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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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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By Ahmad Hathout
Telus is admitting that it became aware of, but dealt with, a “small and isolated number” of “rogue” third-party representatives who were engaging on its behalf in the promotion of pirate IPTV services to get people to subscribe to its internet services.
In a statement of defense, filed Friday with the Ontario Superior Court and in response to an action commenced by Bell, the Vancouver-based telecom says it received a customer complaint in May about a representative who was promoting the illegal service.
“In accordance with TELUS’s standard escalation processes and before Bell commenced this action, TELUS immediately investigated…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri said Wednesday that the company’s spending on networks is now at risk if the federal government doesn’t rescind a CRTC decision mandating that the three largest telecommunications companies be allowed to ride on the networks of others.
Last month, the CRTC turned away applications, including from Rogers, that asked the regulator to reconsider allowing Rogers, Bell and Telus – the “Big 3” – to use the wholesale internet regime because of the claimed negative impact on investments and on smaller service providers who, they say, will be crushed by…
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Telus announced Monday it is investing $2 billion over the next five years to expand its broadband services in Ontario and Quebec.
“This investment comes as a result of the CRTC confirmation of the wholesale fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) framework and serves as a complement to our wholesale fibre access agreements, allowing TELUS to deliver national scale, accelerate network builds and drive investment, competition and affordability in Canada,” a Telus press release reads.
The Vancouver-based telecom said this investment will be part of its annual budget and will be supported by investments from its strategic…
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Appeals on the horizon
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC ruled Friday that it will continue allowing the three largest internet service providers to use the wholesale access regime, pointing to the “several thousand” Canadian households now on service plans offered by the “dozens of providers” using the final framework from August 2024.
The decision flies in the face of concern from a broad swath of ISPs big and small, who have argued this would be a disastrous decision for investment in networks and for the viability of regional players as the deeper-pocketed, bigger brands will now be able to ride on their…
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