ARCHIVED - Letter

NOTICE TO APPEAR AT A HEARING

Review of the Internet traffic management practices of Internet service providers

Ottawa, 5 June 2009

To:  (list of appearing parties)
Company:
E-Mail:                         

From:  Sylvie Bouffard, Senior Public Hearings Officer

Further to your comments filed as part of the hearing on Review of the Internet traffic management practices of Internet service providers and your request to appear at the hearing , the Commission wishes to inform you that your presence is required at the hearing being held at the Conference Centre, Phase IV, 140 Promenade du Portage, Gatineau, Quebec. The hearing will start on 6 July 2009 at 9:00 a.m.

Order and Estimated Date of Appearance

The order and estimated date of appearance of the participants at the hearing are set out in the attached Schedule 1. The Commission will not amend the order of appearance, barring exceptional circumstances.

Participants are responsible for monitoring the progress of the hearing so that they will be aware of any Commission directives and ready to make their presentation on the day scheduled or, if necessary, the day before or after their scheduled date of appearance depending on the progress of the hearing. Please note that an audio link will be available throughout the hearing on the Commission's website at www.crtc.gc.ca

Participant's Presentation and Issues to be Addressed by the Panel

A maximum of 15 or 10 minutes will be granted for each participant's presentation. In order to assist you in preparing your presentations for the hearing, participants are invited to review the attached Schedule 2 setting out the issues to be discussed at the hearing. Participants are asked to be prepared to provide their views on these issues. The Panel may also address with participants other concerns raised in Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2008-19, dated 20 November 2008, Review of the Internet traffic management practices of Internet service providers, and in comments filed.

Responsibilities of Participants

Participants are required to provide, to the Secretary at the hearing, 20 copies of their oral presentation including the seating plan of their presentation panel .

Participants must confirm their appearance, by no later than 19 June 2009, either by E-Mail at hearing@crtc.gc.ca or by calling Sylvie Bouffard at 819-953-7927. Following confirmation of participants' attendance, the Commission will publish, if necessary, a revised order of appearance.

Schedule 1 

Schedule 2

Issues to be discussed at the 6 July 2009 public hearing on the Internet traffic management practices (ITMPs) of Canadian Internet service providers (ISPs)

The Commission approaches this hearing with the following objective in mind:

Objective

• To establish ITMP guidelines that maximize the freedom of Canadians to create applications and use the Internet, while respecting the legitimate interests of ISPs to manage their networks, consistently with privacy and other legislative constraints..

For the purposes of this hearing, the Commission adopts the following definition and preliminary assumptions:

Definition

The term “Internet traffic” refers to any data traffic carried on the public Internet, regardless of the underlying technology. Traffic that is carried on a service provider's network but not on the public Internet such as a licensed IPTV service or a managed VoIP service is not considered public Internet traffic.

Assumption

• Unrestricted increases in Internet traffic can lead to congestion in all or part of an ISP 's network. These periods of congestion may lead to deterioration in service for end users who are clients of that particular ISP.
  
• Certain ITMPs may be appropriate for ISPs to use in order to maintain the integrity of their networks.
  
• The circumstances under which the Commission will grant approval under section 36 of the Telecommunications Act (the Act) in relation to ITMPs and other practices are governed by the telecommunications policy objectives set out in section 7 of the Act.

Parties may choose to comment on the aforementioned objective, definition and preliminary assumptions in their presentations at the public hearing.  

On the basis of the above, the Commission wishes to inform appearing parties that it intends to focus on the following issues:

1. Acceptability of Internet traffic management practices

•  What are acceptable ITMPs?

•  What are the criteria for identifying acceptable ITMPs?

•  Which ITMPs, if any, should be considered totally unacceptable?

2. Internet service provider disclosure

•  Should ISPs disclose their ITMPs, and if so, in what form?

•  If disclosure requirements are appropriate, should they be applied to both retail and wholesale services?

•  If disclosure requirements are appropriate, what limitations to disclosure should there be in order to protect confidential information of ISPs?

3. Privacy

•  Does the use of ITMP technologies raise privacy concerns?

•  If so, are additional rules required to contribute to the protection of personal privacy?

•  What would the impact of such rules be on the ability of ISPs to manage their networks?

4. Wholesale services

•  Is the application of certain ITMPs to wholesale services appropriate?

•  If so, under what circumstances?

5. Mobile wireless carriers

•  Is there a need for the Commission to specify what ITMPs are acceptable in relation to wireless carriers?

6. Scope of section 36

•  What is the analytical framework that the Commission should adopt vis-à-vis ITMPs and section 36 of the Act?

Addressing these main issues with appearing parties at the public hearing will assist the Commission in developing a complete record on which it can base its determinations.

Date modified:

2009-06-05