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Privacy and Security
Proactive Disclosure

Telemarketer subscription rates and file formats for the National Do Not Call List

Subscription Rates

On 21 December 2007, Bell Canada was awarded a five-year contract to operate the National Do Not Call List (DNCL). In April 2008 Bell Canada proposed a rate structure for fees that telemarketers would pay to subscribe to the List. The Commission approved the rate structure and telemarketer subscription fees to the National DNCL in May 2008.

The National DNCL is funded through a cost recovery model and the revenues from the list have been insufficient to recover costs. Therefore, on 31 March 2009, Bell Canada submitted an update to its prospective incremental cost model and a proposal for subscription rate increases for Commission approval. On 26 June 2009, the Commission found that the proposed rate increases for subscriptions to the National DNCL were reasonable and therefore approved Bell Canada's revised rates. The approved rates are effective for a twelve-month period, from 1 August 2009 to 31 July 2010.

Subscription option - by area code
Number of area codes	Annual	6-month	3-month	1-month
All area codes	$17,250	$15,755	$8,510	$2,875
By individual area code	$1,610	$834	$426	$144

Subscription option - by telephone number
Telephone number query1	Per query
Any area code (maximum 100 queries per query session)	$1.73

 

On 16 July 2010, Bell Canada submitted an update to its prospective incremental cost model and a proposal for subscription rate increases for Commission approval. On 23 August 2010, the Commission found that the proposed rate increases for subscriptions to the National DNCL were reasonable and therefore approved Bell Canada's revised rates. The approved rates are effective for a twelve-month period, from 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011.

 

Subscription option - by area code
Number of area codes	Annual	6-month	3-month	1-month
All area codes	$22,425	$20,482	$11,063	$3,738
By individual area code	$2,013	$1,043	$533	$180

Subscription option - by telephone number
Telephone number query1	Per query
Any area code (maximum 100 queries per query session)	$0.75

Accordingly, telemarketers who are required to subscribe to the National DNCL can expect to pay the following in these hypothetical examples:

1. A telemarketer that conducts telemarketing campaigns across Canada throughout the year could get an annual subscription for $22,425, which would give them access to all area codes for a full year.
2. A telemarketer that conducts telemarketing campaigns in four area codes throughout the year could get a subscription for $8,052.
3. A telemarketer that conducts a seasonal telemarketing campaign across Canada that lasts three consecutive months could get a subscription for $11,063.
4. A telemarketer that conducts a limited telemarketing campaign that targets 50 telephone numbers could query those 50 numbers for $37.50.

File Formats

Telemarketers can download the National DNCL in two different file formats:

• Comma-separated values (CSV), also known as Flat Text Files; and
• Extensible Markup Language (XML) Tagged Files.

The files are provided for downloading in one Zip file, which includes individual files for each Canadian NPA (area code) selected. If the full national list is selected, then one Zip file is provided containing a single file with all numbers registered on the National DNCL for Canada.

Flat Text File format:

The complete list in a flat text file consists of one three-digit Canadian area code and seven-digit telephone number per line, with a linefeed at the end of each line.  For example:
416,1234567
416,1234568
416,1234569

XML Tagged File format:

When the full list is downloaded as an XML Tagged file, an element indicates what level and value of data are contained in the file.
For the complete national list, the level is “all” and the value is null (Example 1).
For an area code list, the level is “ac” and the value is the area code, such as 416 (Example 2).

Example 1: National List

<list type='full' level='all' val='' >
<ac val='416'>
    <ph val='1234567' />
    <ph val='1234568' />
    <ph val='1234569' />
</ac>
<ac val='905'>
    <ph val='1234567' />
    <ph val='1234568' />
    <ph val='1234569' />
</ac>
</list>

Example 2: Single Area Code List

<list type='full' level='ac' val='416' >
<ac val='416'>
    <ph val='1234567' />
    <ph val='1234568' />
    <ph val='1234569' />
</ac>
</list>

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Note:

¹The query option is available for telemarketers making unsolicited calls to a limited number of consumers. For example, a business that wishes to place calls to referrals would find this subscription method cost-effective.