OTTAWA – The CRTC has kicked off a call for comments as it prepares to review certain issues associated with wholesale high-speed access services.
The Commission said Thursday that it wants to gather information from the industry to better understand whether certain costing assumptions, such as those in Telecom Regulatory Policy 2011-703, remain appropriate, as well as consider whether a streamlined tariff application process should be established to lessen the regulatory burden. That should be welcome news for CNOC which complained last month to the CRTC that its cost studies for wholesale rates are out of whack.
The CRTC is asking for feedback on the following six issues:
– Should the cost and rate structure of wholesale HSA services (whether based on the flat-rate billing or CBB model) be simplified?
– Should the Commission’s 20% annual traffic growth assumption be modified to more accurately reflect current usage growth trends?
– Should the annual unit cost reduction assumption of minus 10% be modified to more accurately reflect current equipment cost trends?
– Should the study period be changed from the current ten years to a shorter period? If so, would a five-year study period be appropriate?
– Should the usage-sensitive equipment (e.g. CMTS, Optical Node) be assigned to the traffic-driven portion of cost models? If so, to what extent (e.g. 100%)? and
– How should the Commission determine final rates for de-standardized services?
Interventions are due by July 6, and all parties may file replies to interventions by July 16, 2015.
