ARCHIVED - Telecom Procedural Letter Addressed to Philippe Gauvin (Bell Canada)
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Ottawa, 11 December 2015
Our reference: 8663-B2-201513036
Mr. Philippe Gauvin
Senior Legal Counsel
Bell Canada
160 Elgin Street, Floor 19
Ottawa, ON K2P 2C4
bell.regulatory@bell.ca
BY EMAIL
Re: Bell Canada Part 1 Application – Request for expansion of certain determinations from Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-326
The purpose of this letter is to establish further process with respect to an application filed by Bell Canada pursuant to Part 1 of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules of Procedure).
On 23 November 2015, the Commission received a Part 1 application from Bell Canada, requesting that the Commission
- treat certain wholesale services in the same manner as unbundled local loops were treated in Review of wholesale wireline services and associated policies, Telecom Regulatory Policy 2015-326, 22 July 2015 (TRP 2015-326); and
- freeze the existing rates of additional wholesale legacy services that are traditionally provided over copper, similar to the Commission’s determinations in TRP 2015-326 regarding unbundled loops, legacy DSL, and low-speed CDN services.
On 1 December 2015, the Commission received a letter from the Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc. (CNOC) in response to Bell Canada’s application. In that letter, CNOC argued that Bell Canada, through its application, was seeking to review and vary the Commission’s rulings in TRP 2015-326. CNOC therefore requested that Bell Canada be required to re-file its application as a review and vary application. CNOC further requested that Bell Canada be required to (a) address the review and vary test, and (b) serve its application on the interveners to the proceeding leading to TRP 2015-326.
On 7 December 2015, the Commission received a letter from Bell Canada in response to CNOC’s letter. In that letter, Bell Canada submitted that its application satisfied the criteria for new applications listed in Revised guidelines for review and vary applications, Telecom Information Bulletin 2011-214, 25 March 2011 (Telecom Information Bulletin 2011-214).
On 8 December 2015, the Commission received a letter from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), in which PIAC supported CNOC’s request. PIAC also suggested that it would be more efficient for all of the parties to deal with all of Bell Canada’s concerns with TRP 2015-326 at the same time.
Staff notes that the merits of Bell Canada’s application will be considered by the Commission, including both the submission that the application constitutes a new application, and that it should more appropriately be considered as a review and vary application. In these circumstances, staff considers that Bell Canada should demonstrate that its application meets the Commission’s review and vary test, and address why the Commission should extend the standard timelines associated with review and vary applications set out in the Rules of Procedure. Moreover, in the context of the submissions made so far, staff considers it appropriate that the above application be considered as a separate matter from Bell Canada’s application to review and vary TRP 2015-326.
Accordingly, Bell Canada is to supplement its application to demonstrate that it meets the Commission’s review and vary test as set out in Telecommunications Information Bulletin 2011-214, and explain why the Commission should extend the standard timelines for review and vary applications in this case.
Bell Canada must file its revised application by January 8, 2016. Further, to ensure that potential parties have knowledge of the application, Bell Canada must serve a copy of its application as supplemented on all interveners in the proceeding leading to TRP 2015-326.
Interested persons, including PIAC and CNOC, may file interventions within 30 days after the day on which the Commission posts Bell Canada’s revised application on its website. Bell Canada may file a reply to a document of an intervener within 10 days after the deadline for the filing of the answer or the deadline for intervening in the proceeding, as the case may be.
Sincerely,
Original signed by Kay Saicheua
Kay Saicheua
Director, Competition and Emergency Service Policy
Telecommunications Sector
c.c.: Kevin Pickell, CRTC, 819-997-4580, kevin.pickell@crtc.gc.ca
Mr. William Sandiford, CNOC, regulatory@cnoc.ca
Mr. Geoffrey White, PIAC, gwhite@piac.ca
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