Iristel petitions cabinet to overturn CRTC traffic simulation findings

Iristel Inc. filed a petition to the governor in council to vary a decision by the CRTC in which it found that the commission did not err in fact or law by slashing the company’s long distance call termination rate or that Irisitel granted itself an undue advantage by allowing the use of 867 numbering plan area (NPA) telephone numbers by certain customers based in distant locations. In the petition, filed Sunday, Iristel also asked that cabinet vary a CRTC consultation regarding the imposition of administrative monetary penalties on Iristel and Telus Corp. Iristel, Telus and Rogers Communications Inc. have been sparring over calls to Iristel’s 867 telephone numbers since 2016, when Rogers accused Iristel of engaging in traffic stimulation, prompting the regulator to order Iristel in December 2017 to cease the use of 867 area code numbers to connect callers to a Toronto-area radio station audio stream. In August 2018, Telus filed a Part 1 application alleging that Iristel had resumed stimulating traffic. Iristel hit back with a Part 1 application of its own a few days later, alleging that Telus was deliberately causing some calls from Telus users to Iristel end users to fail. The regulator issued an interim decision in November 2018, requiring Telus to ensure calls between it and Iristel were completed, while also approving Telus’ request to set an interim rate for calls to and from Iristel’s operating territory, set at $0.038 cents per minute. In Aug. 2020, in a final decision, the CRTC set Iristel’s new long distance termination rate — which will apply retroactively from Nov. 2018 once finalized — at $0.0098125 cents per minute, a 74 per cent reduction from interim rate of $0.038 cents per minute. Iristel argued in its petition that the CRTC’s decisions ”unjustly inflicted harm upon Iristel by punishing Iristel which has made investments in telecommunications facilities in the North for pursuing its innovative business model, while insulating large, dominant telecommunications carriers from the necessity of making similar investments.” The CRTC also launched a consultation regarding whether or not it should impose monetary penalties on both companies. It took the preliminary view that an amount between $750,000 and $1.2 million would be appropriate. Iristel argued that those penalties, should they be imposed, would put the company in “serious jeopardy.” It also accused the commission of creating :ongoing business uncertainty” due to a “lack of a well-defined” policy with respect to the use of telephone numbers tied to the North. “These outcomes are completely inconsistent with Canada’s telecommunications policy objectives and other government policy pronouncements, including especially the government’s directive to the Commission to promote competition and investment in telecommunications in all regions of Canada,” Iristel wrote. Iristel requested that cabinet vary the telecom decision to find that Iristel did not violate parts of the Telecommunications Act and to order the CRTC “to articulate a clear and comprehensive policy” with respect to the assignment of the 867 numbers and the routing and termination of calls to the North. “Iristel makes available phone numbers to customers located all over the world. Some of these customers selected phone numbers from NPA 867 for use by conference calling and call to listen services,” Iristel argued in its petition. Irisitel argued that it should not have to “police” the location of end-users that make use of Iristel phone numbers because “such regulation is archaic in the age of the internet” when end-users may be located all over the world. It also said that end-users have :legitimate reasons” for wanting to make use of a phone number located in the North. The company reiterated arguments it made to the commission, claiming that the incumbents had “self-help remedies” available to them to address their concerns with traffic. It argued that Rogers and Telus could build their own facilities in the North, use the long-distance transport services of BCE Inc.’s Northwestel instead of Iristel, apply restrictions on end-users that make an excessive number of calls, or lower its mobile wireless data charges to encourage consumers to use internet-based services. “Rogers and Telus have refused to pursue these self-help remedies. The common theme in their rejection of Iristel’s proposals is that Rogers and TELUS are not willing to incur the costs or inconvenience to address what they view as unacceptable behaviour by their own end-users. Instead, they want to shift the responsibility to Iristel,” the company wrote. Iristel also requested to vary the telecom notice of consultation to remove “any consideration” of the imposition of an administrative monetary penalty (AMPs) on Iristel. “The imposition of a significant AMP on Iristel, is particularly unjust because the commission has refused to create a clear policy for Iristel and the rest of the industry to follow with respect to the commission’s expectations.” “The combination of the commission’s findings… will have a serious chilling effect on investment in telecommunications facilities in the North,” Iristel concluded. – Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

Iristel petitions cabinet to overturn CRTC traffic simulation findings

News | May 2, 2022

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Iristel petitions cabinet to overturn CRTC traffic simulation findings

News | May 2, 2022

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Related Stories

Bell seeks CRTC clarity amid class action alleging unreasonable prison call rates

Bell, Northwestel tell CRTC to leave billing dispute with Iristel in hands of the court

Bell, Northwestel, reach agreements with Iristel to suspend disconnection notices

CRTC greenlights Northwestel Connecting Families packages

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us