OTTAWA – The CRTC on Friday approved an application by Aliant Telecom for a regional cable license spanning the larger centres in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland & Labrador.
Until now, Aliant had licenses for Halifax, Saint John and Moncton. It currently offers a DSL-delivered digital TV option in Halifax and was a pioneer in DSL TV, offering an earlier version of the technology (ADSL) in the two New Brunswick towns between 1999 and 2001.
Aliant’s new regional Class 1 license is for: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford and Sackville, Nova Scotia; Saint John and Moncton, New Brunswick; and St. John’s, Paradise and Mount Pearl, Newfoundland & Labrador.
CRTC licenses aren’t issued until the company indicates to the Commission it is ready to go in the areas, but must be launched within 24 months of the decision, which was made public Friday.
When contacted by cartt.ca, an Aliant spokesperson declined to say when the company might launch.
However, it also makes one wonder that when the company is reformatted as an income trust, as reported by cartt.ca, spanning rural regions across entirely new areas, if it won’t expand terrestrial digital television to small-town Quebec and Ontario, too.
