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Telecom - Staff Letter addressed to the Distribution List

Ottawa, 3 June 2024

Our references: 8633-G110-202306480, 8633-B2-202400050, 8633-G110-202402809

BY E-MAIL

Distribution List

Subject:   Applications regarding collect calls originating from Ontario correctional facilities – merging of proceedings and requests for information

On 10 November 2023, Goldblatt Partners LLP filed a Part 1 application regarding long distance collect calls originating from Ontario correctional facilities. Subsequently, on 11 January 2024, Bell Canada filed a Part 1 application seeking clarification regarding areas of uncertainty raised by the Ontario Court of Appeal regarding inmate service rates.

Given that both applications pertain to the same regulatory issues, Commission staff is of the view that merging the two proceedings would be more efficient for the applicants and all intervenors.

As such, Commission staff hereby:

In this new merged record the Commission will consider all materials filed under the two above noted file numbers that are now closed. Going forward, parties are asked to file new documents under file number 8633-G110-202402809.

Additionally, to clarify and develop the record of this proceeding, Bell Canada and His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario (Ontario) are asked to file responses to the questions set out in the attachment by 13 June 2024. Interested persons may file comments limited to the answers provided to these questions by 20 June 2024. Bell Canada and Ontario may file a reply limited to the comments received on their original responses by 27 June 2024.

As set out in section 39 of the Telecommunications Act and in Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2010-961, Procedures for filing confidential information and requesting its disclosure in Commission proceedings, persons may designate certain information as confidential. A person designating information as confidential must provide a detailed explanation on why the designated information is confidential and why its disclosure would not be in the public interest, including why the specific direct harm that would be likely to result from the disclosure would outweigh the public interest in disclosure. Furthermore, a person designating information as confidential must either file an abridged version of the document omitting only the information designated as confidential or provide reasons why an abridged version cannot be filed.

All documents must be received, and not merely sent, by the dates indicated.

Sincerely,

Original signed by

Philippe Kent
Director, Telecommunications Services Policy
Telecommunications sector

c.c.:Jeremy Lendvay, CRTC, 819-997-4946, jeremy.lendvay@crtc.gc.ca
Ethan Townsend, CRTC, 873-355-6698, Ethan.Townsend@crtc.gc.ca

Attachments (2)

Distribution List:

Goldblatt Partners LLP (the Class Applicants), jbrown@goldblattpartners.com; kmercer@goldblattpartners.com
Bell Canada (Bell), bell.regulatory@bell.ca
TELUS Communications Inc. (TELUS), regulatory.affairs@telus.com
Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), piac@piac.ca; jlawford@piac.ca
Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS), janet.lo@ccts-cprst.ca
His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario (Ontario), jennifer.boyczuk2@ontario.ca; susan.keenan@ontario.ca

Questions for Bell Canada

  1. For each of the years that Bell provided collect calling services at Ontario correctional facilities (between 2013 and 2021), please provide: (i) annual revenues from collect calling at Ontario correctional facilities, broken down by local and long distance; (ii) total company-wide annual revenues for collect calling from public payphones broken down by local and long distance; (iii) annual revenues for collect calling from public payphones in Ontario broken down by local and long distance; and (iv) total annual commission provided to Ontario pursuant to Bell’s contract to operate the Offender Telephone Management System (OTMS).
  2. As part of Bell’s proposal for the provision of the OTMS in 2012 it was required to submit a “Rate Bid Form” (Appendix C) which included collect call rates charged per facility. Please provide a copy of the completed form. If the actual rates charged differed from those indicated on the Rate Bid Form, provide an updated form with the actual rates charged during the period Bell was the provider of the OTMS.
  3. Please comment on whether all of Ontario’s correctional facilities are located in areas with equal access-capable switches.
  4. Item 2.3.4 of the 28 September 2012 Request for Proposals for the OTMS restricts telephone calls to twenty minutes per inmate call. Do public payphones have the same restriction on call duration for collect calls?

Questions for Ontario

  1. Please provide details on the service provider(s) of the OTMS since 2021 and associated agreements. Include the following information in your response: (i) rate conditions as part of their service contract(s); and (ii) rates charged by service provider(s). Include a copy of the OTMS Agreement(s) between Ontario and the current service provider at Ontario correctional facilities.
  2. The Class Applicants indicated that inmates at Ontario correctional facilities are only allowed to call a standard North American 10-digit landline capable of being billed for collect calls. Please provide information on whether the agreements between Ontario and the service providers of the OTMS include restrictions on calls to mobile wireless telephone numbers or international telephone numbers. If so, indicate why those restrictions were included.
  3. Please describe how the current phone system at Ontario correctional facilities differs from the system used during the Class Period, including whether the system is now Voice over Internet Protocol-based. Please indicate whether inmates now have other options available to them to make telephone calls, besides using payphones to make collect calls.
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