Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Accruing a liability
Late in December, I wrote about Yak filing applications with the CRTC to "protect Canadians against consumer gouging", referring to a new network access charge being levied by TELUS to customers who had no long distance plan.The CRTC had received 600 consumer complaints about the charge and so it had started its own investigation. TELUS responded to initial CRTC interrogatories in late November although I found at least one of the answers somewhat tough to decipher.
It is still unclear to me if a consumer can use casual calling (101XXXX+) if they are forced to sign up for toll blocking in order to avoid being hit with the TELUS network charge.
The two processes were blended into a single Type 2 proceeding, one that is expected to involve multiple parties or raise significant policy issues. The charge is yet another example of a "system access fee".
Under the CRTC's guidelines for such proceedings, we may not have a decision until September, 2008.
The CRTC could rule the charge to be illegal and force a refund. As such, will there be a potential liability growing on the books?
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Yak, TELUS, system access fee
Posted by Mark Goldberg @ 1/09/2008 06:56:00 AM 
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