Teleglobe seeks quick decision on forbearance of tariffed services

Saying the Canadian international market is finally competitive, Teleglobe Ltd is asking the CRTC to forbear its remaining tariffed services. It is so sure it is correct, the telecom firm is asking the regulator to handle the case in a few weeks, rather than months. In its April 4 submission, the BCE Inc-owned carrier maintains it "does not exercise market power in respect of the remaining tariffed services." It is asking the CRTC to forbear "completely and unconditionally" from its powers under the Telecommunications Act. Teleglobe is also seeking forbearance on all current and future retail services and requests the discontinuance of all ancillary forms of regulation that apply to the firm under CRTC Telecom Decision 96-2. Teleglobe wants the commission to expedite the proceedings, citing the competitive North American market. It recommends that interested parties file their comments by May 4, with Teleglobe replying by May 14. The carrier has already forwarded its application to its customers and interested parties cited in Decision 99-14.The company points out there are no longer any barriers to the entry of American service providers to the Canadian market. It attaches material taken from its competitors’ web sites that outlines the level of diversity available to potential clients. "For example, in the case of ATM services," Teleglobe notes, "there are at least 14 alternative confirmed competitive service providers, four in Canada and 10 in the U.S." It asserts it has long lost any dominance in the marketplace. "Consistent with the commission’s well-established forbearance analysis, Teleglobe does not and cannot wield market power," it writes. "Teleglobe could not successfully impose a significant non-transitory price increase for any of the remaining tariffed services. If it attempted to do so, customers would migrate their traffic with minimal costs, to Teleglobe’s competitors, who could easily obtain the necessary available capacity to accommodate such increased traffic volumes." In his cover letter to the CRTC, Chuck Tievsky, executive director of regulatory affairs for Teleglobe, says the process is "reasonable in the circumstances."

Teleglobe seeks quick decision on forbearance of tariffed services

News | April 9, 2001

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