ONTARIO – While Ontario Connects has generally been welcomed by the industry, organizations that represent small, independent internet service providers have some concerns about how the province’s $4 billion plan to bring high-speed Internet access to the entire province by 2025 will unfold.
“We of course welcome the Ontario government’s substantial investment in extending broadband to everyone across the province,” said Jay Thomson, CEO of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA), in an email to Cartt.ca.
“We question, however, whether a reverse auction approach will generate the best return on the government’s investment. Cheapest is not always best, especially when…
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BURLINGTON, Ont. — Cogeco Connexion, the cable subsidiary of Cogeco Communications, said today it is continuing to invest in broadband in Ontario, having already announced $13.5 million in network expansion investments since the beginning of 2021.
These investments will bring broadband network services to more than 8,100 Ontario homes and businesses in underserved areas of the province, says the company’s press release.
“Additional projects will soon be announced as part of Cogeco’s ongoing four-year commitment to invest over $1 billion in the operation and expansion of its advanced Canadian broadband network to reduce the digital divide,” reads the release.
Referring to the Ontario government’s…
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HAMILTON – Cogeco announced today it is teaming up with Hamilton Bike Share for a three-year sponsorship deal.
“Their sponsorship helps ensure the bike share system thrives so residents and visitors to our city can continue enjoying a sustainable, healthy, and fun way to get around Hamilton,” said Chelsea Cox, executive director of Hamilton Bike Share, in a press release.
Hamilton Bike Share has 39,000 users who have access to 800 smart bikes 24/7, all year long. Its Everyone Rides Initiative helps to remove the cost barrier that may prevent access to the service.
The partnership is consistent with Cogeco’s emissions reduction…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. announced yesterday a revenue increase of 3.7% to $649.3 million, for its third quarter, which ended on May 31st 2021, compared to the same period last year.
This was partially attributed to an increase in its Canadian broadband services revenue by 10.2% due to its December 2020 acquisition of DeryTelecom, as well as “the cumulative effect of sustained demand for residential high-speed Internet since the beginning of the pandemic and rate increases implemented for certain services,” according to a press release.
Cogeco also reported its adjusted EBITDA increased by 1.3% in Q3, reaching $302.3 million, according…
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QUEBEC CITY — The federal and Quebec governments have jointly awarded more funding through the Canada-Quebec Operation High Speed program to Videotron and Cogeco to bring high-speed Internet access to several rural communities throughout Quebec.
Announced last week, Videotron is receiving a combined amount of $34 million from the two levels of government to support its deployment of high-speed Internet services to 5,300 households in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region by September 2022.
With an expected total cost of $39.64 million, the Videotron project will target 44 communities in the Les Basques regional county municipality (RCM), Kamouraska RCM, Rivière-du-Loup RCM and Témiscouata RCM….
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By Amanda Oye
LARGE INTERNET SERVICE providers have been the recipients of the vast amount of funding from the Universal Broadband Fund that had been allocated as of June 30th, 2021.
Jay Thomson, CEO of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA), compiled publicly available data, which shows Videotron, Cogeco, Bell, Telus and Rogers have been the major winners of UBF funding (see chart below).
The data takes into account two sets of funding. The first is funding from the UBF’s Rapid Response stream and the second is from the Canada-Quebec Operation High-Speed project, which received half of its $826.3-million funding from…
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MONTREAL and QUINCY, Mass. – Cogeco Communications’ announced today its American subsidiary, Atlantic Broadband, has agreed to acquire WideOpenWest’s broadband systems located in Ohio for US$1.125 billion.
The WOW Ohio broadband systems pass approximately 688,000 homes and businesses in Cleveland and Columbus and serve approximately 196,000 Internet, 61,000 video and 35,000 telephony customers, as of March 31, 2021, reads the press release. For the twelve months ended March 31, 2021, the company’s revenue was US$244 million
“The acquisition of WOW’s Ohio broadband systems allows us to add significant scale to our growing and profitable U.S. broadband business,” said Philippe Jetté, president…
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QUÉBEC CITY — For a rural broadband project costing $127.72 million, Videotron will receive a combined amount of $121 million in funding from the Canadian and Quebec governments, as part of the Canada-Quebec Operation High Speed initiative, to deploy high-speed Internet services to 13,300 households in the Abitibi-Témiscaminigue and Nord-du-Québec regions by September 2022.
The announcement was made today by the federal and provincial governments who have committed to providing $826.3 million in combined funding through the Operation High Speed program, first announced in March, to ensure connectivity for 150,000 underserved homes in rural Quebec by September of next year….
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Want faster, cheaper piracy measures
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The country’s largest broadcasters and telecoms want new copyright legislation to include provisions that give the courts the ability to order website-blocking, prevent the CRTC from overruling blocking orders, and to expand authority over other intermediaries to choke off infringers.
Bell, Rogers, Telus, Shaw, Cogeco, Quebecor, SaskTel, Eastlink, and the Canadian Communications System Alliance also want the legislation to reflect the courts’ ability to unilaterally order search engines to de-index infringing websites, social media platforms and to force hosts, like Cloudflare, to take down infringing services and not direct users to it,…
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Auction starts today
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The strings attached to the federal government’s 3.5 GHz spectrum, whose auction beginning today will repurpose portions of it for mobile wireless use, include a speed-to-deployment component that complements federal policy to accelerate connectivity throughout the country by the end of the decade.
Winners of the auction, which Innovation Canada said will take “several weeks,” will have to deploy the spectrum largely within the 2030 timeframe for which the federal government hopes to provide access to all Canadians to high-speed internet.
While the focus is largely on what the 3.5 GHz spectrum will do for…
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