GATINEAU – Wholesale access rates that are too low, as Rogers Communications contends they are now, will not lead to further competitor investment in networks, the company said on Tuesday to the CRTC. Rather, it will continue to encourage independent ISPs to lease capacity from the incumbents in perpetuity.
Rogers said its wholesale business – customers who pay 45% less than retail consumers – has grown from essentially zero to nearly 15% of customers in the last four years. If the current growth trajectory continues, it will top 30%. Company executives appeared before the Commission as part of its look…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable is enhancing some of its residential Internet packages in Quebec to allow for faster download speeds and more bandwidth.
The Express 5 package is now the Express 6 package with 6 Mbps download, 1.5 Mbps to 2 Mbps upload and 30 GB bitcap; the Express 10 is now Express 15 with 10 Mbps to 15 Mbps download, 2 Mbps upload and 65 GB to 70 GB bitcap; the Turbo 14 is now Turbo 15 with 14 Mbps to 15 Mbps download, 2 Mbps upload and 90 GB to 120 GB bitcap; and the Turbo 20 is…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable is turning up the heat on some of its high speed Internet packages for businesses in Quebec and Ontario, just in time for the online shopping season.
Starting December 1st, subscribers to its Business Select, Business Premium and Business Ultimate packages will now have improved upload and download speeds at no extra charge. In addition, the company is also rolling out a new package, called Business Launch, with download speeds of up to 20 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 10 Mbps.
"These improvements are of utmost importance to our business customers as they meet their day-to-day needs”,…
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GATINEAU – Cogeco Cable says it doesn’t need to be all or nothing when it comes to regulating wholesale access to incumbent broadband facilities. The company told the CRTC Thursday morning that establishing a framework which encourages negotiation while providing a reference rate as a backstop could help stimulate more wholesale competition.
“We’re proposing something that will actually help the markets move from a current situation with regulation to a completely deregulated market. We think we need some steps along the way so that’s why we’re proposing this approach,“ said Philippe Jetté, senior VP of technology and strategy…
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GATINEAU – The lack of wholesale access to last mile fibre infrastructure hasn’t deterred competitors from investing in their own high-speed networks, Bell Canada told the CRTC during its appearance as part of the Fibre Hearing on Wednesday.
The media and communications giant’s assertions come a day after Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) argued its members need wholesale access to the incumbent telco’s local fibre networks in order to compete.
The group noted Tuesday that in its view the current regulatory environment acts as a disincentive to invest in fibre to the premise (FTTP) facilities….
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TORONTO – Cogeco Data Services is expanding its flagship data centre in Barrie, ON, adding over 20,000 square feet of new operational space by early 2015.
When the expansion is complete, the company will have invested approximately $80 million in the facility that will house over 32,000 square feet of operational floor space. Built to exceed Tier 3 standards and be CSAE 3416 and PCI compliant, the Barrie facility delivers advanced data centre, cloud, managed IT and connectivity services.
The facility, paired with Cogeco Data Services' wholly-owned cloud and network infrastructure, is expanding to accommodate its growing customer base and demand…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has directed Cogeco to implement a mechanized customer transfer process for television and Internet services customers as soon as possible, and no later than January 1, 2015.
In its decision issued Thursday, the Commission responded to an application by Bell Canada submitted in June claiming that Cogeco’s “large number of manual customer transfer requests were inefficiently diverting Bell Canada’s resources and harming consumers”.
As part of the implementation of local competition in the telecommunications industry, a process was developed by the industry for the efficient transfer of a customer’s service, commonly referred to as the customer…
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TORONTO – TV programmers and BDUs should consider their TV Everywhere offerings as a way to retain paid TV subscribers, in the face of increasing consumer use of OTT services and the continuing trend toward channel-trimming and cable-cutting.
That was the consensus among broadcasting industry experts who spoke at CTAM Canada’s 2014 Broadcaster Forum, held on Wednesday at the Sony Centre in downtown Toronto. More than 250 were in attendance.
Gord Hendren, president and CEO of Charlton Strategic Research in Toronto, presented research done earlier this year which indicates the vast majority of paid TV subscribers are very likely…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Cable have announced Patrice Ouimet as senior vice president and CFO, effective immediately.
Ouimet, pictured, has substantial operations and finance experience in global public and private corporations, notably in corporate strategy, treasury, risk management, internal audit and investor relations, reads Monday’s announcement. Prior to joining Cogeco, he was SVP and CFO at Enerkem Inc., VP of corporate development and enterprise risk management at Gildan Activewear Inc., and has ten years of experience in the investment banking sector in various roles at Lazard Limited and CIBC World Markets Inc.
"I am pleased to announce Patrice's appointment….
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TORONTO – Canada needs an autonomous Internet infrastructure that keeps local web traffic routed within the country’s borders as much as possible, said Jacques Latour, chief technology officer for the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), during a presentation at the Canadian ISP Summit in Toronto on Monday afternoon.
Latour said too much of Canadian Internet traffic flows south of the border through major U.S. cities, such as New York, Chicago and Seattle.
“If for some reason there’s an attack against the U.S., like a cyber-attack, and they decide to shut down the borders, in Canada we’re screwed,” Latour said….
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