MONTREAL — Cogeco Connexion announced today John Hargrave has been appointed as its new vice-president of products, effective today.
“He will be an undeniable asset to our growth strategy, especially in terms of product innovation,” said Frédéric Perron, president of Cogeco Connexion, in a press release. “With his experience, leadership and ability to take action quickly, I am convinced that John will rapidly master our business objectives and support Cogeco Connexion’s vision. I am very pleased to welcome him to our executive team.”
Hargrave (above) has nearly 20 years of experience in developing IT products and software and in professional…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Late in 2019, in following up its universal service objective decision, the CRTC decided to study the barriers to building new facilities or to accessing or interconnecting with existing facilities in order to extend broadband networks more efficiently into underserved areas, including areas where, due to a lack of such networks, speeds don’t meet the service objectives.
Of course, in March 2020, the pandemic hit, and a vast number of Canadians went home to work, becoming completely dependent on their home’s high-speed Internet to continue work and school. Access to high-speed Internet rapidly became a political…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco and its employees once again have made a generous donation to the United Way in Ontario and Centraide in Québec, giving more than $475,000 to the charitable organization.
The United Way/Centraide fundraising campaign aims to raise and give back funds locally, with a view to breaking the cycle of poverty and isolation.
“The participation of Cogeco and its employees in Canada in the United Way/Centraide campaign is of particular importance this year, because the needs are being compounded by the pandemic,” said Philippe Jetté, company president and CEO. “I am moved by the responsiveness of our employees to…
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Feds again being asked to compensate for transitions
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The federal government has historically not compensated companies that must relocate their services to different spectrum bands to make room for emerging technologies. But companies with a vested interest in the repurposing of the C-band spectrum for 5G technology are urging the a change to that position.
Over the air (OTA) broadcasters had to absorb the cost of moving off the 700 MHz band for broadband use years ago. Broadcasters were told more recently by Innovation Canada (ISED) that they wouldn’t be financially covered for the millions of dollars…
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Regulators have a real option to improve canada’s mobile wireless marketplace
by Marie Ginette Lepage
WHEN IT COMES TO THE future of our nation’s mobile wireless telecommunications market, Canadian regulators are fast-approaching an important crossroads. Recent debate, seen on Cartt.ca and elsewhere, has been focused on the idea Canada’s regulators face a terrible trade-off, in which the only way to provide consumers with more competition and choice is to do so at the expense of further investment and expansion of networks.
That would certainly be a difficult choice to make, particularly in a country like Canada, where many rural and…
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MONTREAL — Cogeco Inc. today announced Michel Lorrain (above, left) is departing as president of its radio subsidiary, Cogeco Media, to pursue personal interests.
A recruitment process for his successor has been launched and, in the meantime, Richard Lachance (right) will assume the position of interim president. Lachance is currently a special advisor to Cogeco and the former president of Cogeco Media (2013-2018).
“On behalf of my colleagues and the entire Cogeco team, I wish to thank Michel for his 13 years of dedication to the company, his numerous contributions and his leadership,” said Philippe Jetté, president and CEO of Cogeco Inc….
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$4.3-million Grey County broadband project now underway
SIMCOE and GREY COUNTY, Ont. — In two separate announcements last week, Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) announced the awarding of funding to support $41.1 million in broadband upgrades for Simcoe County and $4.3 million in upgrades for Grey County, both located in southwestern Ontario.
In Simcoe County, six fibre-to-the-home projects (three by Bell, and one each by Vianet, Cogeco and Rogers) will expand broadband services to 12,700 households and businesses. SWIFT has awarded more than $18.6 million in federal and provincial funding to service 500 kilometres of underserved roadway to connect more than…
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MONTREAL — Cogeco Communications today announced its Cogeco Connexion subsidiary has completed its acquisition of rural telecom service provider DeryTelecom, once the third-largest cable operator in the province of Quebec.
When the acquisition was announced in October, Cogeco pegged the purchase price at $405 million. With the close of the transaction, Cogeco Connexion expands to more than 200 municipalities in Quebec, including in the Estrie, Lanaudière, Montérégie and Laurentians regions, adding approximately 100,000 customers.
In the short term, DeryTelecom will continue to operate under its current name and trademark, says Cogeco’s press release announcing the acqusition has been finalized.
“We…
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By Denis Carmel
QUEBEC – Former CRTC Commissioner, Suzanne Lamarre is heavily involved in the government of Québec’s effort to speed the deployment of high-speed internet in rural and remote regions funded through the Québec Branché program.
We first heard of this when Bell issued a news release on October 30, announcing new measures to simplify the process of having access to its support structures. The same day, the CRTC announced potential regulatory measures to make access to poles owned by Canadian carriers more efficient.
“To accelerate the implementation of funded projects and meet deadlines, the Quebec government has set…
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OTTAWA — Consumer complaints to the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) decreased 19% this year compared to last, according to the organization’s 2019-20 annual report released this morning.
This is the first year-over-year decline in the number of complaints reaching the CCTS since the 2015-16 fiscal year, says this year’s report, which covers the period from August 1, 2019 to July 31, 2020.
In total, 15,868 complaints were filed this year, with 89% of them being successfully resolved by the parties following CCTS’s intervention. These complaints raised almost 43,000 issues, with the most common complaints related to billing problems,…
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