CRTC USF email: reframe to 'run your whole VoIP as a Canadian carrier'

Pivot from the hedge/second-entity framing to the consolidation pitch: one CRTC
carrier as the home base, nexus in Canada, customers onboarded from anywhere.
Lead value props with the three concrete reseller realities:
- No FCC reporting (no 499-A/Q, no RMD recert)
- No USAC/USF on your revenue (contribution sits upstream)
- No STIR/SHAKEN to set up or run (reseller can't get a US token; upstream signs)
Add: No FCC Section 214 / no ongoing 214 burden -- CRTC BITS is a cheap,
low-burden notification by comparison. Header/subject reworked; keeps the honest
US-termination + upstream-signing explanation.
This commit is contained in:
justin 2026-06-18 00:10:06 -05:00
parent d9ecb94b27
commit a82b356921

View file

@ -72,49 +72,42 @@ def build_body():
return (
P("Hi {{ .Subscriber.FirstName }},")
+ P("If you contribute to the federal Universal Service Fund, your Q3 number just went up again.")
+ bq("The FCC has set the <strong>Q3 2026 USF contribution factor at 38.8%</strong> &mdash; up from 37.0% in Q2, and effective July 1. That is the rate you remit on the interstate and international end-user revenue you report on your 499.")
+ P("38.8% is near the highest the factor has ever been. A decade ago it sat in the mid-teens. For a small or mid-size US carrier, that is a steadily rising tax on every interstate dollar you bill &mdash; on top of everything else the FCC requires.")
+ bq("The FCC has set the <strong>Q3 2026 USF contribution factor at 38.8%</strong> &mdash; up from 37.0% in Q2, and effective July 1. That is the rate US carriers remit on the interstate and international end-user revenue they report on the 499.")
+ stats(
("38.8%", "Q3 2026 USF<br>contribution factor"),
("+1.8 pts", "increase over<br>Q2 (37.0%)"),
("Jul 1", "effective date<br>(FCC DA-26-546A1)"),
)
+ H2("The US carrier burden, in one place.")
+ P("USF is just the line item that moved this quarter. The full load a registered US carrier carries:")
+ P("38.8% is near the highest the factor has ever been &mdash; a decade ago it sat in the mid-teens. And USF is just one line on a long list. Here is the full load a US-registered voice provider carries today:")
+ UL(
"<strong>USF contributions</strong> &mdash; now 38.8% of interstate/international end-user revenue, filed and remitted via the 499",
"<strong>Photo-ID &ldquo;Know Your Customer&rdquo; rules</strong> &mdash; under the FCC&rsquo;s 2025 Robocall Mitigation Order, you must collect and authenticate a <strong>government-issued photo ID</strong> for every new customer before you can turn up their phone service",
"<strong>USF contributions</strong> &mdash; 38.8% of interstate/international end-user revenue, filed and remitted to USAC via the 499",
"<strong>FCC Form 499-A / 499-Q</strong> &mdash; annual and quarterly revenue filings, with true-ups and audit exposure",
"<strong>Robocall Mitigation Database</strong> &mdash; annual recertification; miss it and your traffic gets blocked",
"<strong>STIR/SHAKEN</strong> &mdash; call-authentication implementation and ongoing attestation",
"<strong>CALEA</strong> &mdash; lawful-intercept capability, SSI filing, and the cost of a compliant solution",
"<strong>Section 214 + Team Telecom</strong> &mdash; for international service, with national-security review that can stall financings and M&amp;A",
"<strong>State PUC registrations</strong> and <strong>FCC regulatory fees</strong> on top of the federal load",
"<strong>STIR/SHAKEN</strong> &mdash; standing up and running your own call-authentication / signing posture",
"<strong>Photo-ID &ldquo;Know Your Customer&rdquo; rules</strong> &mdash; under the FCC&rsquo;s 2025 Robocall Mitigation Order, collecting and authenticating a government-issued photo ID for every new customer before you turn up service",
"<strong>CALEA</strong> &mdash; lawful-intercept capability and SSI filing",
"<strong>Section 214 + Team Telecom, state PUC registrations, FCC regulatory fees</strong> &mdash; on top of all of the above",
)
+ H2("Why smaller carriers are standing up a Canadian operation.")
