ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter Addressed to Mr. Caleb Kalenuik (VerseTEL Communications Ltd.)

Ottawa, 9 August 2017

Mr. Caleb Kalenuik
President
VerseTEL Communications Ltd.
131 Saunders Road, Unit 4&5
Barrie, Ontario, L4N 9A7

Subject: Your company’s mandatory participation in the CCTS – Commission staff request for information 

Dear Mr. Kalenuik:

This is a follow-up to my letter sent by email, dated 5 June 2017.

As I noted on 5 June 2017, based on the information provided to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) by the the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS), VerseTEL Communications Ltd. (VerseTEL) was required to become a participant in the CCTS by 16 February 2017, but has failed to do so. As a result, VerseTEL could be found to be in violation of the Telecommunications Act ^Footnote1 because it had contravened the CRTC’s participation requirement. Appendix A provides more details concerning the requirement that VerseTEL participate in the CCTS.

I would take this opportunity to reiterate that failure to participate in the CCTS is taken very seriously by the CRTC and we are now exploring next possible enforcement options, including the imposition of administrative monetary penalties (AMPs), the first of which was imposed on a telecommunication service provider (TSP) failing to participate in the CCTS in April 2017.

In order to avoid the CRTC taking enforcement actions against your company, VerseTEL is required to immediately become a participant in the CCTS and provide proof that it has done so (i.e., a copy of correspondence from the CCTS acknowledging your company’s participation) to me as the Chief Consumer Officer of the CRTC.

Should you have questions about registering as a participating TSP or the triggering complaint, you can contact Ms. Josée Thibault at the CCTS at 613-688-4752.

If you have questions specific to the CRTC’s requirements concerning CCTS participation and the Telecommunications Act, you may contact Nanao Kachi, Director of Social and Consumer Policy, at 819-997-4700 or nanao.kachi@crtc.gc.ca.

Additional Information Required

Further to Section 37(2) of the Act, which grants the CRTC the authority to require the submission of any information that it considers necessary for the administration of the Act, to enhance Commission staff’s understanding of VerseTEL’s operations, you are required to file the following information:

• Audited financial statements for the past three fiscal years.
• The number of subscribers to VerseTEL’s services that fall within the scope of the CCTS’ mandate for the past three fiscal years.
• List of officer(s) or director(s) from the company.
• List of underlying Canadian carrier or non-carriers that VerseTEL relies on to provide service to its end-customers.

This information is to be filed no later than 31 August 2017.

In addition, in reviewing this file, CRTC staff has discovered that VerseTEL has not responded to the annual Telecommunications Survey and reminds it that all telecommunications entities must respond to the annual Telecommunications Survey. This survey is conducted under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada 1985, Chapter S-19, the Telecommunications Act, Section 37 and the Broadcasting Act.

The annual Telecommunications Survey is due in March of each year and is accessible via the CRTC Data Collection System: https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/dcs/current/dcs2.htm. VerseTEL is required to immediately submit the information required for the Telecommunications Survey.

Yours sincerely,

Original signed by

Scott Shortliffe
Chief Consumer Officer and Executive Director
Consumer Affairs and Strategic Policy

Appendix A – Details concerning the requirement that VerseTEL participate in the CCTS

As per paragraph 45 of Broadcasting and Telecom Regulatory Policy 2016-102^Footnote2 , the CRTC requires, pursuant to sections 24 and 24.1 of the Telecommunications Act, that as a condition of offering or providing telecommunication services:

• Every person (i.e. TSP) who is not a participant in the CCTS as of March 17, 2016 become and remain a participant in the CCTS commencing 30 days after the date on which the CCTS informs that person that the CCTS has received a complaint related to telecommunications services provided by it falling within the scope of the CCTS’s mandate.

For clarity, the term "person" includes every Canadian carrier and every person who is not a Canadian carrier (i.e. a reseller, such as yourself), as defined in the Telecommunications Act.

Based on the information provided to the CRTC by the CCTS, VerseTEL was required to become a participant in the CCTS by 16 February 2017 but has failed to comply with this requirement. Specifically the CCTS informed the CRTC that:

• The CCTS received an in-scope complaint from a customer of VerseTEL on 4 January 2017 that triggered the CCTS participation requirement;
• The CCTS provided written notice to VerseTEL on 16 January 2017 that VerseTEL was required to become a participant by 16 February 2017;
• The CCTS provided a subsequent written notice to VerseTEL on 16 February 2017; and
• As of the date of this letter, VerseTEL has failed to become participant in the CCTS as required.

Date modified:

2017-08-09