ARCHIVED - Telecom Procedural Letter Addressed to Iristel Technologies Inc. and Telus Communications Inc.

Ottawa, 29 January 2019

Our references: 8663-J64-201806019 and 8663-T66-201805722

BY EMAIL

Mr. Jean-Francois Dumoulin
Vice-President Regulatory and Government Affairs
Iristel Technologies Inc.
675 Cochrane Drive
East Tower, 6th floor
Markham, Ontario, L3R 0B8
regulatory@iristel.com

Mr. Stephen Schmidt
Vice-President – Telecom Policy & Chief Regulatory Legal Counsel
Telecom Policy and Regulatory Affairs 
TELUS Communications Inc.
Floor 8, 215 Slater St.
Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 0A6
regulatory.affairs@telus.com 

RE:Iris Technologies Inc. and TELUS Communications Inc. – Applications for relief regarding the termination of traffic to certain 867 numbering plan area telephone numbers

Dear Sirs,

The Commission received a Part 1 application from TELUS Communications Inc. (TCI) dated 3 August 2018, in which TCI requested relief regarding alleged new traffic stimulation activities involving Iristel Inc.’s 867 NPA telephone numbers in the incumbent serving territory of Northwestel Inc. The Commission subsequently received a Part 1 application dated 7 August 2018 from Iris Technologies Inc., on behalf of itself and its affiliate Ice Wireless Inc.^Footnote1 , regarding TCI’s reduced capacity on certain toll transit circuits that carry TCI’s traffic to Iristel’s 867 NPA telephone numbers.

In Telecom Decision 2018-432, the Commission issued several interim determinations and considered that addressing the final relief requests in both applications would require a thorough review of the record and further process.

Accordingly, Commission staff has established the following process for the review of the final relief requests made by Iristel and TCI:

Step 1. Iristel and TCI are to file responses to the relevant requests for information listed in Appendix 1 with the Commission by 19 February 2019.

Step 2. Any interested parties may file submissions with the Commission commenting on the responses filed by Iristel and TCI or any other relevant issues raised in this proceeding 12 March 2019.

Step 3. Any interested party that filed comments may address questions to Iristel, TCI, any other interested party that filed comments, or to telecom service providers that use Iristel’s 867 NPA telephone numbers. Such interrogatories must be filed with the Commission and served on the interested parties to which the interrogatories are addressed by 2 April 2019.

Step 4. Any party being requested for information in step 3 above is required to file its response with the Commission by 23 April 2019.

Any document filed with the Commission must be served on all interested parties. Where a document is to be filed or served by a specific date, the document must be actually received, not merely sent, by that date.

A copy of this letter and all related correspondence will be publicly accessible through the Commission’s website. Persons that wish to designate information contained in their submissions as confidential must do so in accordance with the Telecommunications Act^Footnote2 (the Act)and with the CRTC Rules of Practice and Procedure:^Footnote3

A person wishing to designate information as confidential must provide a detailed explanation regarding:

• why the information falls into a category that may be designated as confidential; and
• why disclosure would not be in the public interest, including the specific direct harm that would be likely to result from the disclosure and why this would outweigh the public interest in disclosure.

A person designating information as confidential must either file an abridged version of the document, omitting only the information designated as confidential, or provide reasons why an abridged version cannot be filed.

Commission staff may issue further requests for information in light of submissions received as part of the above process. Any further process beyond the above-described steps will be communicated at a later date.

Sincerely,

Original signed by

Michel Murray
Director, Dispute Resolution and Regulatory Implementation
Telecommunications Sector

c.c.: Jill Schatz, Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc., regulatory@cnoc.ca
John Lawford, Public Interest Advocacy Centre, jlawford@piac.ca
Howard Slawner, Rogers Communications Canada Inc., rwi_gr@rci.rogers.com
Marc Lange, marc8lange@gmail.com
Martin Brazeau, CRTC, martin.brazeau@crtc.gc.ca

A. Questions to Iristel

1) In Attachment 1 of its application, TCI submitted a list of Iristel NPA 867 numbers that appear to be generating significant inbound traffic in relation to the transmission of, for example, call-to-listen services. For each number listed by TCI :

1. Provide the name of the parties that use the number (telecommunications service providers and end users), and the contact information of these parties;
2. Provide the point of delivery of calls to each of the parties identified in response to question 1)a), including the specific building address where the termination occurs;
3. Provide or describe any agreement or arrangement, written or otherwise, between Iristel and the parties identified in response to question 1)a), or with any parties in relation to the use of the telephone number in question, along with any documentation related to that agreement or arrangement;
4. Explain why that number is assigned to the service being provided and comment on the possibility of assigning the service in question to a number located in a different NPA.

2) For the period 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2018, provide the volume of traffic in minutes, on a monthly basis, from TCI and destined for Iristel’s NPA 867 numbers. Provide the information separately for the traffic carried on Iristel’ trunks and the traffic carried on all other carriers’ trunks.

B. Questions to TCI

1) As part of its application, TCI submitted a list of NPA 867 numbers that belong to Iristel and appear to be generating significant inbound traffic in relation to the transmission of, for example, traffic to call-to-listen services. Summarize the avenues that TCI has explored, if any, to rectify this issue between parties in a competitive marketplace. For example, describe any attempts to re-negotiate an agreement with Iristel, or the possibility of offering competitive alternatives to parties that are currently using the numbers at issue.

Date modified:

2019-01-29