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ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter Addressed to Stephen Schmidt (TELUS)

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Ottawa, 25 August 2016

BY EMAIL

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

Re:  TELUS Communications Company’s Part 1 Application, Show cause proceeding for use of deferral account funds to improve access to telecommunication services for persons with disabilities – Request to disclose information claimed as confidential

Dear Mr. Schmidt:

With this letter, Commission staff is requesting disclosure of the following document submitted in confidence by TELUS Communications Company (TELUS) in the Part 1 Application, Follow-up to Telecom Decision 2016-193 - Show Cause Proceeding for further proposals for the use of deferral account funds to improve access to telecommunications services for persons with disabilities:

At the time that TELUS filed this application, it designated the above information as ‘confidential’, pursuant to section 39 of the Telecommunications Act and the directions provided by the Commission in the Appendices to Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin 2010-961 (Information Bulletin 2010-961). TELUS provided the following rationale for its designation of confidentiality for this information at paragraph 2 of its letter dated 19 July 2016:

Release of this information would provide potential competitors with competitively-sensitive information that would not otherwise be available to them, and which would enable them to develop more effective business strategies. Release of such information could prejudice TELUS’ competitive position and cause specific direct harm.

Staff notes that the Commission stated at paragraph 6 of Information Bulletin 2010-961 that:

Generic statements such as ‘the release of this information to competitors would result in specific, direct harm to the company’ are not sufficient. Parties must provide sufficient reasons to allow meaningful analysis by the Commission or another party who may wish to request disclosure of the information.

Following a preliminary examination, Commission staff considers that the release of the information identified above would be in the public interest. This information would facilitate meaningful comment by interested parties on the effectiveness of TELUS’ proposal in achieving its objectives and would promote the creation of a fuller record for this proceeding. Moreover, in the view of Commission staff, TELUS has not provided sufficiently specific rationale to justify why disclosure of this information is not in the public interest, nor did it explain how the information at issue is of a type listed in the Appendices to Information Bulletin 2010-961.

Accordingly, a non-abridged version of Appendix B is to be filed with the Commission by TELUS no later than 2 September 2016.

Revised timelines for the intervention period and corresponding reply period for this process will follow after the receipt of TELUS’ reply.

Sincerely,

[Original signed]

Nanao Kachi
Director
Social and Consumer Policy
Consumer Affairs and Strategic Policy

c.c.: Distribution List
Meghan Zwiers, meghan.zwiers@crtc.gc.ca
Mary-Louise Hayward, mary-louise.hayward@crtc.gc.ca

Distribution List:

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