By Ken Kelley
Evoking the name of founder Ted Rogers, Rogers CEO Joe Natale said he sees a certain irony in Bell Canada filing its opposition to his company’s impending tie-up with Shaw on broadcast grounds.
“In Rogers’ 60-year history, we’ve always been the challenger, and in many ways, kind of standing up against the larger players in the market, the challenger to Bell on many fronts,” Natale said, speaking at BMO’s virtual Media and Telecom Conference on Tuesday.
“And there’s a high degree of irony in Bell looking at us as being a bigger player. Ted Rogers is probably smiling…
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By Ken Kelley
Cogeco president and CEO Philippe Jetté insists his company will not be restrained by borders.
While the company boasts significant business operations south of the border via Atlantic Broadband, the U.S.-based Cogeco subsidiary scored a blockbuster deal this past June when it acquired WideOpenWest’s broadband systems in Ohio for $1 billion. Passing approximately 688,000 homes and businesses in the Cleveland and Columbus areas, WOW Ohio serves approximately 196,000 Internet, 61,000 video and 35,000 telephony customers.
“We’re very excited about this acquisition,” Jetté told BMO’s Tim Casey, who served as the moderator for the bank’s 22nd annual Media…
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By Ken Kelley
Has media streaming reached peak oversaturation? It is a question Corus president and CEO Doug Murphy pondered during his appearance at BMO’s 22nd annual Media & Telecom Conference on Tuesday.
While discussing the similarities between linear and digital advertising with moderator Tim Casey, Murphy acknowledged that regardless of how the public consumes television content – whether via a traditional cable television subscription or by an offering such as Corus’ wildly popular StackTV, which he said continues adding upwards of 100,000 subs per quarter – channel surfing appears to be an underrated, and arguably underappreciated, phenomenon.
“StackTV has demonstrated…
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Meeting notes show pole replacement and refurbishment listed as significant barrier, but it’s about speed
By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Rogers and Cogeco were among several internet service providers that met with stakeholders in the Ontario government in November 2020 to address wireline pole attachment issues in the province – but the rates to attach equipment were not identified as a significant barrier, according to notes from the meeting obtained by Cartt.ca.
At around $43 per attachment, per pole, Ontario has the country’s highest cost to attach telecommunications equipment on the wood poles, which run along highways and are a primary alternative…
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Assessment revealed through judicial review request in Federal Court by China Mobile
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A Chinese state-owned company that resells services on the Telus network was told by the federal government last month it must divest its operations in Canada over national security concerns, according to court documents.
The federal government’s decision on August 6 to force China Mobile to divest from the country was revealed when the mobile virtual network operator filed a request to review the decision in Federal Court on Tuesday.
In the application, China Mobile said Innovation Canada was wrong to refer the company to the…
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Office life unlikely to return to what it was in 2019
By Amanda Oye
AS COMPANIES AROUND the country make plans to bring employees back into offices, and grapple with how to do so safely, Cartt.ca asked a variety of Canadian telecommunications and broadcasting companies about their own plans.
Few companies Cartt.ca reached out to have, at this point, decided to require staff to be fully vaccinated. Fourteen companies responded to our request for information on back to office plans, only three of which indicated they were requiring some or all employees to be vaccinated.
OUTtv is one of those companies. While…
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TORONTO — The Canadian Telecom Summit — which will be held as a hybrid event from Nov. 15 to 17 — will feature Robert Ghiz, president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, as one of its keynote speakers, event organizers announced today.
Ghiz (above) will address attendees on Tuesday, Nov. 16 from 2:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. ET.
His keynote will be followed by the Canadian Telecom Summit’s “regulatory blockbuster” panel (from 3:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. ET), with confirmed participants including: Geoff White, executive director of Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC); Ted Woodhead, senior vice-president of regulatory…
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OTTAWA — Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne and Minister of Seniors Deb Schulte today announced the second phase of the Connecting Families program, which they say will help hundreds of thousands of low-income seniors and families access affordable high-speed home Internet in 2022.
The so-called Connecting Families 2.0 program marks the first time low-income seniors will be included in the program. It also introduces faster speeds and increases the data usage amount available in Internet plans being offered by participating Internet service providers, which include Access Communications, Bell Canada, Cogeco, CSUR, Hay Communications, Mornington, Novus, Rogers, SaskTel,…
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SIMCOE COUNTY, Ont. — Following last week’s announcement by the Ontario government that construction has begun on rural broadband projects in Simcoe County, Ont., funded through the Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology program, SWIFT today provided details on which projects are underway.
Bell Canada has broken ground “on three fibre-optic projects to bring greater connectivity to more than 10,600 homes and businesses throughout the Townships of Clearview, Adjala-Tosorontio, Essa, Springwater, Oro-Medonte, Tiny, Tay, Severn, Ramara and within the Towns of Midland, Penetanguishene and Innisfil,” reads a SWIFT press release. These projects are expected to be completed by June 2022.
Rogers Communications…
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SIMCOE COUNTY, Ont. — The government of Ontario announced today construction has begun on broadband infrastructure projects in Simcoe County, Ont., which will collectively connect more than 11,000 rural homes and businesses to high-speed Internet service.
The projects are being funded through Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology Inc. (SWIFT), supported by the governments of Canada and Ontario, which each committed $9 million in funding to broadband expansion projects that will deliver reliable Internet access to the townships of Clearview, Adjala-Tosorontio, Essa, Springwater, Oro-Medonte, Tiny, Tay, Severn and Ramara, and the towns of Midland, Penetanguishene, Innisfil, and the community of New Lowell.
In…
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