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October 28, 2002 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Canadian telecommunications company TELUS (TELUS.com) announced on Friday that it is disappointed with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decision 2002-67 denying the company?s application to “review and vary” two previous decisions.
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TELUS says the CRTC?s decision to uphold CRTC 2000-745, the Contribution Decision, and CRTC 2001-238, the Rebanding Decision, is “financially unsustainable with respect to the delivery of telecommunications services across Canada.”
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The CRTC?s ruling said Telus failed to demonstrate doubt as to the correctness of the two-year-old decision that introduced a “local contribution” rule requiring phone carriers to give a percentage of revenue to a national subsidy pool.
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In its application to review and vary the original decisions, TELUS said the CRTC unexpectedly changed the method used to calculate contribution subsidy payments for customers in high-cost areas, imposing universal cost assumptions that failed to take into account actual company-specific costs that TELUS or other companies must incur in providing basic telephone service.
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“This decision, if allowed to stand, has far-reaching negative implications for telecommunications service providers, especially those serving rural and remote areas of Canada,” said Jim Peters, TELUS’ executive vice president and general counsel. “TELUS simply wants a reasonable opportunity to recover the costs it has incurred, and continues to incur in the provision of the telephone services it is required by the CRTC to provide to all customers including those in high-cost areas.”
