GATINEAU – Atop Broadband received a Class 1 Broadcast Distribution Undertaking license from the CRTC today to serve the Greater Toronto Area.
Under its license the company can serve Ajax, Aurora, Bolton, Brampton, Caledon, East Gwillimbury, Etobicoke, Georgetown, King City, Markham, Milton, Mississauga, Newmarket, Nobleton, Oakville, Orangeville, Oshawa, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, Toronto, and Vaughan (Kleinberg, Maple and Woodbridge).
The company is owned by Robert Socci, president of Atop Communications, and according to the proceeding’s documents, it appears it will be an over-the-top video provider that will provide its own set-top box using its customers’ existing cable DOCSIS or telco DSL broadband service.
When responding to a deficiency question about what sort of technology it planned to use, Atop responded: “Depending on how the customer accesses the internet would determine access technology. For customers using companies such as Primus, Bell, etc, it would be ADSL 2+, for customers using Rogers, it would be Cable (Coaxial cable-Docsis). In order to overcome some of the last mile issues such as capping and other access issues Atop has made several strategic alliances that utilize the ADSL 2+ technology thus swaying the balance to approximately 75-85% of our customers would rely on ADSL2+ and 15-25% Coaxial cable-Docsis.”
We attempted to contact Mr. Socci for further clarification and some ideas on when he plans to launch, but he is out of the country for now.
The decision this week follows a similar one last week when Colba.net was approved for a similar-sounding service for Montreal.
– Greg O’Brien
