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Telecom Public Notice CRTC 98-39
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Ottawa, 17 December 1998 |
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STENTOR - REQUEST APPROVAL UNDER SECTION 36 OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT
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File No.: 8640-S1-01/98 |
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1. Stentor Resource Centre Inc. (Stentor), by
letter dated 6 October 1998, requested that the Commission grant final
approval under section 36 of the Telecommunications Act (the Act)
to involvement by any Canadian carrier in the content of that carrier's own
Internet Service (IS). |
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2. Section 36 of the Act states that
"Except where the Commission approves otherwise, a Canadian carrier shall
not control the content or influence the meaning or purpose of
telecommunications carried by it for the public". |
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3. In Stentor's view, Commission approval of
tariffs for carriers' ISs implies approval under section 36 of the Act.
However, Stentor submitted that an explicit determination granting such
approval would be desirable. Stentor further submitted that section 36
applies equally to forborne and tariffed services and further submitted
that the determination requested would not affect, or be affected by the
Commission's determinations pursuant to Internet Forbearance,
Telecom Public Notice CRTC 98-17, 22 July 1998. |
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4. In support of its application, Stentor
noted that in other decisions, for example Regulation Under the
Telecommunications Act of Certain Telecommunications Services Offered by
"Broadcast Carriers" Telecom Decision CRTC
98-9, 9 July 1998 (Decision
98-9), the Commission has granted final approval under section 36 to
broadcast carrier involvement in the content of ISs. Stentor noted that
such involvement is a necessary aspect of providing ISs as the service
provider must create or otherwise make available certain types of content
to its customers in order to offer acceptable packages of ISs, and so it
must select and control this content. |
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5. The Commission is of the preliminary view
that, consistent with the approach taken in Decision
98-9, it would be appropriate
to grant final approval, pursuant to section 36 of the Act, to
involvement by a Canadian carrier in the content of its own ISs. |
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PROCEDURE |
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6. Interested parties may submit comments by
18 January 1999. |
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7. BC TEL, Bell Canada, Island Telecom Inc.,
Maritime Tel & Tel Limited, MTS Communications Limited, NBTel Inc.,
Northwestel Inc., NewTel Communications Inc., TELUS Communications Inc.,
TELUS Communications (Edmonton) Inc. and Québec-Téléphone may reply by
26 January 1999. |
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8. Where a document is to be filed or served
by a specific date, the document must be actually received, not merely
sent, by that date. |
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9. The record of this proceeding may be
examined, or will be made available promptly upon request, at the
Commission's offices in the following locations: Central Building
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
1 Promenade du Portage
Room G-5
Hull, Quebec
Bank of Commerce Building
1809 Barrington Street
Suite 1007
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Place Montréal Trust
1800 McGill College Avenue
Suite 1920
Montréal, Quebec
55 St. Clair Avenue East
Suite 624
Toronto, Ontario
275 Portage Avenue
Suite 1810
Winnipeg, Manitoba
580 Hornby Street
Suite 530
Vancouver, British Columbia |
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10. In addition to hard copy filings, parties
are encouraged to file with the Commission electronic versions of their
submissions in accordance with the Commission's Interim Telecom
Guidelines for the Handling of Machine-Readable Files, dated
30 November 1995. The Commission's Internet email address for
electronically filed documents is
public.telecom@crtc.gc.ca. Electronically filed documents can be
accessed at the Commission's Internet site at
www.crtc.gc.ca. |
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Secretary General |
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This document is available in alternative
format upon request. |