Directory listing charges too high, independent publishers tell commission

A group of telephone directory publishers claims the telcos are giving them the shaft financially and it wants the CRTC to do something about it. The seven firms say the telecom companies are overcharging them for the names and numbers of subscribers. They have filed a review-and-vary application with the commission seeking redress. The issue arises from Telecom Decision 95-3, which requires the ILECs to make subscriber information available to independent directory publishers. The Directory File Service (DFS) is used by the independent companies to print their own directories or to provide directory assistance. Final rates for the DFS system were set out in Orders 98-728 and 2000-263. In their joint submission, Endymion Holdings Ltd, Koocanusa Publications Inc, Info Book Directories Inc, The Phone Book Company, Info-tel Directory, Colour Pages Directory, and Southam Inc say the established telcos are charging them more for the information than they charge CLECs. When local competition was introduced, ILECs were ordered under Decision 97-8 to provide subscriber listings to new entrants at Phase II costs plus an increase of 25 per cent. These charges, known as the Basic Listing Interchange File (BLIF), are substantially lower than the DFS rates. Bell Canada, BC Tel and Telus have a DFS of $0.125 for each master residential listing, $0.135 for each master business listing, $0.25 for each update residential listing and $0.27 for each update business listing. The smaller ILECs charge from $0.14 to $0.191 for master files and $0.28 to $0.382 for updates. The Directory Publishers point out in their September 1 submission that the DFS and BLIF are virtually identical. They suffer financially when a CLEC also acts as a publisher. Telus, for example, recently bought White Directory of Canada (NL, November 8/99). As a CLEC, Telus is able to obtain subscriber information from Bell and others at the BLIF rate and publish it for less than the directory companies that are not aligned with a telco. The application estimates that Telus pays $0.056 per listing, while the Directory Publishers must shell out $0.125 for a residential listing and $0.135 for a business listing. There is no need for this, the publishers say, since the same database is used to provide the DFS information to the new telcos and the BLIF data to the printing firms. The companies are asking the CRTC to change the system and permit the BLIF rate to apply for both CLECs and independent publishers. If the commission cannot do that, the applicants want it to revise the DFS rates so that they are equivalent to the BLIF tally. The companies are also seeking to have the practice of "In and Out" orders dis-allowed. When a subscriber moves within a city or the name of a street is changed, the ILECs levy a DFS charge to remove the old information and a second charge to insert the new data. Since the subscriber is not being removed from the master list, there is no reason for the double dipping, the Directory Publishers maintain. As an example, the appellants say Telus recently changed the listings for a street in Kelowna BC from "Harvey Av N" to "N Harvey Av". The directories were assessed for the removal of the first designation and the insertion of the second, even though the ILEC made the alteration.

Directory listing charges too high, independent publishers tell commission

News | 09/25/2000 4:00 am EDT

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