OTTAWA – The CRTC has laid out the ground rules for its hearing into usage-based billing (UBB) which begins on Monday.
In a letter to stakeholders dated July 4th, the Commission instructed those planning to appear to “present their submissions at the oral hearing in as plain language as possible” and to “support their recommendations with appropriate rationale and to quantify the impact of these recommendations to the fullest extent possible”.
Oral submissions must be structured as follows:
1. Which of the billing models proposed by interveners should the Commission adopt?
2. If a usage component is adopted, which of the two different methods proposed for measuring usage should the Commission adopt?
(a) via peak traffic, or
(b) via volume.
Provide the rationale for adopting either in terms of the impact on the independent ISPs’ monthly rates and their flexibility to compete in the market. Identify and quantify any one-time or ongoing implementation issues.
3. Are there significant differences between the billing models in terms of impacts on incentives to build out networks and manage traffic?
4. Should there be symmetry with respect to the mark up on costs for all network providers?
5. Should the same mark up apply to monthly access rates and usage rates, whether billed jointly or separately?
6. Should the principles determined by the Commission in this proceeding, including principles regarding the billing models and the mark ups apply equally to legacy (existing) services, or should legacy services be treated differently?
The Commission also said that post-hearing submissions must be filed by July 29, with copies served to other parties, and comments on the policy aspects of the proceeding must be limited to 15 pages.
Cartt,ca will be there as the hearing to examine wholesale residential high-speed access services begins July 11 in Gatineau.
