ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter addressed to Distribution list

Ottawa, 6 November 2015

Our reference:  8638-C12-201509663

BY EMAIL

Distribution list

RE:   Follow-up to Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-326: Implementation of a disaggregated wholesale High Speed Access services, including over FTTP access facilities – Process Letter and Requests for information

Dear Madams, Sirs:

This is further to the letter sent by Commission staff on 16 October 2015, postponing the date for the filing of interventions and committing to issue a new process for this proceeding.

The Commission had received a letter dated 12 October 2015, from the Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc. (CNOC). In its letter, CNOC submitted that it requires additional technical information in order to be able to provide meaningful comments on proposed configurations for disaggregated wholesale high-speed access (HSA) services. CNOC requested that the Commission direct Bell Canada, Cogeco Cable Inc. (Cogeco), Rogers Communications Partnership (Rogers) and Québecor Média inc. on behalf of its affiliate Vidéotron (Québecor) to respond to requests for information (RFIs) that CNOC set out in its letter. CNOC also requested that the Commission set out a process to allow requests for disclosure of information filed in confidence.

Rogers, Cogeco, Québecor and Vaxination Informatique (Vaxination) submitted comments regarding CNOC’s request. CNOC replied to each of the comments.
Québecor, Cogeco and Rogers submitted that they did not object to the procedural change proposed by CNOC as long as the RFIs are limited to technical information. Vaxination suggested that the Commission put in place an RFI process open to all parties and that a second round of RFIs based on the responses to the first set be permitted before final comments are to be filed.

Commission staff considers that additional information received through a Commission staff RFI process would assist parties to better understand the proposed configurations and allow them to provide more meaningful comments.

Commission staff notes that the scope of the current proceeding is focused on proposals for service configurations, and that as stated in paragraph 159 of Telecom Regulatory Policy 2015-326, methods of cost recovery and implementation timelines are to be considered in the subsequent tariff process.

With respect to Vaxination’s suggested expanded RFI process, Commission staff considers that this would unduly expand the scope of the proceeding beyond that contemplated by Telecom Regulatory Policy 2015-326 and could result in significant delays.

In light of the above considerations, Commission staff is setting out a modified process that includes RFIs related to the submitted configuration proposals. In this regard, a number of RFIs are posed to various parties and are attached in Attachment 2. These RFIs from Commission staff, seek information within the scope of the proceeding, and will assist in providing a fuller record.

The process set out in Telecom Regulatory Policy 2015-326 and in the 13 August 2015 Commission letter, is modified as follows:

• Bell Canada, Cogeco, Rogers and Québecor are to file their responses to the attached RFIs with the Commission, and serve all parties identified in the distribution list by 3 December 2015. (see Attachment 2).
• Any party may file a request for the disclosure of information filed in confidence related to the RFIs by 11 December 2015, serving all parties to the proceeding.
• Bell Canada, Cogeco, Rogers and Québecor may reply to the requests for the disclosure of information by 18 December 2015, serving all parties to the proceeding. Determinations will be made as soon as possible after that date.
• Bell Canada, Cogeco, Rogers and Québecor are to disclose the additional information on the public record as determined by Commission staff, if any, by 18 January 2016, serving all parties to the proceeding.
• Any party may file interventions with the Commission, and serve copies on all other parties by 2 February 2016.
• Any party may file reply comments with the Commission, and serve copies on all other parties by 16 February 2016.

Sincerely,

Original signed by Doug Thurston for

Lyne Renaud
Director, Competitor Services & Costing Implementation
Telecommunications sector
c.c.:  Marc Pilon, CRTC, 819-997-4535, marc.pilon@crtc.gc.ca

Attach. (2): Distribution list
Requests for information

Distribution List

Date modified:

2015-11-06