Just when we might have thought that the Cabinet’s criteria for local forbearance were pretty clear, the initial wave of ILEC forbearance applications triggered a CRTC public notice on how to deal with exceptions for the Competitor Quality of Service (CQoS) metrics.
Of course, you are asking yourself, “Why would the CRTC consider exceptions? Either they beat the numbers or they don’t.” Well, long before CQoS was considered as a forbearance criterion, the 14 indicators were used to determine if rebates should be paid to competitors when the ILECs provide inadequate service levels. As part of the rebate plan, in Decision 2005-20, the CRTC created a mechanism for considering exclusions from CQoS results where an ILEC might have failed to meet a performance standard due to circumstances beyond its control.
So, the CRTC is now calling for comments on whether that ‘get out of jail free card‘ for rebates should apply for the local forbearance test as well.
The clock is ticking quickly on this file; comments are due on April 27 and replies are due just one week later. It has to be an expedited process. After all, the first applications for forbearance have to be answered in 120 days from last week’s applications.