Submissions to CRTC review shows Quebecor wants into radio, too
By Steve Faguy
TROY REEB DOESN’T THINK this story will be controversial.
Reeb, executive vice president broadcast networks at Corus Entertainment, which owns 39 radio stations, is one of several radio executives who believe the Canadian commercial radio industry needs more consolidation and is calling on the CRTC to reduce or even eliminate restrictions on how many radio stations an owner can control in a given market.
“I don’t know if there are a lot of opponents to further consolidation of radio. I haven’t heard who they are. I haven’t seen an argument…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Underlying witness testimony at Wednesday’s Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology meeting into the proposed merger between Rogers and Shaw was the message that there are things the government can control in the event the massive cable and wireless combination gets regulatory approval.
That includes policies on requiring facilities-based telecoms to negotiate with service-based mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which the CRTC is still reviewing, and which federal cabinet can send back if it doesn’t like the Commission’s call; spectrum transfers and radio wave restrictions on the merging entities; open access to towers and backhaul…
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MONTREAL — Canadian cloud and data centre provider eStruxture announced today it has signed an agreement to acquire all of Aptum Technologies’ eight Canadian data centres along with all customers and employees associated with its colocation business.
The transaction will mark eStruxture’s entry into the Toronto market and will expand its national footprint, with the company already having six data centres in Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. With the addition of the new facilities (five in Toronto, two in Montreal and one in Vancouver), eStruxture will increase its total footprint to more than 600,000 square feet of combined data centre space…
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Briefing note pointed to Premier Legault’s promise of 50/10 for all by end of 2022
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The federal portion of the $826.3 million investment announced this week to connect 150,000 households in Quebec by September 2022 is coming from the $1.75-billion Universal Broadband Fund, Innovation Canada confirmed, less than 10 days after the final deadline for applications closed.
This would make Tuesday’s announcement the first award from the UBF’s core program, as its “rapid” stream for projects completed by November has already disbursed funds. The massive $826.3-million operation will be evenly split between Quebec’s new Operation…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Independent internet service provider TekSavvy said this week a lower court made an error when, for the first time, it ordered Canada’s ISPs to block the websites of an alleged copyright infringer.
That’s because the Federal Court, in ordering the blocking of websites associated with alleged IPTV infringer GoldTV, leaned too much toward the rights of the copyright holders at the possible expense of free expression and the impact it could have on legitimate content, it alleged in a two-day hearing at the Federal Court of Appeal this week.
TekSavvy is challenging the first site-blocking order…
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TORONTO — In its third report, released today, the C.D. Howe Institute’s new telecommunications policy working group — which includes executives from Bell, Rogers, Telus, Cogeco, Eastlink and Shaw, among others — says cellular phone services have seen a 25% price drop over the past five years, which they say meets Ottawa’s mandated wireless rate cut.
That means, the group says, it’s time to shift the focus of telecom policy debates to other issues, such as the modernization of the CRTC and rate-setting challenges for mandated access.
Citing data from Statistics Canada’s consumer price index, the telecom group says cellular services…
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By Ken Kelley
MONTREAL – Not that we expected otherwise, but there was no dodging the Rogers-Shaw elephant in the room when Cogeco president and CEO Philippe Jetté spoke during the Desjardins’ Group annual Industrials, TMT & Consumer virtual conference Tuesday.
In fact the session’s moderator, analyst Jerome Debreuil, ripped off the band-aid straight away, asking Jetté if he expected Cogeco would be interested in bidding on any wireless assets Rogers may be forced to divest as part of the tie-up.
“There’s a great deal of uncertainty as far as we’re concerned, as to whether the deal will be approved and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – Canada’s big telecoms are divided on a CRTC proposal to create a framework that would establish an independent body tasked with creating and maintaining a block list of known malicious software networks, known as botnets.
A botnet is a network of malware-infected devices that are controlled from a central location and used to do things like steal data and/or send an overwhelming number of communications to a server, which causes it to fail (denial-of-service attack). The increasing number of internet-connected devices coming to market, a lot largely with flimsy security measures, are multiplying the risk of…
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ISPs to receive funding include Videotron, Cogeco, Bell, Xplornet, Telus and Sogetel
TROIS-RIVIÈRES, Que. — The federal government and the government of Quebec today announced the launch of the Canada-Quebec “Operation High Speed” initiative to connect almost 150,000 underserved Quebec households to high-speed Internet by September 2022.
This initiative is being made possible by a joint investment totalling $826.3 million from the government of Canada and the Quebec government. The ISPs (which are also investing some of their own money) receiving funding through the program include Videotron, Cogeco, Bell, Xplornet, Sogetel and Telus.
Here are some of the details of each ISP’s…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC last week announced seven transport projects will receive up to $57.7 million in funding from the Commission’s Broadband Fund to improve broadband connectivity in 15 underserved communities in northern Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.
Approximately 1,400 kilometres of fibre transport networks will be built in the 15 rural and remote communities representing almost 6,500 households, including five communities that are both Indigenous and official-language minority communities. In addition to providing improved transport connectivity for households in the targeted communities, the networks will collectively connect up to 55 public institutions, such as schools, medical facilities and libraries.
A…
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