+ P("A CRTC-registered Canadian carrier is a separate legal entity in a separate regulatory jurisdiction. For the voice traffic you move there, the US compliance stack simply does not apply:")
+ H2("The idea: run your whole VoIP business as a Canadian carrier.")
+ P("Not a side entity or a backup &mdash; your actual home base. You set up one CRTC-registered Canadian carrier, put your customers on it <strong>from anywhere</strong> (US, Canada, or international), and your nexus &mdash; the carrier of record, your billing, banking, contracts, and regulatory home &mdash; sits in Canada.")
+ bq("As a Canadian reseller you don&rsquo;t report to the FCC, you don&rsquo;t tax your customers for USAC, and there is no STIR/SHAKEN program for you to build and operate. Those obligations live with the upstream wholesale carriers you buy from &mdash; not with you.")
+ H2("What that means in practice.")
+ UL(
"<strong>No USF.</strong> Canada funds its contribution program differently &mdash; there is no 38.8% factor on your Canadian carrier&rsquo;s revenue",
"<strong>No Robocall Mitigation Database recert</strong> and <strong>no FCC 499</strong> for the Canadian entity",
"<strong>No FCC photo-ID mandate.</strong> The FCC&rsquo;s government-ID &ldquo;Know Your Customer&rdquo; rule does not apply to your Canadian carrier&rsquo;s customers",
"<strong>No CALEA mandate</strong> in the US sense &mdash; lawful-intercept obligations are far lighter and cheaper",
"<strong>No Section 214 / Team Telecom</strong> &mdash; CRTC registration is a notification, not an application with a national-security review",
"<strong>Same +1 country code.</strong> Your customers dial exactly the same way &mdash; nothing changes on their end",
"<strong>US numbers still work.</strong> Several Canadian wholesale carriers provision <strong>US DIDs</strong> to CRTC-registered carriers, so you can keep serving US customers from your Canadian entity &mdash; see the free guide below for which vendors offer them",
"<strong>A clean second jurisdiction</strong> &mdash; an FCC enforcement action against your US entity does not reach a Canadian corporation",
"<strong>No FCC reporting.</strong> A Canadian reseller that isn&rsquo;t an FCC-registered carrier has nothing to file with the FCC &mdash; no 499-A, no 499-Q, no RMD recertification",
"<strong>No USAC/USF on your revenue.</strong> You don&rsquo;t register with USAC or remit the 38.8% contribution &mdash; that obligation sits upstream, not on your customer billing",
"<strong>No STIR/SHAKEN to set up or run.</strong> A reseller can&rsquo;t even be issued a US signing token &mdash; the upstream carrier that owns the numbers signs the calls. There is no authentication program for you to stand up, certify, or maintain",
"<strong>No FCC photo-ID mandate</strong> and <strong>no CALEA build-out</strong> in the US sense for your Canadian entity",
"<strong>No FCC Section 214, no ongoing 214 burden.</strong> Where the FCC requires an international Section 214 authorization (with Team Telecom review and continuing obligations), the CRTC equivalent &mdash; a BITS registration &mdash; is a simple, low-cost notification with no ongoing 214-style burden",
"<strong>Customers from anywhere.</strong> Onboard US, Canadian, or international customers onto one Canadian carrier &mdash; same +1 dialing, nothing changes on their end",
"<strong>US numbers still work.</strong> Several Canadian wholesale carriers provision <strong>US DIDs</strong> to CRTC-registered carriers, so you can serve US customers directly &mdash; the free guide below lists which ones",
"<strong>One clean jurisdiction.</strong> Your carrier of record, banking, and contracts all sit in Canada &mdash; outside the FCC&rsquo;s reach",
)
+ bq("You do not give up your US business. You add a Canadian carrier alongside it &mdash; for the voice traffic that doesn&rsquo;t need to sit under the FCC, and for the Canadian market you can now sell into.")
+ H2("&ldquo;But how do I terminate to the US, and what about STIR/SHAKEN?&rdquo;")
+ P("This is the first question every carrier asks, so here is the straight answer.")
