Telecom - Staff Letter addressed to Bill Barsley and Glenn Pilley (Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium)
Ottawa, 11 July 2023
Our reference: 8621-C12-01/08
VIA EMAIL
Bill Barsley
President
Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium
C/O Jessop & Proulx
1 – 5480 Canotek Road
Ottawa, Ontario, K1J 9H7
bill.barsley@cnacexec.ca
Glenn Pilley
Business Manager
Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium
C/O Jessop & Proulx
1 – 5480 Canotek Road
Ottawa, Ontario, K1J 9H7
glenn.pilley@cnacexec.ca
Subject: Canadian Numbering Administration Funding Requirements
Dear Bill Barsley and Glenn Pilley:
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) staff received an email from the Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium (CNAC) on May 18, 2023. In the email, CNAC requested that the CRTC clarify whether providing data on a mobile wireless telephone is an “internet service” or a “wireless telephony service” for the purpose of calculating contributions to fund numbering administration activities.
CRTC staff reviewed the Canadian Numbering Administration Funding Requirements outlined in a letter issued by the CRTC Secretary General on 29 October 1998, as supplemented via a Commission staff letter dated 2 November 1998.
In the October 1998 letter, the CRTC decided to calculate contributions to fund numbering administration activities using telecommunications service revenue. Telecommunications service providers (TSP) that use and benefit from numbering resources would pay the contributions.
The November 1998 letter established that “telecommunication services” for this purpose are provided over the public switched telephone network, which uses numbering resources. The letter indicated that “telecommunication services” include “wireless telephony services,” but not “internet services.”
Wireless service providers need to allocate and activate specific numbering resources to provide data service over a mobile wireless network. CRTC staff are therefore of the view that wireless data services, which use numbering resources, fall within the scope of “wireless telephony services” and are therefore “telecommunication services.”
As such, data services provided over a mobile wireless network should be factored into total telecommunications services revenue for the purpose of calculating contributions to Canadian Numbering Administration.
Please note that this letter is a staff opinion and should not be understood to replace a formal Commission determination, nor does it bind any future CRTC decision.
Yours sincerely,
Original signed by
Michel Murray
Director, Dispute Resolution & Regulatory Implementation
Telecommunications Sector
c.c.: Étienne Robelin, CRTC, etienne.robelin@crtc.gc.ca
Alexander Pittman, CRTC, alexander.pittman@crtc.gc.ca
James Ndirangu, CRTC, james.ndirangu@crtc.gc.ca
- Date modified: