Search

Telecom - Staff Letter addressed to the Distribution List

Ottawa, 23 July 2024

Reference(s): 1011-NOC2016-0293, 1011-NOC2018-0422

BY E-MAIL

Distribution List

Subject: Request for information on current practices related to changes to the Telecommunications Act stemming from Budget 2024 – Notice prior to the end of a commitment period

Service Provider, 

Bill C-69, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 16, 2024,Footnote1 was assented to on 20 June 2024. Division 37 of the Bill relates to changes to the Telecommunications Act seeking to impose further consumer protection measures on telecommunication service providers (TSPs). 

One of these consumer protection measures is the modification of the required notice prior to the end of a commitment period to include more information to ensure customers can make an informed decision about their services going forward. 

Responses to the questions contained in the appendix to this letter are to be filed with the CRTC using GCKey by no later than 23 August 2024. Companies that operate flanker brandsFootnote2 must file responses on behalf of these brands in addition to their primary brandsFootnote3. 

As set out in Procedures for filing confidential information and requesting its disclosure in Commission proceedings, Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin 2010-961, 23 December 2010, as amended, TSPs may designate certain information as confidential. 

TSPs must provide an abridged version of the document involved, accompanied by detailed rationale to explain why the disclosure of the information is not in the public interest. 

All submissions are to be made in accordance with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure, SOR/2010-277. 

Responses to this request for information will be added to the record of any relevant proceeding the CRTC may launch. 

If you have any questions, please contact Guillaume Leclerc, Senior Policy Analyst, Social and Consumer Policy, at Guillaume.leclerc@crtc.gc.ca.

Yours sincerely,

Nanao Kachi
Director, Social and Consumer Policy

Distribution List

bell.regulatory@bell.ca;
geoff@brooketel.ca;
Regulatory@brucetelecom.com;
telecom.regulatory@cogeco.com; 
Regulatory.Matters@corp.eastlink.ca;
regulatory@corp.wightman.ca; 
Xplornet.Legal@corp.xplornet.com;
martha.facey@execulink.com; 
a.lawrence@hay.net;
ryan.mcclinchey@hurontel.on.ca; 
regulatory@icewireless.com; 
regulatory@iristel.com; 
knaylor@mornington.ca; 
lhallahan@mornington.ca; 
regulatoryaffairs@nwtel.ca; 
regulatory@quadro.net; 
regaffairs@quebecor.com; 
melanie.cardin@quebecor.com;
rwi_gr@rci.rogers.com; 
ruth.altman@rci.rogers.com; 
document.control@sasktel.com; 
regulatory@sjrb.ca; 
richard.biron@sogetel.com; 
stephen.scofich@tbaytel.com; 
regulatory@tccmail.ca; 
reglementa@telebec.com; 
regulatory.affairs@telus.com; 
harleen.sawhney@zoomermedia.ca; 
scott_laird@ztarmobile.com

Appendix 1: Questions to be answered by TSPs

The Telecommunications Act has been amended to add the following: 

27.02 (1) A telecommunications service provider that has a fixed-term contract for telecommunications services with a subscriber must, before the expiry of the contract, provide the subscriber with a notice that the contract is set to expire.

(2) The Commission must specify the form and manner in which — as well as the time within which and the frequency at which — the notice is to be provided under subsection (1).

(3) The notice must contain, for the purpose of assisting the subscriber in selecting a new telecommunications service plan,

(a) a list of telecommunications service plans offered by the telecommunications service provider that meet the criteria that the Commission may specify;

(b) information relating to those plans, to be specified by the Commission;

(c) information relating to the self-service mechanism referred to in section 27.01; and

(d) any other information that the Commission may specify.

27.03 The Commission may require a telecommunications service provider to provide — in the form and manner and at the frequency that the Commission specifies — its subscribers who do not have a fixed-term contract for telecommunications services with a notice containing the information set out in subsection 27.02(3).

With that context in mind, provide responses to the following question: 

  1. Over the last 12 months, list the types of communication you have initiated with existing customers informing them of plans that may suit their needs. For each, detail: 
    1. The general frequency at which these offers are communicated to customers 
    2. The way it is communicated to customers (e.g. email, traditional mailer, text message, by phone, etc.) 
    3. How do you select which plan or service is communicated to customers? Is it targeted to their specific needs? If so, explain how.
Date modified: