By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – At 9 a.m. Saturday, the federal government released its ruling on the cabinet appeal of the CRTC’s August 15, 2019 decision on new wholesale rates third party internet access ISPs must pay incumbent network operators.
It required a few readings to understand.
A year ago today, the CRTC issued an order setting the final rates for wholesale internet access (including over $300 million in retroactive payments) and the large ISPs did not like it one bit. They appealed it to cabinet, consistent with section 12 of the Telecommunications Act. The Act also says that Cabinet…
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Telus supports Bell’s plan to strike Matrix from the record
By Greg O’Brien
GATINEAU – Of the 11 organizations to respond to the CRTC’s request for comment on Bell Canada’s demand to strike a key economic report from the public record of the wireless policy review proceeding, only one supports the idea.
Bell has asked the Commission to remove a report from the official record of the policy review which underpins the Competition Bureau’s submission to the CRTC that a modified, but mandated, mobile virtual network operator regime must be established. The Bureau’s final comments and the report done by Matrix Economics…
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TORONTO — The Canadian Telecom Summit will be a digital-only event this year and has been re-rescheduled for November 17-19, 2020.
Traditionally held in June, the in-person conference was postponed until September, due to Covid-19 and restrictions on public gatherings. However, in an email, organizers have announced a virtual Canadian Telecom Summit will now take place in November.
“Given the limitations on indoor gatherings proposed by governments across Canada, The Canadian Telecom Summit team has created a brand-new Virtual Event Platform. Safety is top priority for our partners, delegates, and staff, while maintaining connections, networking, and bringing the industry together,” reads…
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“Scare tactic,” says CNOC
By Linda Stuart
OTTAWA — If the CRTC mandates mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) access to wireless incumbents’ networks, Canada’s gross domestic product would be reduced by an estimated $10 billion within five years, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study released today by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA).
In addition, other negative impacts on the Canadian economy would include an estimated $2.5 billion reduction in government tax revenue, approximately 94,000 jobs lost across the supply chain, and a widened digital divide between rural and urban communities in Canada, says the PwC report, which was commissioned by…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC announced Tuesday it’s extending the deadline for interventions to its review of the rate-setting methodology for wholesale telecom services.
When the wholesale rate-setting review proceeding was announced in April, the intervention deadline was set as July 23, with replies to interventions due August 24.
In an updated notice of consultation today, the Commission has revised the intervention deadline to August 13 and is suspending the deadline for replies.
This comes after Rogers and TekSavvy separately asked for extensions to the deadlines. Rogers made its request for various reasons, including competing priorities related to other regulatory proceedings,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC met its obligations under the 2006 cabinet directive, was never beholden to requirements for detailed explanation, and the wholesale rate review itself proved the Regulator has been aware of and followed-through on its cabinet and statutory obligations, lawyers for the third party internet access providers said Friday.
The final day of the two-day Federal Court of Appeal virtual hearing about whether the CRTC erred in law when it decided in August to slash the wholesale internet rate for resellers and force retroactive payments to them from the incumbents, featured lawyers for the independent ISPs…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Some of the country’s largest carriers tried to persuade a panel of Federal Court of Appeal judges Thursday that the CRTC – in its reasoning that led to a decision to slash the wholesale internet rate – did not adequately balance the impact of the decision with a 2006 cabinet directive setting out a market-based approach to regulatory decisions.
The 2006 cabinet directive outlines that the CRTC “should rely on market forces to the maximum extent feasible and regulate, where there is still a need to do so, in a manner that interferes with market…
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CANADA’S TRADITIONAL CABLE companies have banded together on a new website to promote the reliability of their networks to customers across the country.
The networksyoucancounton.ca website, registered to Quebecor’s TVA Group, displays the logos of Cogeco, Eastlink, Rogers, Shaw and Videotron, with links to each service provider.
“We know how important it is to have networks you can count on,” reads the website.
“We provide high-speed Internet access to more than 6.9 million Canadian households and businesses across the country, including in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities,” it continues. “Our physical networks — built, maintained, and upgraded over many years at…
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MONTREAL – Bell Media announced Wednesday Jean-Philippe Pineault has been hired in the newly created role of general manager, news and information, for its newly acquired V TV stations, effective July 27.
Most recently, he was news director at Cogeco Media, where he oversaw that company’s news talk radio stations. Prior to that he held management positions at The Canadian Press and TC Media. He began his career as a journalist working at a number of French-language publications at Gesca and the Journal de Montréal, says the Bell release.
Pineault will report to Suzane Landry, vice-president, French-language content development and programming,…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – In 2015, the CRTC decided to move from mandatory aggregated services to disaggregated services when it comes to wholesale high speed access services for the Internet, in Québec and Ontario.
That would allow competitors to interconnect closer to the client and lower the cost of service purchased from incumbents. In other words, instead of purchasing the local loop (or last mile) and the backhaul, they could buy just the local loop, including gaining access to fibre-to-the-premises portions of the incumbent networks.
The 2015 decision also determined the rules for the implementation of a transition from one regime…
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