Currently, if you are a consumer or small business and you have a telecom complaint, you can contact the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS). If you are abusiness with a total telecom bill of over $2,500 per month, you can take any unresolved complaints to the CRTC. I expect that there were a number of good reasons for this split initially, including the staffing of the CCTS and the potential complexity of large business telecom issues.
The CRTC announced on June 4th that they will hold a public hearing to review the structure and mandate of the CCTS. In this review the CRTC wants to consider the role of the CCTS as administrator of the Television Service Provider Code of Conduct. The CRTC also notes that Canadians must be aware of the existence of the CCTS for it to be effective, and plans to examine whether changes are necessary for the CCTS to promote itself.
Comments on the proceeding are welcome until August 4th. CRTC Press Release and Comments Submission
The CRTC proposal did not suggest that the CCTS expand its coverage beyond consumers and small businesses. Based on my experience with medium to large-sized organizations, they could clearly benefit from an expanded CCTS role. The issue is largely around complaint review awareness, which is to be addressed in the upcoming proceeding.
If a business has, for example a billing or contract issue and they cannot resolve it with the telecom service provider, my sense is that even if they think they have a legitimate claim, they may drop it since they don’t know they have an ombudsman. The CRTC website does indicate that a complaint can be filed with them, but it isn’t well advertised nor even clear what kind of complaint that can be brought forward and by whom.
The CCTS disciplined process with statistical capture by type of complaint and by associated service provider, can also offer further public insight into what are the telecom issues facing all Canadian businesses. What are your thoughts?
Recent Comments