ARCHIVED - Telecom Procedural Letter Addressed to Distribution List

Ottawa, 5 January 2016

Our reference: 8665-C12-201507576

BY EMAIL

To: Distribution List (see paragraph 14 of NoC 2015-333)

RE: Empowering Canadians to protect themselves from unsolicited and illegitimate telemarketing calls, Compliance and Enforcement Notice of Consultation CRTC 2015-333 - Requests for information

Pursuant to NoC 2015-333-2, attached is a request for additional information from the Commission. 

A response to this request for information is to be filed with the Commission by 24 January 2016. The response must be received, not merely sent, by that date.

The deadline for the filing of final submissions from all parties has been extended to 31 January 2016.

Confidentiality

Sections 30 to 34 of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure and sections 38 and 39 of the Telecommunications Act set out a process by which persons who submit information to the Commission may designate it as confidential. As set out in Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin 2010-961, a company that designates certain information as confidential must provide an abridged version of the document involved, accompanied by a note explaining how the information in question is confidential. Any requests to designate information^{Footnote 1} as confidential must be supported by detailed rationale that is specific to the issue at hand; generic statements such as ‘the release of this information to competitors would result in specific, direct harm to the company’ are not sufficient. Further details are available in the above-mentioned Information Bulletin.

Yours sincerely,

Original signed

Jeff Conrad
Director, Solutions and Intelligence
Compliance and Enforcement Sector, CRTC

c.c.: Kathleen Taylor, CRTC, (819) 743-9738, kathleen.taylor@crtc.gc.ca
All Incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) (including the large ILECs, small ILECs and Northwestel) and Competitive local exchange carriers

Attachment (1)

Attachment

To: Primus

1. In your submission of 4 December 2015, Primus indicates in paragraph 38 that it “has been assessing and developing new technologies and algorithms to address [spoofing and random number generation for each individual call] and believes that effective technical countermeasures are within reach.”  Provide a detailed description of these countermeasure techniques, as well as the timeline for implementation.
2. In a written article on CBC News entitled Endless telemarketing calls, scams and how the big telcos could stop them, published 25 November 2015, it is indicated that Primus is willing to share its technology to stop unwanted calls with other carriers. Brad Fisher of Primus is quoted saying, “[i]t’s something that Primus would be willing to work with the right partner [of the telemarketing guard service] in the Canadian marketplace.” Please provide the following details:
   1. Are you aware of any limitations or impediments, technical or otherwise, preventing a TSP of VOIP, traditional wireline, and wireless from deploying the Primus telemarketing guard, or a similar technology, on their networks?
   2. How long would it take a carrier to implement Primus’ technology, or a similar technology, if they chose to do so?
   3. To what extent has Primus engaged with other carriers in seeking adoption of its telemarketing guard technology? Explain.

   A copy of the news article can be found at: http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business/telcos-telemarketing-scams-spam-1.3334194

To: Distribution List (see paragraph 14 of NoC 2015-333)

1. A number of parties to this proceeding have indicated that third party solutions to block or filter unsolicited and illegitimate telemarketing calls can be provided to Canadians if their telecommunications service provider supports simultaneous ring.
   1. Indicate whether simultaneous ring is currently, or could be, supported on each of your telephony platforms (VOIP, traditional wire line, and wireless)? Explain.
   2. Indicate the total number of your subscribers for each platform and the percentage of your subscribers for each platform that currently, or could, have access to simultaneous ring.
   3. To the extent that simultaneous ring is not supported for all subscribers on all of your telephony platforms, indicate the specific steps that are required to implement this feature, as well as the associated timelines and any limitations or impediments to its deployment (technical or otherwise).
2.  With the exception of call trace (*57), how long are call detail records retained?
3. In an article on CBC News entitled Endless telemarketing calls, scams and how the big telcos could stop them, dated 25 November 2015, it is indicated that Primus is willing to share its technology to stop unwanted calls with other carriers.

   For each of your telephony platforms (e.g. VOIP, wireless, and traditional wireline), can you deploy Primus’ telemarketing guard technology, or a similar technology? Explain. Describe any limitations or impediments by telephony platform to implementing this type of technology? Also, provide details as to how long would it take to implement, if requested, on each of the telephony platforms.

4. The Commission is interested in helping consumers to better understand the services that their own phone service providers currently offer to assist them in protecting themselves against unwanted calls.
   1. Do you provide a website for customers and/or prospective customers that provides a comprehensive overview of all of the unwanted call management features that you offer? If so, provide a brief summary of the information provided on this website and a link(s) to where this information can be found. If not, explain why this information is not currently provided on the website.
   2. Address specifically whether this website includes the following, and if it does not, why not:
      • all unwanted call management options you offer;
      • the cost of the unwanted call management options you offer;
      • a description of the functionality of the unwanted call management options you offer;
      • an explanation of how to get more information on the options you offer; and
      • if all of this information is provided on a single webpage.

Date modified:

2016-01-05