Canadian VoIP Provider Announces Service in Uncertain Regulatory Climate

On Friday, March 30, 2005, without filing for regulatory approval and in the face of Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) Public Notice 2004-2, Bell Canada expanded its VoIP technical trial service from Sherbrooke to a full offering including Sherbrooke, Quebec City and Trois-Rivières. There is some doubt whether Bell Canada is required to seek approval for VoIP services within Ontario and Quebec, but it has elected to move forward in the face of VoIP competition from Vidéotron in Quebec and Rogers in Ontario. Being the local telephone service provider incumbent, Bell Canada is required by the CRTC to file a tariff for changes to its local telephone services in Ontario and Quebec. Meanwhile, the CRTC is in the process of formalizing a decision regarding Public Notice 2004-2 "A regulatory framework for voice communication services using Internet Protocol", which expresses preliminary views on, (i) the applicability of existing tariffs, (ii) provisioning of basic 911 and enhanced 911 services, and (iii) application of the contribution regime. The preliminary stance included a statement to the effect that VoIP services provided by an incumbent should be regulated as local exchange services. Because the CRTC issued a notice in 1998 that it did not intend to regulate retail internet services, and since the CRTC has yet to issue a definitive decision on the issue, the current VoIP offering by Bell Canada may yet be considered to be unregulated, as being a retail internet service. The Bell Canada news release is found at: http://www.bce.ca/en/news/releases/bc/2005/03/30/72235.html For the Toronto Star article, "New Bell Service Challenges CRTC's Rules", see: http://bellcrtc.notlong.com/ For CRTC Public Notice 2004-2, visit: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2004/pt2004-2.htm Summary by: Nicholas J. Whalen