OTTAWA - The federal telecommunications regulator has issued a ruling that gives both Telus Corp. and its critics partial victories in a dispute over network access fees affecting about half a million of its customers in Alberta and British Columbia.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ruled Thursday that the phone company should give rebates to customers who paid a $2.95 per month access fee but didn't make any long-distance calls during the month.
But the regulator also said Telus isn't required to compensate customers who made long-distance calls on its network during the period in dispute.
"When applied to customers who did not make any long-distance calls, the monthly fee was equivalent to an unauthorized increase to the residential local service rate,'' said CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein.
"We will use our powers whenever necessary to uphold the interests of consumers of telecommunications services, particularly in instances when companies impose unauthorized charges.''
The CRTC noted that Telus waived the network-access fee for customers who subscribed to a Telus toll-restriction service, also known as Call Guardian in certain areas, that only permits local calls or toll-free long-distance.
There is no fee for residential customers to sign up for the long-distance blocking, but there is a $10 fee to cancel.
The CRTC said that Telus must waive this cancellation fee during the next three months if a residential customer who subscribed to the toll-restriction service after October 2007 now wishes to cancel it.
The complaint against Western Canada's biggest phone company, and the second-biggest in the country after Bell Canada, was brought by several advocacy groups and a Toronto-based company that sells long-distance services.
They asked the CRTC to have Telus drop the fee and reimburse customers who paid it.
