Following its Jan. 16 launch of a public consultation on implementing a far north internet subsidy, the CRTC last week asked the body it proposes will be administrator of the subsidy how quickly the necessary updates to the National Contribution Fund (NCF) can be made to distribute the funds to internet service providers operating in the far north.
In a letter sent to the Canadian Telecommunications Contribution Consortium (CTCC) — which along with the Central Fund Administrator (CFA) would be tasked with administrating the subsidy under the CRTC’s proposal — the telecom regulator asked for a list of all the updates required to allow for the collection and distribution of subsidy funds and the shortest possible timeline to complete the updates and submit them to the commission for approval.
The commission also wants to know any necessary next steps to be taken by the CTCC and the CFA once the updates have been completed and their associated timeline. Next steps could include the collection of subscriber data from far north ISPs and other information required for the distribution of subsidy funds, for example, the CRTC letter said.
The CTCC and CFA have until Feb. 6 to respond to the CRTC’s requests for information.
