By Ahmad Hathout
Telus is the last of the three largest telecoms to report Thursday a higher rate of customer turnover in its mobile wireless business.
The Vancouver-based telecom pointed to aggressive retail pricing in the second half of 2023 that seeped into the first quarter as having an outsized impact on the defection rate this quarter, which was up to 1.13 per cent compared to the 0.9 per cent it held in the same period last year.
Telus prides itself on its low churn, as for years it held the distinction of being able to tout a sub-1 per cent rate…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telus said the CRTC must pony up if it requires the telco to build a new network to keep landline customers in certain remote communities of British Columbia connected – even though there are alternative service providers in those areas.
Earlier this year, the Vancouver-based company was forced by the CRTC to explain what was going on with home telephone services in those BC communities after it proposed to disconnect the services. Telus explained that those services are based on decades-old wireless technology known as the SR500 system that uses the 3.5 GHz spectrum, which…
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Telus announced Tuesday its acquisition of Vumetric Cybersecurity, a Toronto-headquartered cybersecurity provider that specializes in advanced penetration testing designed to identify cyber vulnerabilities and threats to companies across North America.
Through the integration of Vumetric’s specialized digital platform, Telus is enhancing its security services portfolio, which includes advisory services, cloud security, network security and cyber defence, a Telus press release says.
“Fully integrated with major cloud platforms, Vumetric’s platform delivers a cutting-edge, client-centric approach to cybersecurity testing,” the release reads. “This solution simplifies penetration testing complexities and enables businesses to proactively strengthen their…
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Telus announced Wednesday its strategic investment arm, Telus Ventures, has been rebranded as Telus Global Ventures, as the company aims to position itself as a global leader seeking new investment opportunities in global markets.
“As one of the world’s most active corporate venture capital funds, TELUS Global Ventures has invested in more than 150 companies that are poised for significant growth and market transformation, spanning across 10 countries and five continents,” says a Telus press release announcing the fund’s rebranding.
In 2023, Telus Global Ventures participated in 30 venture deals and invested more…
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Regulator says it is aiming for wholesale internet decision by end of summer
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said Friday it will not immediately decide whether the three largest telecommunications companies should be banned from accessing the large telcos’ bundled middle- and last-mile fibre facilities, effectively greenlighting Bell, Rogers, and Telus to ride on those networks in the interim.
A consortium made up of Bell, Cogeco, Eastlink, TekSavvy, and the indie rep the Competitive Network Operators of Canada filed a late March request for the CRTC to rule that the Big 3 are banned from accessing Bell’s and Telus’s fibre facilities…
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Telus announced Monday it has introduced a new generative AI (GenAI)-powered customer support tool for Telus.com, one of the first customer-accessible GenAI solutions from a Canadian organization, it says.
“Powered by Fuel iX and Microsoft OpenAI Service, the GenAI customer support tool offers fast, easy and intuitive responses to customer queries, providing a more convenient and seamless digital experience,” a Telus press release says.
Fuel iX is an enterprise-grade AI engine designed by Telus International and WillowTree, a digital product provider acquired by Telus International…
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Telus announced Wednesday its 19th annual Telus Days of Giving, the Vancouver-based telecom’s month-long initiative rallying its employees, retirees and partners around the world to volunteer and give back to their local communities.
“From cleaning local shorelines and parks, donating blood, planting trees, recycling old mobile devices, or volunteering at neighbourhood food banks, TELUS Days of Giving enables team members, their families, customers and retirees to foster deeper connections with each other while helping make a meaningful difference in their own backyard,” reads a Telus press release.
Driven by its…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell’s joint request of the CRTC to permanently block the three largest telecommunications companies from accessing its bundled fibre facilities is an attempt to nullify the competitive impact of the interim access regime, Rogers and Telus argued earlier this month.
The country’s largest telco partnered with wholesale competitors to ask the regulator in a procedural request to clarify that the Big 3 are ineligible to access the bundled middle- and last-mile facilities of Bell and Telus before the May 7 deadline to implement the interim regime in Quebec and Ontario. The CRTC did not explicitly…
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The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) released Thursday its 2024 mid-year report, which shows a 43 per cent increase in the number of complaints from telecom and TV customers in Canada between Aug. 1, 2023 and Jan. 31, 2024, compared to figures in the CCTS’s mid-year report a year ago.
For the six-month period, the CCTS accepted 10,663 customer complaints, compared to 7,451 complaints at last year’s midpoint, the new report says. Of the complaints received during the report’s timeframe, 9,272 were concluded, having raised 19,879 issues.
Wireless service issues remain the leading…
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Quebecor said it will rethink pricing strategy as a result
By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor will need to accept Telus’s rate to connect to its wireless network, the CRTC ruled Monday, eliciting a scathing response from the Montreal company that included a promise to reconsider its low-cost pricing and suspend the launch of certain plans in Manitoba.
Telus and Quebecor could not come to an agreement on the price-per-gigabyte component of that access, so they each presented their respective prices and asked the CRTC to make that determination via final offer arbitration.
While it said both offers would allow Quebecor’s mobile virtual network…
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