ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter adressed to Various Parties

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Ottawa, 1 May 2019

Our reference: 1011-NOC2018-0246; 4754-612, 4754-613, 4754-614, 4754-615, 4754-616, 4754-617, 4754-618, and 4754-619

BY EMAIL

Kenneth Whitehurst, Executive Director
Consumers Council of Canada
whitehurst@consumerscouncil.com

Anaïs Beaulieu-Laporte, Policy and Regulatory Analyst
Union des consommateurs abeaulieu-laporte@uniondesconsommateurs.ca;

Elliott Richman, Executive Director  
Deafness Advocacy Association Nova Scotia daans@ns.sympatico.ca

Megan McHugh, President
Canadian National Society of the Deaf-Blind mchugh.mm@gmail.com

Frank Folino, President 
Canadian Association of the Deaf-Association des Sourds du Canada
ffolino@cad.ca

Lisa Anderson-Kellett, Chair
Deaf Wireless Canada Consultative Committee lisa@deafwireless.ca; deafwireless@icloud.com; regulatory@deafwireless.ca

Katrine Dilay, Attorney
Public Interest Law Centre, on behalf of the Manitoba Coalition
kadil@legalaid.mb.ca; gloria@cacmanitoba.ca 

John Lawford, Counsel to the Fair Communications Sales Coalition
Public Interest Advocacy Centre bsegel-brown@piac.ca; jlawford@piac.ca;

RE: Report regarding the retail sales practices of Canada’s large telecommunications carriers, Telecom and Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2018-246 – Request for Information

The Commission received separate applications for costs from the Consumers Council of Canada, Union des consommateurs, the Deaf Advocacy Association Nova Scotia, the Canadian National Society of the Deaf-Blind, the Canadian Association of the Deaf, the Deaf Wireless Canada Consultative Committee, the Fair Communications Sales Coalition, and the Manitoba Coalition with respect to their participation in Telecom and Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2018-246, that led to the  Report on Misleading or Aggressive Communications Retail Sales Practices (the proceeding).

The proceeding related to both telecommunications and broadcasting issues. Commission staff notes that the Broadcasting Act does not contain any provisions for awarding costs for work related to broadcasting matters and that, under the Telecommunications Act, the Commission may only award costs related to telecommunications matters. Parties are free to apply to the Broadcasting Participation Fund for the portion of their time dedicated to broadcasting matters in the proceeding. Accordingly, parties must demonstrate to the Commission what proportion of their costs relate to telecommunications, as opposed to broadcasting, matters.

Commission staff notes that the Commission cannot predetermine the amount of time spent by costs applicants in combined telecommunications and broadcasting proceedings. The overall division of issues in a combined telecommunications and broadcasting proceeding does not necessarily translate into the amount of time that any specific costs applicant devotes to either telecommunications or broadcasting matters. It is only the individual costs applicant that knows the amount of time spent on particular issues and whether these issues relate to telecommunications or broadcasting matters.

In light of the above, Commission staff requests that all costs applicants provide the percentage of time spent on telecommunications matters during the proceeding, justifying the method used to determine the division of time spent on telecommunications and broadcasting matters. 

The requested information is to be filed with the Commission by 13 May 2019. Any other interested party may file their answer by 21 May 2019. All costs applicants may reply to any comments no later than 27 May 2019.

Yours Sincerely,

original signed by

Megan Maloney
Legal Counsel

c.c.: Distribution List
Bell Canada bell.regulatory@bell.ca;
Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc. regulatory@cnoc.ca
Cogeco Connexion Inc. telecom.regulatory@cogeco.com;
Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services Geoff.White@ccts-cprst.ca; howard.maker@ccts-cprst.ca;
Eastlink regulatory.matters@corp.eastlink.ca;
Forum for Research and Policy in Communications execdir@frpc.net;
Northwestel Inc. regulatoryaffairs@nwtel.ca;
OpenMedia Engagement Network regulatory@openmedia.org;
Rogers Communications Canada Inc. rwi_gr@rci.rogers.com;
Saskatchewan Telecommunications document.control@sasktel.com;
Shaw Communications Inc. regulatory@sjrb.ca;
TbayTel rob.olenick@tbaytel.com; stephen.scofich@tbaytel.com; David.Wilkie@tbaytel.com;
TekSavvy Solutions Inc. regulatory@teksavvy.com;
TELUS Communications Inc. regulatory.affairs@telus.com;
Videotron Ltd. regaffairs@quebecor.com;
Xplornet Communications Inc. xplornet.legal@corp.xplornet.com;

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