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ARCHIVED - Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2015-134-3

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References: 2015-134, 2015-134-1, 2015-134-2, 2015-134-4 and 2015-134-5

Ottawa, 14 January 2016

File number: 8663-C12-201503186

Notice of hearing

11 April 2016
Gatineau, Quebec

Deadlines for the second phase of submissions: 8 and 29 February 2016

[Submit an intervention or view related documents]

Review of basic telecommunications services

  1. In Telecom Notice of Consultation 2015-134 (the Notice), the Commission stated that it would reach out to Canadians at a later date to further explore the telecommunications services they consider necessary to participate meaningfully in the digital economy today and in the future, and to provide them with an opportunity to appear at the public hearing.
  2. The Commission hereby invites Canadians to fill out a questionnaire related to their usage of telecommunications services, referenced below, by 29 February 2016. In addition, Canadians who wish to provide further views beyond the questionnaire may submit interventions on the issues and questions identified in the Notice by 8 February 2016. Interested persons may wish to consult the Notice for an overview of the issues raised in the proceeding before filing any interventions.

Questionnaire and other activities

  1. The Commission has contracted an external consulting firm, EKOS Research Associates Inc. (EKOS), to conduct a study of Canadians’ usage of telecommunications services. As part of the study, Canadians will be able to fill out an online questionnaire on issues relating to this proceeding. Canadians may access the questionnaire through the following link: www.ekos.com/crtce.
  2. Canadians who cannot access the questionnaire online may call 1-877-249-2782 to fill it out over the phone with an agent or to request a paper copy (a prepaid return envelope will be supplied). Canadians may also send a fax to 819-994-0218 to request a copy of the questionnaire and/or to send the questionnaire back.
  3. Responses to the questionnaire (online, or by phone, mail, or fax) must be completed and received by the Commission by 29 February 2016.
  4. EKOS will also be contacting Canadians in order to host focus groups in small communities and conduct phone interviews across Canada in regions where a large percentage of the population is underserved or unserved by modern telecommunications services. These regional consultations will be completed by 29 February 2016.
  5. Following this consultation period, EKOS will provide the Commission with a report summarizing the results of the questionnaire, the focus groups, and the phone interviews. The report will be placed on the public record for this proceeding on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca as soon as it is available.

Interventions and appearing at the public hearing

  1. Interested persons who wish to further participate in this public process, beyond filling out the questionnaire, may file an intervention and may also request to appear at the public hearing, pursuant to the procedures set out below.
  2. As stated in the Notice, the Commission will hold a public hearing, beginning on 11 April 2016 at 9:00 a.m., at the Conference Centre, Phase IV, 140 Promenade du Portage, in Gatineau, Quebec. The hearing is expected to last between 10 and 15 days.
  3. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules of Procedure) apply to this proceeding. The Rules of Procedure set out, among other things, the rules for the content, format, and filing of interventions, and the conduct of public hearings. Accordingly, the procedure set out below must be read in conjunction with the Rules of Procedure and accompanying documents, which can be found on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca, under “Statutes and Regulations.” The guidelinesset out in Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin 2010-959 provide information to help interested persons and parties understand the Rules of Procedure so that they can more effectively participate in Commission proceedings.
  4. Interested persons who wish to become parties to this proceeding must file an intervention with the Commission regarding the issues set out in the Notice by 8 February 2016. The intervention must be filed in accordance with section 26 of the Rules of Procedureand must include one of the following statements in either the first or the last paragraph:
    1. I request to appear at the public hearing.
    2. I do not want to appear at the public hearing.
  5. Parties are permitted to coordinate, organize, and file, in a single submission, interventions by other interested persons who share their position but do not wish to appear at the hearing. 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.
  6. Parties who wish to appear at the public hearing must provide reasons why their written intervention is not sufficient and why an appearance is necessary. In addition, parties requiring communications support must state their request for such support on the first page of their intervention.
  7. Only those parties whose requests to appear have been granted will be contacted by the Commission and invited to appear at the hearing. An organization and conduct letter, providing directions on procedure with respect to the public hearing, will be issued before the hearing begins.
  8. Although the public hearing will be held in Gatineau, Quebec, parties may participate from the Commission’s regional offices via videoconference. Parties interested in doing so are asked to indicate, at the time they file their interventions, the regional office where they wish to appear. A list of the Commission’s regional offices is included in this notice. In addition, the Commission will make every effort to connect persons via videoconference or teleconference links to other locations should it receive requests to do so.
  9. Parties requiring communications support, such as assistive listening devices and sign language interpretation, are requested to confirm their specific requirements with the Commission at least 20 days before the public hearing begins so that the necessary arrangements can be made.
  10. The Commission encourages interested persons and parties to monitor the record of this proceeding, available on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca, for additional information that they may find useful when preparing their submissions.
  11. 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 Commission verify that the document has not been damaged during electronic transmission.
  12. 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

