Telecom - Staff Letter addressed to the Distribution List
Ottawa, 24 January 2024
Our reference: 8740-B20-202301886, 8740-B20-202301902, 8740-S22-202301860, 8740-T66-202301927, 8740-T69-202301935
By EMAIL
Distribution List
Subject: Support Structure Service Tariff Notices (TN) – Requests for information – Extension Request
On 17 January 2024, Commission staff sent requests for information (RFIs) regarding Bell Canada (Bell) TNs 977 and 978, TELUS Communications Inc. (TCI) TNs 580 and 655, and Saskatchewan Telecommunications (SaskTel) TN 377. Parties were requested to provide answers by 24 January 2024, and to provide their reply comments, if any, by 31 January 2024.
On 22 January 2024, Bell submitted a request for extension to 2 February 2024, with replies due 9 February 2024, stating that the questions asked would warrant a comprehensive response by Bell as well as by other stakeholders. Bell noted that this is an extremely busy time of the year as the industry is ramping up towards an upcoming public hearing on wholesale high-speed access (HSA)Footnote1 as well as preparing responses to other RFIs and proceedings.
Québecor Média inc. (Québecor) opposed Bell’s request and submitted that granting the extension could unduly delay the approval of the TNs, which is currently more than due since the Commission’s decision was published in February 2023 and the TNs were filed in April 2023. Québecor submitted that it will be able to file its responses on time even if it participates, like Bell, to the upcoming public hearing on HSA.
TCI agreed with Bell that one week is insufficient time to comprehensively answer the questions which consider a concept that has potentially important implications for the delivery of the support structure service and associated timelines. TCI submitted that a one-week extension to answer the RFIs would not result in undue delay or prejudice, and any negative effects are outweighed by the benefits of a more accurate and well-justified response.
Rogers submitted that the RFIs pose a single question on an issue that Bell and TELUS addressed in their earlier reply comments and should not require material new time. However, Rogers did not oppose the extension given the short turnaround in the RFI request.
Commission staff considers that it is important for these tariff proceedings to be efficient to ensure the timely implementation of the changes. However, Commission staff also considers that the public record will benefit from comprehensive responses to the questions in the RFIs. Accordingly, Commission staff agrees that a short extension is reasonable in the circumstances and would not result in undue delay or prejudice. As such, parties are requested to provide their responses to the requests for information by 2 February 2024 and their replies by 9 February 2024.
Sincerely,
Original signed by
Michel Murray
Director, Dispute Resolution and Regulatory Implementation
Telecommunications Sector
cc: Julie Boisvert, CRTC, 819-953-2421, julie.boisvert@crtc.gc.ca
Attach (1) Distribution list
Distribution List
Bell Canada, bell.regulatory@bell.ca
Bragg Communications Inc., carrying on business as Eastlink, regulatory.matters@corp.eastlink.ca
Community Fibre Company, ben@communityfibre.ca
Independent Telecommunications Providers Association, regulatory@itpa.ca
Québecor Média inc., au nom de ses affiliées Vidéotron ltée et Freedom Mobile Inc., regaffairs@quebecor.com
Rogers Communications Canada Inc., regulatory@rci.rogers.com
Saskatchewan Telecommunications, document.control@sasktel.com
TekSavvy Solutions Inc., regulatory@teksavvy.ca
TELUS Communications Inc., regulatory.affairs@telus.com
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