area, with a rate of 10 cents per minute for calling within Canada during off-peak hours. Without the subsidy, this low rate could not be offered. The Carrier Access Tariff (CAT) rate was also subsidized at just 7 cents per minute from 2001 to early 2007, and a lower CAT rate would have required even greater subsidy; other Canadian companies can offer lower CAT rates without subsidization. In addition, the "toll connecting trunks" (portions of the long-distance networks that connect local exchanges to the long-distance exchanges) are unusually long, and are regarded as part of monopoly local, requiring external subsidy to sustain. Circuit charges are also priced well above cost in order to cross-subsidize non-profitable services such as monopoly local. Considering the difficulties of the operating area, Northwestel provides a fairly modern telecommunications network, including a basic level of such features as Call waiting, dial-up Internet, Call Number Display in 58 exchanges (62 communities & localities), and, in the largest centres which are still smaller than Bell Canada's fair-sized towns, video conference services. More advanced features, such as Name Display, are not available, and long-distance transmission of Call Number Display is limited to just 14 communities. They also provide cable services, as "TheEdge", with television and DSL Internet in some communities, many of them with government assistance. As NetKaster they also provide Two-way Satellite Internet access to Alberta and parts of the NWT and Nunavut and planned expansion in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Yukon. The CRTC initiated a proceeding on January 17, 2006 (Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2006-1) to review the regulatory framework for Northwestel, with a decision for a new framework issued in 2007 to go within 60 days. The CRTC examined moving Northwestel from rate-of-return regulation to price regulation, or a transitional regime. It also examined the possibility of local service competition (and under what conditions), possible split of rate base between competitive and utility, further SIP proposals, and status of long-distance competition and the setting of the CAT rate. The strongest opposition to the proposal by Northwestel came from Telus. The proposal envisioned a substantial increase in supplemental funding in order to shift from an implicit subsidy (circuit charges far above cost) to an explicit subsidy (charges closer to parity with elsewhere in Canada); there would also have been a major cut in the 7 cent-per-minute CAT rate to a new switch connect rate lower than