GATINEAU — The CRTC now says it will expedite an application made by Rogers to review and vary the Commission’s decision in April which gave Bell more time to deploy one-way toll-free (TF) trunks between the two companies’ networks, as part of an ongoing dispute over toll-free call routing.
When the Commission posted the R&V application filed by Rogers to its website on May 27, it set June 26, 2020 as the deadline for interventions. The following day on May 28 in a procedural letter, the Commission revised the deadline to June 8 for interested parties to respond to the application. Rogers must reply to interventions by June 11.
Back in December 2019, the Commission ordered Bell to deploy one-way toll-free trunks between Bell’s network and Rogers’s network to carry TF traffic destined for Bell TF numbers. Originally, Bell was told to have the toll-free trunks deployed by April 30, 2020. In early April, the Commission extended the trunk deployment deadline until August 17, 2020.
In its R&V application, Rogers requested the Commission review the timeline extension in an expedited manner, complaining that it would incur additional expenses during the delay.
“Commission staff considers that Rogers has provided a reasonable explanation as to why an expedited process would be warranted in this instance, and considers that granting Rogers’ request is in the public interest,” reads the Commission’s letter, written by Michel Murray, director of dispute resolution and regulatory implementation for the telecommunications sector at the CRTC.
