Give four days’ notice before service disconnection, CRTC says

Telecommunications service providers must give customers a heads up of at least four business days before disconnecting or suspending a service to end users or another service provider, the CRTC said in a Thursday decision, imposing new regulations following an inter-company dispute that left thousands without phone service last year. In its decision, the CRTC said while there are plenty of provisions regulating notifications between service providers with respect to discontinuation or suspension of service, none of them mandate that customers have to be informed. “Given the importance of telecommunications services to Canadians, including the ability to request emergency services, if there is a possibility that end-customers find themselves without service through no fault of their own, and without prior notice, the Commission must address this issue by implementing a regulatory measure for notices of disconnection to end-customers,” the decision said. The CRTC began its consultation on disconnection practices last summer, after a dispute between NetTalk.com Inc. and Iristel Inc. resulted in 27,000 customers getting disconnected from their VoIP service. The new rules had to strike “an appropriate balance” between notifying customers and giving the providers time to sort out their dispute, the CRTC said. “A service provider would likely be unwilling to give notice to its customers (end-customers or other service providers) soon after receiving a notice of disconnection, knowing that many of these customers would likely use that time to seek an alternative service provider,” the decision said. The decision sets out that providers have to notify end customers at least four business days prior to disconnection, and that the notice has to detail which services will be “affected by the disconnection, including any impact on end-customers’ ability to connect with 9-1-1 services.” The notice must also be sent to the CRTC so that it can “answer potential questions from end-customers and to better assist them in transitioning to an alternative service provider, as needed.” CRTC said there wasn’t “sufficient evidence” to support suggestions from groups like the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) that wanted to see an extension of the Deposit and Disconnection Code or to “impose on resellers terms of service that outline the disconnection process for end-customers.” The regulator also looked at whether it needed to regulate a timeline for notification of intent to disconnect, but ultimately decided it wasn’t necessary. “There is evidence on the record of this proceeding that current contractual practices between service providers are resulting in the provision of adequate notice with respect to disconnection,” it said. Notice of intent to disconnect also doesn’t have to be shared with the CRTC. “In many cases, notices of disconnection appear to be serving mostly as a catalyst to address commercial matters between service providers. As a result, end-customers are generally not affected.” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Give four days’ notice before service disconnection, CRTC says

News | July 6, 2017

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Give four days’ notice before service disconnection, CRTC says

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