Telecom - Staff Letter addressed to Distribution List
Ottawa, 15 February 2023
Our reference: 1011-NOC2020-0366
BY EMAIL
Distribution List
Subject: Issuance of Telecom Regulatory Policy 2023-31 and the introduction of reporting requirements to requesters and the Commission when denying access requests
On 30 October 2020, the Commission initiated a proceeding through Notice of Consultation 2020-366, which sought to identify and implement regulatory measures that would make access to poles more efficient. This proceeding resulted in the Commission publishing Telecom Regulatory Policy 2023-31 (TRP 2023-31) on 15 February 2023.
In TRP 2023-31 the Commission made several determinations pursuant to section 24 and section 37 of the Telecommunications Act that require Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) to provide detailed reasoning to the requester and to the Commission when denying an access request due to the lack of spare capacity.
Starting on 15 February 2023, for each access request denied due to lack of spare capacity, ILECs are directed to provide the following to the requester and the Commission:
- The maximum and current loading of the pole;
- Allocation of the pole’s existing capacity, including capacity that is currently used, reserved capacity, and unreserved available capacity;
- For capacity reserved for its own future use:
- the nature of that future use (e.g., network deployment or emergency repairs); and,
- the date when it expects to utilize the reserved capacity.
In addition, when denying an access request due to reserved capacity for future-use, ILECs are also required to file with the Commission, in confidence, any relevant information that may not have been shared with the requester due to the commercially sensitive nature of the information, such as specific information regarding plans and timelines for the network deployment in question.
The Commission determined that this information is to be collected on an ongoing basis. Parties are required to file a copy of the details provided to the requester as well as any other relevant information with the Commission through GCKey. Parties should file all relevant documents under 1011-NOC2020-0366 and designate any commercially sensitive documents as confidential.
Further, in TRP 2023-31, the Commission established a number of timelines for ILECs to follow when processing access applications. ILECs are subject to the following timelines to notify and provide the required information to the requester and to file the relevant information with the Commission when an access request is denied due to the lack of spare capacity.
Timelines to provide the information to the requester and the Commission:
- Up to 10 days for applications to access 20 poles or fewer;
- Up to 20 days for applications to access between 21 poles and 50 poles;
- Up to 50 days for applications to access between 51 poles and 200 poles;
- Up to 90 days for applications to access more than 200 poles.
Yours sincerely,
Original signed by
Lisanne Legros
Director, Telecommunications Networks Policy Telecommunications Sector
c.c.:
Phillip Arnott, CRTC, 873-353-4057, phillip.arnott@crtc.gc.ca
Matthew Tosaj, CRTC, 613-878-6887, matthew.tosaj@crtc.gc.ca
Attach (1) Distribution List
Distribution List:
- Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership, bell.regulatory@bell.ca
- Bell Canada, bell.regulatory@bell.ca
- Bell MTS Inc., bell.regulatory@bell.ca
- Northwestel Inc., regulatoryaffairs@nwtel.ca
- Saskatchewan Telecommunications, document.control@sasktel.com
- Télébec, Société en commandite, bell.regulatory@bell.ca
- TELUS Communications Inc., regulatory.affairs@telus.com
- Date modified: