Telcos, wireless association question details of weather, travel info hotline

Telecommunications service providers (TSPs) believe that they, and their customers, should not bear the brunt of the rollout and operating costs should the CRTC approve the Intelligent Transportation Systems Society of Canada’s (ITS Canada) application to use access code 511 to provide weather and travel information to the public. In comments filed to the commission, TSPs TELUS Communications Inc., Aliant Telecom Inc., Bell Canada and Saskatchewan Telecommunications, along with the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), generally support the application, but question the timing proposed by ITS Canada and ask for more detail about what the new service offers and how it will be set up. Aliant, Bell and SaskTel, which comment in a joint submission, note that "even after having reviewed the ITS application carefully, are unclear as to the specific services the applicant is proposing be provided and, as a result, how a telecommunications service provider might most effectively provision services and facilities to support those services." While the application from ITS Canada – along with Environment Canada, Transport Canada, the Canadian Urban Transit Association, the Transportation Association of Canada and the governments of all ten provinces and the Yukon – calls for the use of 511 to "provide callers with real-time information on severe weather conditions, traffic congestion, the status of roadway closures and conditions, as well as trip and schedule information," it doesn’t specify how the routing infrastructure would be implemented. It’s this issue, and, more importantly, how the costs will be recovered, that the commenting parties focus on. Submits the CWTA: "Some mechanism will be required to allow callers to select between traveler and weather information, but it is not clear how such a system will be set up, or more importantly, who will be responsible for it. If the two systems are not implemented concurrently, the possibility arises that the proponents may wish to modify the way calls are routed to accommodate different call selection mechanisms. This could significantly increase the complexity and costs for TSPs… if the commission approves the application, it would be inappropriate for TSPs to bear the costs of implementing switching and routing changes." TELUS also opposes increased costs for them or their customers, and offers an alternative solution. "TELUS recommends that the municipal, regional, provincial and territorial departments and agencies that choose to implement 511 dialing bear the upfront costs of that implementation and also the operational costs for provision of the services." How quickly these proposed services could be rolled out was a point of comment as well. Submits Aliant, Bell and SaskTel: "Some TSPs may not be able to provision 511 abbreviated dialing upon short notice, such as the notice proposed by the applicant for access to the Environment Canada weather information service from certain areas. At a minimum, each province or territory that wishes to implement a 511 service in an area should provide a minimum of six months notice to the TSPs operating within the area." The CWTA echoes this statement, noting that the 90-day rollout proposal is "inconsistent with the manner in which previous N11 services have been implemented." There’s also the issue of wireless carriers who currently offer the 511 access code for use by roaming subscribers so they don’t incur long distance charges. Earlier this year, TELUS, among others, chose to phase out this use by June 2006, thus limiting ITS Canada’s access to 511 until that time. TELUS recommends that "the Commission maintain its month rollout timetable, but at the same time, urges the Commission to consider a more lengthy timetable if the applicants propose a full national implementation." If the application is approved, the ITS Canada consortium will need to take the appropriate steps to notify Canadians about the scope of their new service. "It is critically important that there should be no confusion regarding the types of services which will be available via this number versus other N11 numbers, in particular 911 emergency services," comments Aliant, Bell and SaskTel. TELUS agrees, urging the CRTC to "specifically direct the applicants to undertake a comprehensive public awareness campaign wherein they should enunciate in precise terms the types of services that will be available through 511 dialing to the public" Before the parties get to far ahead of themselves, TELUS reminded that the commission still needs to assess "whether there is a sufficient public interest to assign 511 for access to weather, traffic, roadway status, transit and schedule information service." Considering that Environment Canada’s current automatic telephone weather service receives over 35 million calls per year, questions about the rollout of the new 511 service will continue to be about how and when, not if.

Telcos, wireless association question details of weather, travel info hotline

News | 07/22/2005 4:00 am EDT

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