OTTAWA and GATINEAU – Statistics Canada and the CRTC announced today they have signed a memorandum of understanding so that the two agencies will partner in order to streamline the annual collection of data from the telecommunications industry.
"This innovative collaboration will further reduce the regulatory burden on the industry and create efficiencies in the collection of statistics by the federal government," said Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the CRTC in a press release.
Currently, the CRTC and Statistics Canada survey over 900 companies to obtain a picture of the Canadian telecommunications industry and its many sectors, including local and access services, long distance, Internet and broadband services, and cellular. There is overlap in the two groups’ data.
The information is used by the Commission to gauge the state of competition, monitor consumer demand for services, identify trends and ensure that service providers comply with legal and regulatory requirements. The Commission also draws on the data to reach its decisions and establish regulatory policies.
StatsCan collects information from the telecommunications industry too, to produce national and regional estimates of activity. These estimates form an integral part of its national and provincial economic accounts.
In the past, the CRTC and Statistics Canada conducted these activities separately but under the MoU, their respective annual telecommunications surveys have been harmonized to further reduce the regulatory burden and make the data collection process more efficient for both government and industry.
Beginning this year, companies will be required to fill out only one annual telecommunications survey and submit their data through a single point of contact, the CRTC’s web-based Data Collection System. This data will then be shared with Statistics Canada while ensuring that all necessary safeguards to protect information are respected.
