by Nancy Gardiner
Northern News Services

NNSL (June 04/97) - NorthwesTel wants any long-distance competitor to pay two subsidies if they set up shop in the North.

A decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is expected in early 1998 on NorthwesTel's proposed long-distance model.

The model for future long-distance competition for Northern customers was submitted to the CRTC on the May 30 deadline. A press conference outlining the model, was held Monday via videoconference from Whitehorse, with links to Iqaluit and Yellowknife.

The first subsidy proposed, called the carrier access tariff, would be a payment made by all long-distance service providers from their long-distance revenues. It would be used to subsidize shortfalls in basic local services and high operating costs, according to NorthwesTel.

The second subsidy would be unique. It would close the gap created by long-distance shortfalls incurred in most small and remote communities.

Both subsidies must be approved by the CRTC if they are to go ahead.

"The reality is, if competition takes our major long-distance customers in Yellowknife and Whitehorse, without some form of compensation for NorthwesTel, we simply could not provide the same level of telecommunications services throughout our operating area as we do today," says NorthwesTel president Jean Poirier.