  13. Parties who send documents electronically must ensure that they will be able to prove, upon Commission request, that 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 Commission advises parties who file 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.
  14. In accordance with the Rules of Procedure, a document must be received by the Commission 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. Late submissions, including those due to postal delays, will not be considered by the Commission and will not be made part of the public record.
  15. The Commission will not formally acknowledge submissions. It will, however, fully consider all submissions, which will form part of the public record of the proceeding, provided that the procedure for filing set out above has been followed.

Important notice

  1. All information that parties provide as part of this public process, except information designated confidential, whether sent by postal mail, facsimile, email, or through the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca, becomes part of a publicly accessible file and will be posted on the Commission’s website. This includes all personal information, such as full names, email addresses, postal/street addresses, telephone and facsimile numbers, etc.
  2. The personal information that parties provide will be used and may be disclosed for the purpose for which the information was obtained or compiled by the Commission, or for a use consistent with that purpose.
  3. Documents received electronically or otherwise will be posted on the Commission’s website in their entirety exactly as received, including any personal information contained therein, in the official language and format in which they are received. Documents not received electronically will be available in PDF format.
  4. The information that parties provide to the Commission as part of this public process is entered into an unsearchable database dedicated to this specific public process. This database is accessible only from the web page of this particular public process. As a result, a general search of the Commission’s website with the help of either its search engine or a third-party search engine will not provide access to the information that was provided as part of this public process.

Availability of documents

  1. Electronic versions of the interventions and other documents referred to in this notice are available on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca by using the file number provided at the beginning of this notice or by visiting the “Participate” section of the Commission’s website, selecting “Submit Ideas and Comments,” then selecting “our open processes.” Documents can then be accessed by clicking on the links in the “Subject” and “Related Documents” columns associated with this particular notice.
  2. Documents are also available from Commission offices, upon request, during normal business hours.

Commission offices

Toll-free telephone: 1-877-249-2782
Toll-free TDD: 1-877-909-2782

Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
Central Building
1 Promenade du Portage, Room 206
Gatineau, Quebec J8X 4B1
Tel.: 819-997-2429
Fax: 819-994-0218

Regional offices

Nova Scotia

Metropolitan Place
99 Wyse Road, Suite 1410
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia B3A 4S5
Tel.: 902-426-7997
Fax: 902-426-2721

Quebec

505 De Maisonneuve Boulevard West, Suite 205
Montréal, Quebec H3A 3C2
Tel.: 514-283-6607

Ontario

55 St. Clair Avenue East, Suite 624
Toronto, Ontario M4T 1M2
Tel.: 416-952-9096

Manitoba

360 Main Street, Suite 970
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3Z3
Tel.: 204-983-6306
Fax: 204-983-6317

Saskatchewan

1975 Scarth Street, Suite 403
Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 2H1
Tel.: 306-780-3422
Fax: 306-780-3319

Alberta

220 – 4th Avenue Southeast, Suite 574
Calgary, Alberta T2G 4X3
Tel.: 403-292-6660
Fax: 403-292-6686

British Columbia

858 Beatty Street, Suite 290
Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 1C1
Tel.: 604-666-2111
Fax: 604-666-8322
Secretary General

Related documents

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