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Telecom - Commission Letter addressed to Philippe Gauvin (Bell Canada)

Ottawa, 8 February 2021

Our reference: 8650-B2-202004711 and 8650-B2-202005652

BY EMAIL

Philippe Gauvin
Assistant General Counsel,
Bell Canada
Floor 19, 160 Elgin Street
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2C4
bell.regulatory@bell.ca

Subject: Bell Canada Inc. – Applications with Respect to the Payment of Compensation for Toll-free Calls over SDI Telecom (SDI) and AFX Communications (AFX) Pay Telephones (Files # 8650-B2-202004711 and 8650-B2-202005652)

Dear Mr. Gauvin,

On 31 August 2020 and on 4 September 2020, the Commission received two separate applications from Bell Canada Inc. (Bell), concerning SDI and AFX, in which Bell requested that the Commission allow Bell:

  1. to withhold payment of disputed charges from SDI and AFX for toll-free call compensation; and
  2. to disclose SDI’s and AFX’s confidential information to other interexchange carriers in order for them to validate invoices they may be receiving from SDI or AFX.

Commission staff notes that the Commission has forborne from the regulation of pay telephone access line services and has adequately addressed in various decisions the policy concerns related to toll-free compensation.Footnote1 Moreover, the Commission has encouraged competitive pay telephone service providers and access line providers to negotiate mutually acceptable business arrangements.

As such, to the extent that the parties cannot agree on the determination of the legitimacy of certain calls and whether SDI or AFX should be compensated for them as a result, these matters and any related issues are better dealt with by the judicial system.

In view of the above, the above-referenced applications are being returned and these matters are considered closed.

Sincerely,

Original signed by

Chris Seidl
Executive Director
Telecommunications Sector

c.c:      SDI Telecom (SDI) - sditelecom@aol.com
AFX Communications - seduj777@gmail.com
AMG Vending and Payphones - adrgaf@gmail.com
Rogers Communications Canada Inc. - regulatory@rci.rogers.com

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