MONTREAL — Cogeco Connexion, Videotron and Quebec municipal ISP Maskicom are banding together to demand that Bell implement “real solutions” to resolve major problems with access to its telephone poles, saying previously announced measures fall short.
“Bell’s anti-competitive and unfair practices are significantly limiting the ability of ISPs to deliver high-speed Internet expansion projects to rural communities in Québec,” says a press release jointly issued today by the three Quebec ISPs.
“Cogeco Connexion, Maskicom and Videotron do not believe the ‘seven regulatory easements’ announced by Bell on October 30 will solve the current problems in any way, as none of…
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MONTREAL — Cogeco and Cogeco Communications today announced the appointment of Zouheir Mansourati (above) as senior vice-president and chief technology officer for both companies, effective immediately.
“Zouheir’s years of experience in telecommunications combined with his drive, leadership and collaboration skills make him an ideal candidate for this highly strategic role at Cogeco,” said Philippe Jetté, president and CEO of Cogeco and Cogeco Communications, in a press release announcing Mansourati’s hiring. “In this role, he will further Cogeco’s technology and innovation strategy from vision to execution, and lead our plans for emerging technologies. I am excited to have him join…
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And why there’s much more to rural connectivity than funding
By Lynn Greiner
AN ADDITIONAL $1.75 BILLION for rural broadband, which the federal government announced this month, is certainly a good step, albeit delayed, in the right direction. But, it’s not enough.
“It’s not a silver bullet,” said Telus vice-president telecom policy and chief regulatory legal counsel Stephen Schmidt during the Canadian Telecom Summit’s annual Regulatory Blockbuster session on Wednesday. “It won’t work on its own… In our view, complementary spectrum policy reform is an essential companion piece that will ensure that the networks that get built with or without public…
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TORONTO – While he didn’t directly address the now-expired hostile bid to purchase the company he just joined, Cogeco Connexion president Frédéric Perron (pictured in a screen cap) did use his first speech to the industry to send a message: “We’re here to stay… and we’re here to grow.”
During a Tuesday keynote to online delegates of the 19th annual Canadian Telecom Summit, Perron (a Canadian with a long background of telecom experience in Europe) noted the company likes to say “that we’re one of the well kept secrets in the industry, at least up to recently,” and he…
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Companies say they won’t pursue the acquisition further
TORONTO and NEW YORK — The joint Altice USA-Rogers Communications months-long pursuit of Cogeco and Cogeco Communications has come to an end, with the companies’ second acquisition offer expiring today and both Altice and Rogers saying they won’t pursue the matter further.
In an email statement sent to Cartt.ca, an Altice spokesperson said: “Our offer to acquire Cogeco in order to own Atlantic Broadband has expired and we do not intend to extend it. We remain committed to our growth strategy and continue to focus on opportunities to drive value for our…
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GATINEAU — Having already extended the deadline once for submissions to its proceeding regarding the appropriate network and service configurations for disaggregated wholesale high-speed access (HSA) services, the CRTC says it won’t delay the proceeding further by agreeing to add procedural steps requested by the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC).
The Commission launched the proceeding in June, and then revised the deadlines in July, making interventions due by October 5 and replies due by December 7, 2020.
However, on November 2, CNOC sent a letter to the CRTC asking for a Commission order to address alleged instances of…
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Report due by February
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The federal government’s pledge to have wireless prices drop by 25% is expected to be studied during House of Commons hearings into accessibility and affordability of telecommunications services, starting next week.
The committee on industry will begin the proceedings on Tuesday with witnesses Telesat and Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX). Both satellite companies made news over the past two weeks as they push low earth orbit satellites to colve rural broadband coverage. The former this week formalized a $600-million agreement for the federal government to purchase satellite capacity to serve…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – To no one’s surprise, Bell Canada and the large cable companies have sought leave to appeal the Federal Court of Appeal decision of September 10, 2020, over CRTC Decision 2019-288 (about the fees third party internet access ISPs pay to the incumbents) to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Bell adopted the reasoning put forward by the large cable carriers (Rogers, Shaw, Videotron, Cogeco, and Eastlink) and let them argue more at depth the issues at hand.
Their argument seems to focus on, besides the basic issues they contended before when they went to the Federal Court…
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MONTREAL – In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, Cogeco Inc. announced it hired Paul Beaudry (above) as its new vice-president, regulatory affairs.
He will be succeeding Nathalie Dorval, “who is beginning a well-earned retirement,” reads the LinkedIn post. “We are sending our best wishes to Nathalie, who will remain in her position until November 27th.”
Beaudry, a lawyer, who has been based in Calgary as director of broadband policy and regulatory affairs with Telus and before that as director of development at the school of public policy, will be joining Cogeco in Montreal in the new year, he said on LinkedIn.
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By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Some of the country’s largest carriers have lost an appeal challenging the process by which the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) set higher pole attachment rates they say could hamper the delivery of broadband services.
Rogers, Telus, Shaw, Cogeco, Quebecor and Bragg (Eastlink), among others, didn’t like the consultation process that saw the rate to attach their cables on structures jump from an annual rate of $22.35 per attachment set in 2005 to $43.63 across the province. They argued in the province’s divisional court in late September that the OEB had not provided them with the appropriate…
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