By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is asking for comments by Friday on a request by a consortium of internet service providers urging the regulator to rule on the eligibility of the big three telecoms to lease bundled access to middle and last mile fibre facilities both under the interim, and any future permanent, mandated regime.
The consortium – which is made up of Bell, Cogeco, Eastlink, TekSavvy, and the indie rep the Competitive Network Operators of Canada – filed a request dated March 28 to the CRTC asking for a final ruling before May 7 on whether Bell, Rogers, Telus and…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers wants the CRTC to limit the time telcos reserve space to attach wireless equipment on their own poles, according to a submission to the regulator.
The ask comes in response to a consultation launched by the commission inquiring, among other items, about whether it has jurisdiction over wireless attachments on telco-owned or controlled structures. The CRTC holds the preliminary view that it has concurrent jurisdiction over those structures with the department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), which has domain over towers and siting.
Beside recommending that the CRTC confirm that jurisdiction – which…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The country’s largest broadcasters are asking the CRTC to wait until it has implemented the rules from the Online Streaming Act before it does anything to the rate that broadcasters must pay to carry certain television programs.
Not-for-profit media company Accessible Media Inc. filed a Part 1 application in February asking the regulator to up the price broadcasters pay it to carry its English-language AMI-tv and French-language AMI-tele programs, citing financial difficulties. It is asking for “modest” 1 cent and 2 cent increases per subscriber per month for the programs, respectively, until the next licence…
Continue Reading
Building on its introduction of the TiVo Stream service to its customers last year, Halifax-based Eastlink on Tuesday launched its latest video stream innovation, the TiVo Stream Mobile App.
“We’re on a mission to do things differently,” Eastlink CEO Jeff Gillham said in a press release. “Our team has worked hard to enhance the TiVo Stream experience to reflect what our customers have told us about how they want to use TiVo Stream. The evolution of this app takes the experience of TiVo Stream to the next level giving our customers even more flexibility to watch…
Continue Reading
Not-for-profit media company Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) filed a Part 1 application with the CRTC late last month requesting that the regulator hike the rate broadcasters pay to carry its programming temporarily until the next licence renewal period in August 2026.
Broadcasters are required to carry English-language AMI’s AMI-tv and French-language AMI-tele programs, which are funded by the fees AMI is paid for that mandatory carriage under the Broadcasting Act’s 9(1)(h) rule. AMI says an overwhelming majority of the revenue of its services come from these BDU subscription fees.
However, because the cost of doing business has gone up due to…
Continue Reading
The Canadian telecommunications sector experienced a 3.5-per-cent increase in total revenues in 2022, similar to the 3.4-per-cent growth achieved in 2021 and a clear progression from the sector’s revenue decline in the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic year, according to the CRTC’s Communications Market Report (CMR) for calendar year 2022, released Tuesday.
Telecom revenues totalled $57.2 billion in 2022, primarily driven by the almost $1.7-billion increase in mobile revenues, which represents a 5.7-per-cent increase over 2021, according to the report. Mobile service revenues grew to $30.9 billion in 2022 from $29.2 billion in 2021. This was mostly due…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Cogeco is warning the CRTC that an application by TekSavvy requesting that the cableco be forced to maintain its coax facilities or else provide aggregated last mile fibre access so it can maintain connectivity to its customers at locations in Burlington and Windsor is offside.
TekSavvy filed the Part 1 application last month warning that its customers at those locations will lose access if Cogeco continues its migration away from older coax technology and toward fibre, alleging that the only means for the wholesaler to get fibre access from a cable company is through the disaggregated regime…
Continue Reading
Bell says market has ‘never been more competitive’
By Ahmad Hathout
Telus said Wednesday that it should be allowed to use the wholesale internet regime outside of its operating territory, but noted that an unfettered framework without limits will create a disincentive to invest in networks.
Telus took issue Wednesday with being labelled a national “incumbent” because it mainly operates in the west and has few facilities east of its home court, including some in Quebec.
The telco argued that it be given access to the wholesale regime in areas outside of its operating territory because that would boost competition. In contrast, it…
Continue Reading
Opponents say spectrum leasing serves the same purpose
By Ahmad Hathout
In an effort to maximize the use of a finite resource, Innovation Canada introduced Tuesday a long-expected policy for spectrum called access licensing, which would facilitate the migration of licenses not in use by holders toward other providers who will use them in smaller remote and indigenous territories.
The hotly debated policy will impact smaller Tier 5 areas and immediately target the 800 MHz (cellular) band, the Personal Communications Services band (1850-1910 MHz and 1930-1990 MHz), and the 900 MHz Land Mobile Radio (LMR) band. ISED said it will evaluate on…
Continue Reading
Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson announced Monday it has partnered with Telus to launch and optimize the Canadian telecom company’s 5G standalone (SA) network from coast to coast.
The Telus 5G SA network leverages Ericsson’s 5G Core technologies, delivered through Ericsson’s cloud-native dual-mode 5G Core solution, says an Ericsson press release.
“This network is purpose-built to power the 5G ecosystem,” Jerome Birot, vice-president of platform technology and services at Telus, said in the release. “Our new standalone network provides never-before-seen speeds and low latency to enable the next generation of 5G edge…
Continue Reading
