Canadians already cover the cost of the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) through their monthly phone and internet bills, argues telecom customer Marc Nanni, even though the complaints agency is regularly described as free. Nanni filed a procedural request with the CRTC last week in the regulator’s review of how customers are told about the CCTS, the same proceeding where Telus wants written proof before complaints are accepted.
Nanni wants the regulator to require that the CCTS cost be shown as a line item on every bill, according to copies received by iPhone in Canada. “If consumers see it, they will ask what it is. If they ask, they will find the CCTS,” he wrote.
Telus pushed back hard in its reply on Thursday. The carrier called the premise that Canadians are already paying for the CCTS “legally and factually wrong” and said there is “no direct customer surcharge” on its bills. Carriers fund the agency through annual membership fees, revenue-based assessments and per-complaint fees paid directly to the CCTS.
Where Nanni sees an admission is in how Telus describes those payments. The company wrote that CCTS assessment fees and internal compliance costs represent “general corporate administrative overhead,” and that such overhead is “factored into general pricing in a competitive market.” Nanni says that means customers pay for CCTS compliance through their rates. “It isn’t free,” he wrote.
Most of the letter argues against his other ask, which is public disclosure of cost figures Telus redacted from its October 7 intervention. Telus says releasing those numbers would cause “specific direct harm” to the company and wants that part of the request denied.
Nanni also says only 1.2 per cent of consumers with unresolved complaints are told about the CCTS by their provider, which he calls a 15-year awareness failure. That gap matters more as volumes climb, with the agency recently reporting a record 53,195 complaints in its latest reporting year.
In his October 23 email, Nanni said the CRTC has nine days to rule on his request. The fight comes as Telus is also challenging the watchdog’s legal authority in a separate filing with the regulator.
Would seeing a CCTS charge on your monthly bill make you more likely to file a complaint with the agency?
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