News Release

April 27, 2001

CRTC SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENTS TO ESTABLISH A FRAMEWORK FOR THE EXPANSION OF LOCAL CALLING AREAS

OTTAWA-HULL — The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is seeking public input to help it establish a set of general principles and criteria. These will be used to assess applications to create common local calling areas.

Currently, extended local calling is permitted when established Extended Area Service (EAS) criteria are satisfied. The current criteria include

• no more than two exchanges are involved;
• at least 60% of subscribers in one exchange must call the other exchange at least once a month; and
• the distance between the exchanges must not exceed a fixed number of kilometers.

In the past, the Commission has considered, on a case-by-case basis, applications to allow extended local calling when the current criteria were not satisfied. Often, distance exceeded the requirement or more than two exchanges were involved. Now, as a result of recent as well as proposed amalgamations of municipalities across the country, the Commission expects to receive many more such applications.

Expanded local calling areas raise a number of issues for the Commission to consider. Callers save on long distance charges, but may see their local rates increase. As well, competitive toll providers lose long distance revenues.

In order to ensure that there is an appropriate balance between the desire of customers for expanded local calling and the possible impact on the viability of competitive markets, the Commission seeks to establish a clearly defined framework for allowing expanded local calling in exchanges where existing criteria are not met.

If you want to participate fully in the public process (including receiving a copy of everyone’s submissions), you are asked to notify the Commission no later than 28 May, 2001, by writing to the Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2; or by fax at (819) 953-0795 or e-mail us at procedure@crtc.gc.ca. If, instead, you prefer to provide the CRTC with your written comments without receiving copies of the various submissions, you can do so by 15 November, 2001 at the same addresses.

Reference documents : Public Notice CRTC 2001-47
                                  Public Notices CRTC 2000-107, 2000-107-1

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General Inquiries:
   Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2
   Tel: (819) 997-0313, TDD: (819) 994-0423, Fax: (819) 994-0218
   Toll-free # 1-877-249-CRTC (2782), eMail: info@crtc.gc.ca 
   TDD - Toll-free # 1-877-909-2782
Media Relations:
   Denis Carmel, Tel: (819) 997-9403, eMail: denis.carmel@crtc.gc.ca 

Copies of today’s documents are available through our Internet site ( http://www.crtc.gc.ca ) or by contacting the public examination room of any CRTC office. These documents are available in alternative format upon request.

Date Modified: 2001-04-27

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