ARCHIVED -  Telecom Order CRTC 99-948

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Telecom Order

 

Ottawa, 1 October 1999

 

Telecom Order CRTC 99-948

 

On 6 August 1999, BC TEL filed an application under Tariff Notice (TN) 3980 for approval of the Residential Additional Line Service Charge Waiver Promotion and for revisions to the Residential Additional Line Bundle to introduce the Residential Additional Line Service Charge Waiver Promotion. BC TEL proposed to waive the Field Connection service charge applicable to the provision of an additional residence individual line during the proposed promotion period of 7 September 1999 to 7 March 2000. To be eligible for the proposed promotional offer, customers would be required to retain the additional line for a consecutive two month period. In TN 3980A dated 25 August 1999, the company amended the eligibility to require customers to retain their additional line for a minimum of only one month.

 

File No.: Tariff Notice 3980

 

1.In comments dated 26 August 1999, Call-Net Enterprises Inc. (Call-Net) on behalf of Call-Net Communications Inc. (CNCI), stated that the promotional tariff filing pertains to a service that has already been offered pursuant to a promotion. Call-Net submitted that the cumulative combined enrolment period and discounted subscription period for the previous promotion plus each new promotion should not exceed twelve months. Call-Net submitted that TN 3980 should be modified so that its enrolment period is reduced by three months.

 

2.Call-Net noted that BC TEL's First Month Free Promotion offered as part of the introduction of the Residential Additional Line Bundle, BC TEL TN 3896, waived the monthly rate for the first month of service for customers who installed an additional residential line in order to subscribe to Residential Additional Line Bundle service. Call-Net submitted that the effect of these various promotions for BC TEL's residential additional line service is that the same telecommunications service is being offered continuously pursuant to one or more promotions. Call-Net submitted that BC TEL, by continuing to file promotions for the same telecommunications service, is attempting to illegitimately expand the scope of the Commission's promotion rules.

 

3.BC TEL replied that the Commission's determination in Tariff Filings Relating to Promotions, Telecom Decision CRTC 96-7, 18 September 1996, and its subsequent decisions regarding promotion extensions consider the simultaneous offering and number of promotions offered within a given year to be within the realm of "legitimate promotions of limited duration".

 

4.While the Commission notes that there are some elements of continuity in the two promotions, it considers that the new promotion is principally directed at new additional line customers.

 

5.The Commission considers the Residential Additional Line Service Charge Waiver Promotion, on a stand-alone basis and as part of a bundled offering, to be a legitimate promotion of limited duration that is therefore exempt from the application of the imputation test.

 

6.In light of the above, BC TEL TNs 3980 and 3980A are approved. BC TEL is to notify the Commission of the effective date.

 

Secretary General

 

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