GATINEAU – The CRTC has turned down a request from a non-profit group in British Columbia to get relief from TELUS Communications Inc. with its phone rates.
The Royal Canadian Air Cadets 828 Hurricane Squadron wanted the telco to allow qualifying non-profit organizations to have two individual phone lines at residential rates instead of business rates. TELUS does so in Alberta, but its General Tariff for B.C. does not.
The cadets wanted TELUS to define customers given rate relief to include churches, youth groups, veterans’ associations, associations for the elderly or infirm, and community centres. It argued that residential rates are approximately half of what business customers pay.
TELUS argued to the commission that reducing rates for such groups could cost the company up to $17 million a year — a cost that would have to be footed by other customers.
The CRTC replied that this figure may be overstated since not all non-profits are now paying business rates, but admitted that if the applicant’s request were approved, “the likely revenue impact would nevertheless be significant” and “the general body of subscribers should not be required to pay higher rates to subsidize such organizations.”
“The Commission considers that the provision of residential rates for the subscribers identified by the Applicant would not be congruent with competition in the local exchange market,” the CRTC said in its decision.
TELUS says the exemption for certain non-profits in Alberta was an anomaly, left over from when Alberta Government Telephones was owned by the Province of Alberta. TELUS said it will be filing an application with the commission soon to grandfather the rate relief offered to non-profits in Alberta.
