On Monday, the CRTC issued a Public Notice to consult on what kinds of information carriers should be required to provide to customers.
Over the years, a number of regulatory requirements have been imposed – mainly upon incumbents – to provide information to make customers aware of their basic rights and responsibilities.
Under the information requirements, the ILECs are required, for example, to publish information in their white pages directories, on their websites, and/or in billing inserts about the Terms of Service, the Statement of Consumer Rights, a description of the quality of service regime, the privacy implications of number and name display services, the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules and information as to how to register on the National Do Not Call List, 900 service safeguards, and information pertinent to forborne markets.
In consideration of the current competitive environment, the CRTC has called for comments on questions such as whether market forces have made the rules obsolete.
Michael Geist notes that
concern over the lack of transparency associated with Internet and telecom services has been mounting, the CRTC has just launched a public consultation on the prospect of eliminating mandatory disclosures, relying instead on market forces. The outcome of this consultation could lead to dramatic changes in what the telcom companies are required to disclose to consumers.
In a competitive environment, does the regulator need to mandate disclosure in order for consumers to be informed? How do consumers get informed about all of the characteristics of the services they are buying in an increasingly complex market? For example, what is a reasonable set of FAQs for consumers for their internet access service, given the different treatments by service providers for P2P traffic?
On the other hand, should the regulator dictate what media are used for disclosure of consumer information: does anyone actually use white pages anymore, let alone read the introductory pages? How many trees go into the pages printed with the Terms of Service? What rules would be efficient?
Yesterday, the Commission announced a combined Broadcast and Telecom notice of consultation and public hearing scheduled for November 17, 2008. The consultation is to explore unresolved issues related to accessibility of telecommunications and broadcasting services to persons with disabilities. Based on a quick review of the associated consultant report, maintaining access information is an issue for the community of persons with disabilities. [Note: the link to the consultant report was broken from the Telecom PN, but it works from the Broadcast PN.] In particular, the report suggests customer service and support are seen as increasingly inaccessible due to the need to navigate voice response systems.