TORONTO – While he didn’t directly address the now-expired hostile bid to purchase the company he just joined, Cogeco Connexion president Frédéric Perron (pictured in a screen cap) did use his first speech to the industry to send a message: “We’re here to stay… and we’re here to grow.”
During a Tuesday keynote to online delegates of the 19th annual Canadian Telecom Summit, Perron (a Canadian with a long background of telecom experience in Europe) noted the company likes to say “that we’re one of the well kept secrets in the industry, at least up to recently,” and he…
Continue Reading
Companies say they won’t pursue the acquisition further
TORONTO and NEW YORK — The joint Altice USA-Rogers Communications months-long pursuit of Cogeco and Cogeco Communications has come to an end, with the companies’ second acquisition offer expiring today and both Altice and Rogers saying they won’t pursue the matter further.
In an email statement sent to Cartt.ca, an Altice spokesperson said: “Our offer to acquire Cogeco in order to own Atlantic Broadband has expired and we do not intend to extend it. We remain committed to our growth strategy and continue to focus on opportunities to drive value for our…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU — Having already extended the deadline once for submissions to its proceeding regarding the appropriate network and service configurations for disaggregated wholesale high-speed access (HSA) services, the CRTC says it won’t delay the proceeding further by agreeing to add procedural steps requested by the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC).
The Commission launched the proceeding in June, and then revised the deadlines in July, making interventions due by October 5 and replies due by December 7, 2020.
However, on November 2, CNOC sent a letter to the CRTC asking for a Commission order to address alleged instances of…
Continue Reading
Report due by February
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The federal government’s pledge to have wireless prices drop by 25% is expected to be studied during House of Commons hearings into accessibility and affordability of telecommunications services, starting next week.
The committee on industry will begin the proceedings on Tuesday with witnesses Telesat and Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX). Both satellite companies made news over the past two weeks as they push low earth orbit satellites to colve rural broadband coverage. The former this week formalized a $600-million agreement for the federal government to purchase satellite capacity to serve…
Continue Reading
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – To no one’s surprise, Bell Canada and the large cable companies have sought leave to appeal the Federal Court of Appeal decision of September 10, 2020, over CRTC Decision 2019-288 (about the fees third party internet access ISPs pay to the incumbents) to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Bell adopted the reasoning put forward by the large cable carriers (Rogers, Shaw, Videotron, Cogeco, and Eastlink) and let them argue more at depth the issues at hand.
Their argument seems to focus on, besides the basic issues they contended before when they went to the Federal Court…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, Cogeco Inc. announced it hired Paul Beaudry (above) as its new vice-president, regulatory affairs.
He will be succeeding Nathalie Dorval, “who is beginning a well-earned retirement,” reads the LinkedIn post. “We are sending our best wishes to Nathalie, who will remain in her position until November 27th.”
Beaudry, a lawyer, who has been based in Calgary as director of broadband policy and regulatory affairs with Telus and before that as director of development at the school of public policy, will be joining Cogeco in Montreal in the new year, he said on LinkedIn.
Continue Reading
CHATHAM, Ont. — Independent ISP TekSavvy today voiced appreciation for the federal government’s launch yesterday of its $1.7-billion Universal Broadband Fund, which will provide subsidies for broadband infrastructure projects in rural and remote Canadian communities.
The company also welcomed the Canadian government’s $600-million agreement with Telesat to subsidize satellite-based Internet providers, as well as the Ontario government’s announcement last week of its plan to spend almost $1 billion over six years to improve and expand broadband and cellular access across the province.
In a press release today, TekSavvy says these historic public subsidies for rural broadband projects…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Some of the country’s largest carriers have lost an appeal challenging the process by which the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) set higher pole attachment rates they say could hamper the delivery of broadband services.
Rogers, Telus, Shaw, Cogeco, Quebecor and Bragg (Eastlink), among others, didn’t like the consultation process that saw the rate to attach their cables on structures jump from an annual rate of $22.35 per attachment set in 2005 to $43.63 across the province. They argued in the province’s divisional court in late September that the OEB had not provided them with the appropriate…
Continue Reading
Videotron, others, are skeptical of Bell’s commitments
By Denis Carmel
MONTREAL – On Friday, Bell Canada issued a news release announcing new measures to simplify the process for access to poles by recipients of the Québec Branché and Régions Branchées grant programs and other service providers.
This follows a process announced by the Government of Québec back in May 2020, along with the members of a working group that was tasked to accelerate the deployment of high-speed Internet in rural regions through a program financed by the Government of Québec.
“To address the many technical challenges associated with the deployment of fibre…
Continue Reading
ESSEX COUNTY – Several small communities outside of Windsor, Ontario, will start to see better broadband next year.
Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) on Friday announced it has awarded contracts to expand broadband services to 5,173 households and businesses across 20 communities in Essex County, including Essex, Kingsville, Leamington and Lakeshore. Construction is to be fully completed by fall of 2022.
SWIFT awarded $8.5 million in federal and provincial funding to Cogeco and TekSavvy, but in total, Essex County will receive $19 million in broadband upgrades, which includes more than $10.5 million in contributions from the two ISPs for five fibre-to-the-home…
Continue Reading
