Sale of infrastructure also not out of the cards
By Ahmad Hathout
Bell’s chief financial officer said Thursday that leasing internet from Telus in western Canada is not out of the cards, but that owning the infrastructure is preferred for cash flow.
“It’s an opportunity for sure,” Curtis Millen said during a conference hosted by CIBC when asked about using Telus’s network in areas Bell doesn’t operate in. “We’ve had plenty of time to think about this.”
Bell, unlike Telus, is opposed to the CRTC policy of allowing the three largest telecoms to use the wholesale internet regime because the…
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Cogeco urges easing of quotas
By Ahmad Hathout
The head of Stingray Radio said Thursday that overexposing Canadians to domestic music on radio is pushing them toward streaming services.
“Whether it’s a Canadian song they don’t like or an international song they don’t like, we risk driving them to international, foreign-owned, unregulated streamers,” Steve Jones told the commission studying the definition of Canadian content on audio services.
Jones noted that, through the company’s research and through the years, Canadian music has only captured roughly 10 per cent of consumption in Canada.
“So there is historical data that suggests that listeners have a certain threshold…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Thursday confirmed a preliminary view that regional mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) should have access to shared wireless networks even when an agreement is reached with just one of the carriers.
The commission determined Thursday that the network sharing agreements between Bell and Telus make them one national network “that results in both carriers being national wireless carriers that possess market power,” upholding a view on which it asked for comments in October.
To deny regional players access to parts of that contiguous network would, therefore, confer on the large telcos an undue…
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Cogeco Communications announced Tuesday it will launch internet services on Oct. 6 in Québec City, Châteauguay, Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Saint-Louis-de-France and Sainte-Marthe-du-Cap using the wholesale internet framework.
“Our expansion into these 5 new markets in Quebec is made possible by using the wholesale access framework as a tool,” a Cogeco spokesperson confirmed to Cartt in an email late Tuesday. “A tool that under the purview of the CRTC is currently being misused by established dominant players. This tool was designed to allow smaller, new competitors like us to enter markets dominated by large national players….
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By Ahmad Hathout
Cogeco and Eastlink are challenging cabinet’s decision not to intervene in the CRTC’s refusal to exclude the three largest telecommunications companies from accessing the internet networks of their competitors.
The basis of the judicial review request is simple: that cabinet, through the recommendation of Industry Minister Melanie Joly, allegedly did not provide the legally required justification for declining their petition to reverse a policy that they say creates an “existential” threat to their businesses.
“Instead of explaining and justifying its decision to sit on the sidelines, the had a Minister send out…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Canada’s largest broadcasters are asking the nation’s highest court to determine whether the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) overstepped its authority when it effectively supplanted the Copyright Board’s decision in setting rates for the retransmission of distant signals.
Rogers, Bell, Telus, Videotron, Cogeco and the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA) are named as applicants on a leave to appeal application, filed late last week, which seeks clarification about whether a relatively new judicial standard of review called Vavilov — which prioritizes the reasonableness of a tribunal’s decision on review and restrains courts from immediately jumping to correct issues…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell said Thursday it has agreed to sell its home security and monitored alarm assets, in a transaction that aligns with its efforts to focus on its core businesses.
The transaction to Toronto-based a.p.i Alarm Inc. is part of a strategy of focusing on its telecommunications, enterprise solutions and media businesses, the company said Thursday. Closing is expected in the second half of this year.
The deal, whose top-end value is estimated at $170 million, comes nearly eight years after it purchased Alarm Force for $166 million – a move that it said would boost its…
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Eastlink says it is suspending planned upgrades
By Ahmad Hathout
The federal government will not send back the CRTC’s decision to allow the three largest telecommunications companies to ride on the internet networks of others, pointing to competition and lower costs.
“Canada’s new government has a strong mandate to bring costs down and to build one, strong, Canadian economy – one that aligns with our core values as a nation,” Industry Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement late Wednesday.
“According to the policy direction, the CRTC is responsible for considering how its decisions affect all forms of competition and investment, as well…
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Telco previously hinted at a minority sale in its cell tower portfolio
By Ahmad Hathout
Telus announced Friday that it has agreed to sell to a pension fund a minority stake in a separate entity that will carry its wireless infrastructure.
La Caisse, one of the largest pension funds in the country, will spend $1.26 billion on the 49.9 per cent interest in Terrion, a newly created cell tower operator headquartered in Montreal and headed by long-time Telus executive Eros Spadotto.
Terrion will manage about 3,000 tower sites across British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec and will generate money through wholesale rental. Telus…
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Cogeco Communications on Wednesday announced the official launch of its mobile service in 13 markets in Quebec and Ontario, one more than it pre-announced during its third-quarter earnings conference call earlier this month.
Cogeco Mobile, which uses the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) regime, is now available to new and existing Cogeco Internet subscribers who bring their own device in the following markets: Alma, Magog, Rimouski, Saint-Georges, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Sauveur, Sept-Îles and Trois-Rivières in Quebec; and Brockville, Chatham, Cobourg, Cornwall and Welland in Ontario.
The launch of the service in these markets comes…
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