WHEREAS many rural communities in British Columbia do not have cell phone coverage; AND WHEREAS there is no obligation on telephone service providers to offer public access to telephones in communities: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM urge the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission to prohibit public telephone providers from removing public telephone booths in communities.
Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission The Commission notes that it considered the removal of public pay telephones in Telecom Decision CRTC 2004-47 the Decision. In that decision, the Commission noted that although demand for public pay telephone service is declining, this service is still an important public service that wireless services have not rendered obsolete. The Commission considered that issues of availability are likely of greater concern in small and remote communities and concluded that there is a strong public interest in ensuring access to the public switched telephone system PSTN in those communities. The Commissions decision took into account the needs of telephone companies to economically manage their pay phone business and the needs of small communities for access to the PSTN. While the Decision permits telephone companies to remove pay telephones, they must provide notifications prior to their removal so that location providers can make alternate arrangements, if they so desire. Additionally, when a telephone company plans to remove the last pay phone in a community, a least 60-day advance public notification must be provided, which includes a written notification to a communitys local government. This notification is intended to provide time for the local government to consider options and make arrangements for continued public access to pay telephone service. Finally, the Commission also notes that the pay telephone service market is open for competition and that other competing pay telephone service providers can provide telephone service in any area they choose to operate.