ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter Addressed to Distribution List

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Ottawa, 17 January 2019

Our reference: 1011-NOC2017-0033

BY EMAIL

Distribution List

Re: Annual request for information regarding Message Relay Services - Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2018-466

Dear Sir/Madam:

Pursuant to the Message Relay Services (MRS) Regulatory PolicyFootnote1 published on 14 December 2018, Commission staff requests a response to this letter by 31 January 2019. The response must include:

MRS quality of service data

MRS quality of service data are to cover the period of 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018, and are to be broken down by:

An MS Excel template has been provided for your convenience, and should be used.

As noted in paragraphs 117 and 128 of the MRS Regulatory Policy, two quality of service standards regarding call-answer time and typing speed came into effect 14 December 2018. However, given that those standards were only in effect for a partial month during 2018, your response to this letter does not need to demonstrate compliance with those two standards.

As noted in paragraphs 153 and 156 of the MRS Regulatory Policy, there are additional standards that will not come into effect until 14 December 2019. Therefore, please be advised that next year’s annual Commission staff letter will not only request updated quality of service data and responses to the following five questions, but also confirmation that all standards (i.e. minimum requirements) in Appendix 1 of the MRS Regulatory Policy are being met.

Five questions

Q1. Pursuant to paragraph 20 of the MRS Regulatory Policy, incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs), competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), resellers of local exchange services, and VoIP service providers are obligated to provide MRS to their retail customers. If your company provides MRS on a wholesale basis, provide a list of ILECs, CLECs, resellers and VoIP providers with which you have such agreements as of 31 December 2018.

Q2. Pursuant to paragraph 38 of the MRS Regulatory Policy, WSPs that offer and provide mobile wireless voice services will, by 14 June 2019, be required to offer IP relay service to their retail customers. If your company provides IP relay on a wholesale basis, provide a list of WSPs with which you have such agreements as of 31 December 2018.

Q3. Does your company provide MRS to its retail customers directly or through a third party provider? If MRS is provided through a third party:

Q4. Pursuant to paragraph 229 of the MRS Regulatory Policy, all MRS providers are required to provide access to 9-1-1 service. Does your company make MRS available for calls to emergency services? If not, explain why.

Q5. Pursuant to paragraph 181 of the MRS Regulatory Policy, provide information on your company’s efforts in 2018 to:

The filing of documents referenced in this letter is to be done using the secured service “My CRTC Account (Partner Log In or GCKey).”

Please note that responses to this letter are due 31 January 2019. If you have any questions, please contact Bradley Gaudet at bradley.gaudet@crtc.gc.ca.

Yours sincerely,

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

Enclosure

c.c.: Distribution List

Distribution List

Appendix - Annual indicators for MRS

Indicators regarding calls

  1. Total number of incoming callsFootnote3 (by month)
  2. Total number of calls relayed (by month)
  3. Total number of calls relayed per month sorted by (i) day, (ii) hour,Footnote4 and (iii) language
  4. Number of abandoned or unanswered calls per month sorted by (i) day, (ii) hour,Footnote5 and (iii) language
  5. Wait times (averaged over one month):
    1. Average wait time
    2. Percentage of calls answered within 20 seconds
    3. Percentage of calls answered within 10 seconds
    4. Average call duration (averaged over one month)

Indicators regarding customers

  1. Total number of MRS users (actual or estimated) [by month, where possible]
  2. Total number of customer complaints (per year) categorized by type of complaint (e.g. wait times or operator-related)

Indicators regarding MRS operators

  1. Number of operators and operator hours per week sorted by (i) English operators, and (ii) French operators. If operators perform multiple functions, for example, provide general customer service in addition to providing relay services, the number of operator hours should be specific to the time spent on providing relay services.
  2. Typing speeds and accuracyFootnote6
    • Typing speed for each operator
    • Transcription accuracy for each operator
  3. Average hourly wage for (i) English operators, and (ii) French operators
  4. Qualifications / screening criteria for hiring process

Indicators regarding expenditures

  1. Monthly breakdown of expenditures associated with the provision of MRS, detailing
    1. Itemized list of capital assets associated with IP and TTY relay services, and the annual equivalent cost that would be applied over the lifespan of the asset, or, alternatively, the depreciation associated with the capital cost and financial expenses
    2. Direct operating expenses, with a detailed breakdown for operator and network costs
    3. Third-party expenses, detailing what the expenses cover (i.e. the terms of the contract). This could include the agreed-upon quality of service standards, white-label services or products, or the provision of branded websites and user interfaces
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