TBayTel asks for 1-year extension for Wireless Code changes

The CRTC is seeking comment on whether it should grant regional telecom TBayTel Inc. an extension to implement aspects of the new Wireless Code that will be required by Dec. 1. In a letter dated Aug. 16 and posted to the CRTC website on Monday, the Thunder Bay-based company said that it needs an extra year to move from an old billing system to a new one, in order to implement requirements such as data cap notifications for all devices on multi-user plans and notifying the account holder of roaming activity. Those rules were imposed in June as part of the wireless code review, which also included the banning of unlocking fees and locked devices by December. The decision also stipulated that if a wireless provider is faced with unique barriers to implementing the changes, it could file for an extension. “To the best of Tbaytel’s knowledge no other wireless carrier is in the midst of moving from an old obsolete billing system to a brand new platform,” it said in the letter, suggesting the situation is similar to when Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holdings Corp. was granted an extension to implement parts of the newly implemented wireless code in 2013. The company argued that its legacy system does not allow for real-time billing and that it has been working on the new real-time system since June 2015. “To meet the on Account Holder notification and all user notification on multi-user plans would not be possible on the legacy billing system,” it said. “Implementing off board systems to compensate for a non-real time billing system has proven to be prone to error and customer dissatisfaction as there are discrepancies between the two systems.” Those errors include under-reporting of data usage, which “erodes trust in the billing data.” In the meantime and as part of its manual processes, it said it maintains the spirit of the code by restricting consent only to account holders and notifies users when they hit certain percentages of their data cap in Canada and roaming usage outside of the country. The deadline for submissions is Sept. 20.

TBayTel asks for 1-year extension for Wireless Code changes

Brief | August 22, 2017

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TBayTel asks for 1-year extension for Wireless Code changes

Brief | August 22, 2017

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