GATINEAU – Last summer Cloudwifi, a Kitchener-based ISP that operates mostly in the apartment and condo space, filed an application with the CRTC requesting an order stating Bell Canada can’t interfere with a customer’s use of the inside wire.
The CRTC agreed with the independent ISP but Bell appealed saying because Cloudwifi was not a local exchange carrier (LEC) or a BDU, it had no legal, regulatory, or other rights of use or access to the facilities at issue. On July 17, 2019, the Commission asked interested parties for applications on the review of CRTC decision…
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Bell looks to burnish money-losing network
MONTREAL – Bell Media today announced it will purchase the conventional TV network V and its related digital assets, including the ad-supported VOD service Noovo.ca, from Groupe V Média.
The deal, which would bring Bell its first French-language TV network, is pending CRTC and Competition Bureau approval (We’re expecting vigorous opposition from Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau when the application to the Commission is made public). Those with good memories will recall V used to be TQS and was co-owned by Cogeco and CTVglobemedia. It’s current owner purchased the station in 2008, when it was…
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Videotron, SaskTel score top marks for 7th time
TORONTO – TV service providers who make it easy for their customers to binge-watch their favourite content score higher in customer satisfaction, according to new data from J.D. Power.
The 2019 Canada Television Provider Customer Satisfaction Study is based on seven factors (in order of importance): performance and reliability; cost of service; programming; communications and promotions; features and functionality; billing and payment; and customer service. The 2019 Canada Internet Service Provider Customer Satisfaction Study measures overall satisfaction with internet service providers and is based on five factors (in order of importance): performance and…
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Opens call for Broadband Fund applications in the North
TORONTO – In a focused speech to Canadian Telecom Summit delegates today, CRTC chair Ian Scott had a strong message for the nation’s telecom carriers: Do Better.
Serve customers better, be more competitive by offering more diverse products and services, lower prices, help cut spam, and close the digital gap, were the themes that Scott drove home.
When it comes to that last one, closing of the digital gap in some of the underserved regions of the country, Scott brought along some news: The CRTC is today calling for…
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TORONTO – While a wide range of hopeful competitors have backed a mandated MVNO, or some sort of variant on it, regime from the CRTC, CFOs from two of Canada’s Big Three Telecoms – Glen LeBlanc (Bell) and Telus’ Doug French – insisted last week such a move would be irresponsible of the Commission to implement.
Speaking at TD Securities Telecom and Media Forum in Toronto last week, the executives, in separate presentations, touted their respective company investments in having built the infrastructure that now serves Canadians from coast to coast. (MVNO =…
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Bell also asks for return of long-term contracts
GATINEAU – Competition in the Canadian wireless market is already heated and getting hotter, resulting in an overall and ongoing decline in wireless prices while new competitors continue build out new facilities and take customers from them, so why upset that momentum now, and just at the dawn of 5G, Rogers, Bell and Telus have asked in their submissions to the CRTC’s review of mobile wireless services.
It will surprise no one that the submissions largely hit many of the same themes, especially in their stance against mandating mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs),…
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GATINEAU – When the CRTC launched its review of mobile wireless services earlier this year it stated: “This proceeding will focus on three key areas: Competition in the retail market; The current wholesale mobile wireless service regulatory framework, with a focus on wholesale MVNO access and the future of mobile wireless services in Canada, with a focus on reducing barriers to infrastructure deployment.”
This focus on Mobile Virtual Network Operators sure did not fall in deaf ears – and some players jumped right in with strong support since the high cost of entry into the wireless business means many players…
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GATINEAU – Would you rather fight a horse-sized duck, or 100 duck-sized horses?
That was the unusual, if creative, way SaskTel chose to demonstrate how, if the CRTC is going to mandate third party wireless resellers, we can expect a much worse competitive market that causes serious damage to regional independent mobile wireless operators.
“Mandated MVNOs will harm 4th carriers more than the National Wireless Carriers. In any market, there is a portion of the customer base which is most likely to move to a new competitor, a portion which is quite unlikely to change, and a portion somewhere between these…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – The CRTC is once again seeking volunteers to help it measure the performance of home wireline broadband Internet services provided by the country’s major Internet service providers.
Under the Measuring Broadband Canada program, the Commission will work in collaboration with ISPs and broadband testing firm SamKnows to measure broadband performance and test parameters associated with the broadband Internet connection, including download and upload speeds.
While some providers offer advertised speeds of 1Gbps or faster, services above 940Mbps cannot be measured with a conventional speed test, meaning that speed tiers of 1Gbps or faster are excluded from the 2019 Measuring…
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MONTREAL — Leclerc Communication has decided to abandon its deal to acquire two Quebec radio stations after the CRTC refused to approve a key part of the deal on Tuesday.
Leclerc had sought an exception to the CRTC's common ownership policy in order to control a third French-language FM radio station in Quebec City — top-rated talk station CHOI-FM. It had agreed to acquire CHOI and Montreal's CKLX-FM from RNC Media for $19 million last year.
At the CRTC hearing in February, Leclerc vice-president Jean-François Leclerc made clear that if the request for an exception to the…
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