OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) is adding TV service provider watchdog to its role after the CRTC officially expanded its mandate Thursday.
The CCTS will become the single point of contact for Canadians’ complaints about all of their communications services, reads the decision. Since July 2007, CCTS has provided consumers with an independent and impartial mechanism for the resolution of complaints about deregulated local and long distance telephone services, as well as wireless service and Internet access.
All licensed television service providers (TVSPs), including related exempt TVSPs, must become members of the CCTS by September 1, 2017, the same time that that TVSPs must adhere to the CRTC’s new Television Service Provider Code.
“Since 2007, the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services has been providing a valuable service to Canadian consumers of telecommunications services by helping them resolve their complaints”, said CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais, in a statement. “With an increasing number of Canadians taking advantage of bundled offers including local voice, wireless, Internet, and television services offered by the same communications service provider, ensuring a single point of contact to deal with their complaints has never been more important.”
The CRTC also said that CCTS membership continues to be mandatory for all Canadian telecom service providers.
An independent organization, the CCTS handles over 10,000 complaints each year. It can require communications service providers to offer an explanation or an apology to a consumer, and order them to provide monetary compensation in addition to any amount to be refunded to correct a billing error.
Thursday’s decision comes as a result of the CRTC’s public hearing last November to review the structure and mandate of the CCTS. CCTS issued its own statement Thursday promising to “analyze this lengthy and detailed decision in order to determine the appropriate next steps”.
“We appreciate the time taken by the CRTC to consider the submissions of CCTS, consumers, consumer advocacy groups and telecom service providers,” said CCTS Commissioner Howard Maker, in the statement. “We all share the objective of making CCTS the best possible dispute-resolution provider that it can be. The addition to the mandate of complaints about TV services will provide Canadian consumers with single window access for problem-solving. This is an important accomplishment given that so many Canadians receive their telecom and TV services from the same provider, often bundled together.”
