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Telecom - Staff Letter addressed to Philippe Gauvin (Bell Canada and its affiliates)

Gatineau, 22 July 2025

Reference: 8740-B20-202503466

BY E-MAIL

Philippe Gauvin
Assistant General Counsel
Bell Canada and its affiliates
160 Elgin St., Floor 19
Ottawa ON K2P 2C4
bell.regulatory@bell.ca

Subject: Bell Canada Tariff Notice 989 – Proposed withdrawal of Audio-conferencing feature of Hosted IP Voice service – Request for information

Dear Philippe Gauvin:

On 7 July 2025, the Commission received an application from Bell Canada proposing changes to its National Services Tariff CRTC 7400, Item 517 – Hosted IP Voice.

Commission staff notes that additional information is required to proceed with their analysis.

Paragraph 28(1)(a) of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure provides that the Commission may require parties to file information or documents where needed.

Accordingly, Bell Canada is requested to provide comprehensive answers, including rationale and any supporting information, to the attached questions by 1 August 2025.

As set out in section 39 of the Telecommunications Act (the 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 relevant information qualifies for designation as 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.

Where a document is to be filed or served by a specific date, the document must be actually received, not merely sent, by that date. The Commission requires the response or other documents to be submitted electronically by using the secured service “My CRTC Account” (Partner Log In or GCKey) and filling the “Telecom Cover page” located on this web page.

To inform the participation of interested persons in the proceeding, Commission staff expects Bell Canada to disclose information on the public record to the maximum extent possible.

A copy of this letter and all subsequent replies will be added to the public record of this proceeding.

Yours sincerely,

Original signed by Christine Marques for

Suneil Kanjeekal
Director, Dispute Resolution & Regulatory Implementation
Telecommunications Sector

c.c.: Tara Levine, Senior Analyst, CRTC, 819-997-4478, Tara.Levine@crtc.gc.ca
Aouled-Nasteh Djama, Analyst, CRTC, 873-353-6239, Aouled-Nasteh.Djama@crtc.gc.ca

Attach. (1)

Request for Information

  1. In paragraphs 2 and 3 of its cover letter, Bell Canada stated the following:

    1. In this application, we are proposing to withdraw the Audio-conferencing feature of Hosted IP Voice service in accordance with the procedure set out in TIB 2010-455-1 for the destandardization and/or withdrawal of tariffed services. We note that the equipment that is used to support Audio-conferencing has reached end of life with the vendor and will no longer be supported after 30 September 2025. This means that Audio-conferencing will not function after that date, which makes its withdrawal necessary at this time. We also note that we currently have only # # customers for Audio-conferencing.
    2. As an alternative to Audio-conferencing, our Hosted IP Voice service customers may utilize the existing Six Way Calling feature of Hosted IP Voice service.

    Please clarify the following, with supporting rationale:

    1. Why can’t the technology used to provide the Audio-conferencing feature be replaced, for example with equipment from another vendor?
    2. Why was a six-way calling feature suggested to replace a 25-way calling feature? Could any other calling feature allow for a larger number of participants?
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