OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Incumbent telephone and cable companies will have to make more information public when proposing rates for wholesale services says the CRTC in a decision released on Friday. Much of the previously confidential information submitted to establish wholesale rates will now be put on the public record, but companies will retain the right to protect competitively sensitive information.
“This represents a key part of a huge shift,” says OpenMedia.ca Executive Director Steve Anderson. “The CRTC has been the site of some major changes—from being very industry-centric and closed-off to increasingly public-interest oriented—as the pro-Internet community has gotten more and more active. We’re pleased to see this, and to see the Commission working toward transparency. We hope this continues.”
In the decision the Commission said large telecom and cable providers were not providing sufficient information to the regulator for competitors to analyze before hearings. The Commission uses the rate information to set the wholesale rates large carriers can charge telecom and Internet service providers for purchasing access. With the additional data, interested parties will be able to provide a more informed analysis said the Commission.
"Smaller companies offer competitive and innovative choices to Canadians, by using access they have purchased at wholesale prices from the large companies," said Jean-Pierre Blais, Chairman of the CRTC. "Today's guidelines will increase transparency and allow Canadians to better understand how we establish wholesale rates."
Rates for wholesale services are based on the cost of providing the service plus an allowable markup. Markups contribute to costs that have not been accounted for, such as corporate overheads and past network investments.
Companies will continue to have the right to protect competitively sensitive information, and other parties can continue to request disclosure of any such information. The CRTC says it will rule on any disclosure requests using the new guidelines.
“The Commission notes that the rules with respect to the treatment and disclosure of confidential information are set out in sections 30 to 34 of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules of Procedure). The Commission considers that any disclosure requests will be guided by subsection 39(4) of the Act, based on evidence submitted by parties and using the disclosure guidelines set out in this decision as the basis for its determinations.”
