CEO calls CRTC decision restricting those qualifying under MVNO framework “unfortunate”
MONTREAL – Cogeco announced its fourth quarter 2022 financial results last night, showing revenue was up 14% year-over-year, while earlier today, on an investor’s call, its president and CEO Philippe Jetté outlined the company’s next steps towards launching wireless.
Financial results
In terms of its Q4 2022 financial results, Cogeco reported revenue of $746.9 million. The company also reported adjusted EBITDA increased 18.7% to $348.5 million.
Cogeco’s Canadian telecommunications revenue alone increased 1.1% and adjusted EBITDA increased 6.4% year-over-year, “mainly resulting from lower marketing expenses and certain year-end adjustments,” a press…
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BRIDGENORTH, Ont. — The governments of Canada and Ontario today announced more than $56 million in combined funding for two projects by Bell and one by Cogeco Connexion to bring high-speed Internet access to more than 16,000 homes in rural communities across eastern Ontario.
The announcement was made by Gudie Hutchings, federal minister of rural economic development, and Amarjot Sandhu, parliamentary assistant to Ontario’s minister of infrastructure, at the Selwyn Public Library’s Bridgenorth Branch in the town of Bridgenorth, Ont., near Peterborough.
A government backgrounder outlines more details about the amount of funding each ISP is receiving for their projects…
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Cogeco said terms are “positive step”
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC has defined the boundaries for regional mobile virtual network operators to lease wireless space from the networks of the large incumbent operators, stipulating carriers wanting to operate such an MVNO must actively be offering services to retail customers, not just have spectrum and facilities.
The regulator earlier today released its long-awaited terms and conditions for an MVNO regime, which emerged out of its April 2021 decision to allow established regional virtual operators with spectrum and existing facilities to lease network space from Rogers, Bell, Telus, and SaskTel.
The terms and…
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SEATTLE — Telus was the fastest mobile operator among Canada’s national providers in Q3 2022, and Rogers was the fastest fixed broadband service provider in the country during the same quarter, according to the latest report from Seattle-based broadband and mobile network testing company Ookla.
The report, released today, says Telus achieved a median mobile download speed of 76.03 Mbps (please see the chart above) during Q3 2022. The median download speeds for Canada’s other two national mobile providers, Bell and Rogers, were 73.3 Mbps and 59.86 Mbps respectively, according to the report.
Rogers achieved the fastest median upload speed for…
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TORONTO — Organizers of the 2022 Canadian Telecom Summit (CTS) confirmed today Frédéric Perron (above), president of Cogeco Connexion, will deliver a lunch keynote on Monday, Nov. 21 at 12 p.m. ET.
Perron has been with Cogeco since September 2020 when he took on the role of Cogeco Connexion president. He “has over two decades of managerial experience at leading international telecommunications and financial services companies such as T-Mobile, Vodafone, and Capital One,” says an email announcing him as a keynote speaker at CTS.
Perron “has a proven track record in marketing, sales, customer service, operations, eCommerce, product development, and IT,”…
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ESSEX COUNTY, Ont. – Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) announced today an additional 484 underserved homes and businesses in Marentette Beach in Essex County will soon have access to fast reliable Internet.
“Through the SWIFT initiative, Cogeco Connexion was awarded funding to service rural areas southeast of Leamington and north of Point Pelee National Park,” a SWIFT press release explains. “The network’s main fibre route will run along parts of Point Pelee Drive, Mersea Road 12, Mersea Roads B, D and E, Marentette Beach and E Beach Road.”
Construction on the network began earlier this year and is expected to…
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Bell, Cogeco, Eastlink, SaskTel asking for $3/month increase to skinny basic packages
OTTAWA and GATINEAU — Six years after skinny basic TV packages were first introduced in Canada, with a CRTC-mandated price cap of $25 per month, a group of TV service providers has asked the Commission to increase that cap to $28 per month.
Bell, Cogeco Communications, Eastlink and SaskTel filed a joint application in January 2022 making the request, which also asked for subsequent yearly adjustments based on inflation, according to a CRTC press release today.
“They indicate that the proposed annual increase to the price of the…
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BURLINGTON, Ont. — Cogeco Connexion announced today its YourTV stations across Ontario will air programming featuring the culture, history and perspectives of Indigenous Peoples in local communities on Sept. 30, the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Airing throughout the day, the programming will include the following documentaries:
Cultural Mindfulness – directed by George Couchie
We Are Still Here – directed by Dwayne Cloes
Wawahte: Residential School Survivors – directed by John Sanfilippo
Language and the Land – directed by YourTV’s Curtis Brunet
Beyond Orange Shirt Day – presentation by Phyllis Webstad, creator of Orange Shirt Day
The local…
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By Connie Thiessen
OTTAWA – New data shows the Canadian Energy Efficiency Voluntary Agreement (CEEVA) for Set-Top Boxes has resulted in a 58% drop in average energy consumption since the program’s launch in 2017.
Five of the largest Canadian Pay TV service providers (Bell Canada, Cogeco, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications, and Videotron) are signed on to the program in addition to manufacturers (CommScope, EchoStar Technologies, and Technicolor, soon to become VANTIVA), the Consumer Technology Association and CableLabs. A second program was launched in 2019 for small network equipment (SNE), such as modems and routers.
According to a new independent annual report, the program has resulted in a fifth consecutive year of…
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TORONTO – Consolidation on the wholesale front in Canada’s telecom industry is not reducing competition, Bell’s executive vice-president and chief financial officer Glen LeBlanc (above, right) told BMO Capital Markets media and telecom analyst Tim Casey (above, left) at BMO’s 23rd annual Media and Telecom conference yesterday.
“There’s a very large reseller market… I think there’s 950 competitors in Canada,” LeBlanc said. “The barriers to entry are minimal, the largest is still in business – TekSavvy – and appears to have zero intention of selling.”
LeBlanc’s appearance at BMO’s conference comes not long after Bell announced it reached an agreement to…
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