+ UL(
"<strong>US termination is routine.</strong> Many US-based long-distance termination operators and wholesale carriers actively accept traffic from Canadian carriers &mdash; cross-border voice is one of the most common interconnects there is. You hand off your US-bound traffic to a US termination partner exactly like a US carrier does.",
"<strong>STIR/SHAKEN is handled by your upstream US-number provider &mdash; not something you stand up yourself.</strong> The US signing certificate (the SPC token from the US policy administrator) is only issued to US carriers, so a Canadian reseller doesn&rsquo;t run its own. Instead, the US wholesale carrier that assigns you the US DIDs signs those calls on the way out &mdash; the same way the vast majority of small US carriers already rely on an upstream provider to sign for them.",
"<strong>Your Canadian-origin traffic falls under the CRTC&rsquo;s STIR/SHAKEN regime</strong>, which is lighter in practice for a small carrier &mdash; and is typically handled by the upstream Canadian carrier providing your trunking and numbers.",
)
+ P("Net effect: you keep terminating to the US and your calls stay properly attested &mdash; but the heavy FCC compliance stack (USF, 499, RMD, photo-ID KYC) sits with the upstream providers and your US entity, not your day-to-day operation. The free guide below lists which Canadian carriers provision US DIDs and handle the signing.")
+ H2("&ldquo;How do I terminate to the US then?&rdquo;")
+ P("Routinely. Many US-based long-distance termination operators and wholesale carriers actively accept traffic from Canadian carriers &mdash; cross-border voice is one of the most common interconnects there is. You buy US numbers and US termination from a wholesale partner, and they handle the US-side STIR/SHAKEN signing on the way out &mdash; exactly how the vast majority of small carriers already rely on an upstream provider to sign for them. Your Canadian-origin traffic falls under the CRTC&rsquo;s lighter regime, handled by your Canadian trunking provider.")
+ P("The point: the heavy US compliance stack &mdash; USF, the 499s, the RMD, photo-ID KYC, the signing certificates &mdash; rides on the upstream wholesale carriers, not on your day-to-day operation.")
+ H2("What we set up &mdash; turnkey, in 6&ndash;10 weeks.")
+ UL(
"Incorporation in <strong>British Columbia or Ontario</strong> &mdash; a separate legal entity from your US company",
"Incorporation in <strong>British Columbia or Ontario</strong> &mdash; your Canadian carrier entity",
"<strong>CRTC registration</strong> (domestic reseller + BITS international authorization)",
"Canadian DID provisioned under your new carrier identity",
"Virtual registered office, <strong>.ca domain</strong> + up to 14 email addresses",
@ -123,7 +116,7 @@ def build_body():
+ coupon_banner()
+ cta("Start your Canadian carrier setup &mdash; $200 off &rarr;", ORDER_URL)
+ guide_block()
+ PS(f"Questions about how the Canadian structure would work for your traffic? {CONTACT}. The {CODE} discount is good through Friday at 11:59pm ET.")
+ PS(f"Questions about moving your VoIP onto a Canadian carrier? {CONTACT}. The {CODE} discount is good through Friday at 11:59pm ET.")
+ P("&mdash; Performance West")
)
@ -132,7 +125,7 @@ def main():
ap = argparse.ArgumentParser()
ap.add_argument("--test", action="store_true", help="create against a test list id (env CRTC_TEST_LIST) instead of list 3")
ap.add_argument("--name", default="CRTC USF Q3 \u2014 38.8% increase + $200 off (CANADA200)")
ap.add_argument("--subject", default="USF jumps to 38.8% in Q3 \u2014 here\u2019s the Canadian alternative ($200 off)")
ap.add_argument("--subject", default="USF jumps to 38.8% \u2014 run your VoIP as a Canadian carrier instead ($200 off)")
args = ap.parse_args()
lists = [int(os.getenv("CRTC_TEST_LIST", "0"))] if args.test else [LIST_ID]
@ -143,12 +136,12 @@ def main():
body = assemble(
hdr(
"USF Increase \u2014 Q3 2026",
"USF just hit 38.8%.<br>There&rsquo;s a Canadian alternative.",
"The federal contribution factor rose again, effective July 1",
"USF just hit 38.8%.<br>Run your VoIP as a Canadian carrier.",
"One CRTC carrier, nexus in Canada, customers from anywhere",
),
flagbar(
"US carrier \u2014 38.8% USF + the full FCC stack",
"Canadian CRTC carrier \u2014 no USF, separate jurisdiction",
"Canadian carrier \u2014 no FCC reporting, no USAC, no S/S to run",
),
build_body(),
ftr(""),