applies to the forbearance of the service using the satellite gateway equipment for eastern arctic toll-free calls described in a) above. In the event that Decision 97-19 does not explicitly apply, explain on what basis this service is considered forborne and provide the associated forbearance order.
   3. Confirm if the company agrees with TCC (see note 2 below) that the toll transport service for western arctic toll-free calls described in a) is forborne as part of the IX transport forbearance for the routes connecting High Level and Fort St. John to Toronto.  If so, provide the associated forbearance order. If not, explain on what basis this service is considered forborne and provide the associated forbearance order.   
   4. If the response to b) and c) above is that there is no forbearance order or tariff applicable to the services, confirm that Bell Canada will file forthwith either applications requesting forbearance or tariffs for Commission approval.  If not, explain why not with supporting rationale.
2. Refer to the section “Satellite Transport for Eastern Arctic Transport” in Northwestel’s reply comments dated 12 March 2014 where Northwestel stated that the satellite equipment is used for Northwestel’s toll free traffic.
   1. Explain with supporting rationale the difference in Bell Canada’s charge per minute to Northwestel and the cost per minute incurred by Bell Canada.
   2. Confirm that the satellite equipment service obtained from a third-party is dedicated for Northwestel traffic only (i.e. this equipment is not used by Bell Canada for any other traffic other than Northwestel’s traffic),
   3.  If the response to b) above is negative
      1.  explain what other traffic uses this equipment and provide an estimate of this traffic for each of 2011, 2012 and 2013 historical years, and forecast estimates for each of the years 2014 and 2015.
      2. Provide a revised cost incurred by Bell Canada and Bell Canada’s charge to Northwestel on a per minute basis which is based on the 2013 traffic estimate that includes: (1) Northwestel’s toll-free and non toll-free traffic from the Eastern Arctic, (2) Northwestel’s south bound traffic and north bound traffic and (3) the other traffic identified in i.) above.

Interrogatory to Telus Communications Company (TCC)

3. Refer to paragraph 21 in TCC’s comments dated 22 July 2014 where TCC stated that “had Northwestel sought competitive bids for these transport services, the resulting rate would likely not have exceeded 2 cents/minute for carriage on forborne terrestrial routes or for gateway equipment charges”.

   Provide any evidence or supporting information which TCC may have to support its statement set out above.

Date modified:

2014-11-18