By Ahmad Hathout
Internet service provider Fibernetics is asking the CRTC to stop Eastlink from decommissioning legacy facilities it relies on to provide service to customers in Nova Scotia.
The wholesaler said in a Part 1 application, made public Thursday, that it was notified in February that Eastlink was completing a technology upgrade in Sydney that would transition its network from coaxial to fibre by September 1, meaning its third-party internet access service (TPIA) would no longer be available for two of Fibernetics’s customers.
Fibernetics claims it asked Eastlink to either suspend decommissioning until after the CRTC makes a Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has launched Wednesday the next phase of its Broadband Fund review, which now looks to establish an indigenous-specific funding stream.
“The Indigenous stream will provide a tailored process to access broadband funding that aims to reduce barriers for Indigenous applicants with the goal of helping to close the connectivity gap for Indigenous communities,” the CRTC said in the consultation document.
Since January 2024, the CRTC said it has received feedback and learned of complex application processes, prolonged evaluation and approval timelines, complex financial regulations, including onerous reporting requirements and an inability to request funding for operational costs,…
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The Federal Court of Appeal will determine whether the CRTC must explicitly state that it has jurisdiction over long-distance call rates from correctional facilities.
The high court late last week agreed to hear the applications filed by Bell and the Ontario government, who argue that the CRTC twice failed to make clear that “forbearance from regulation” is itself an exercise in regulation and not an abdication of jurisdiction on those rates.
The court’s decision further suspends matters related to a proposed class action lawsuit that require an answer to the question to move forward. The…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said Thursday it is eliminating fees that it believes are keeping customers stuck in internet and wireless service plans.
The regulator said it is targeting fees on activation, changing and canceling of those plans – with some exceptions. The fees will continue to apply where a subsidized device is provided by the wireless service provider – which represents a real cost to the business – and in a situation where the internet service provider is doing an installation at the customer’s home.
“If you were to buy or purchase a cellphone through a service provider, we already…
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Bell has withdrawn its April 2025 undue preference complaint against Telus after the two companies recently reached an agreement regarding the distribution of Bell Media’s discretionary services Oxygen True Crime, USA Network, CTV Nature, CTV Speed and CTV Wild.
Bell had previously alleged Telus was unduly disadvantaging Bell Media’s new channels — rebranded as a result of Rogers’s blockbuster deal with Warner Bros. Discovery in June 2024 — alleging Telus had given undue preference to Rogers’s newly launched channels in some of its TV packages.
The resolution of Bell’s channel distribution…
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CBC says it’s listening to concerns, but expounds on why it did the deal
By Ahmad Hathout
The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage will call the president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada to explain the public broadcaster’s decision to make its news products available on Amazon Prime Video as add-on subscriptions.
A motion, introduced by Bloc Quebecois MP Martin Champoux, to bring Marie-Philippe Bouchard before the committee was received favourably by the Liberals and Conservatives and passed at the end of the committee’s study session Tuesday on the state of journalism and media.
A date for Bouchard’s appearance will be determined later. The committee…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal has turned down an appeal by Rogers challenging two CRTC decisions forcing it to freeze movement of certain Corus channels it argued was within its contractual right to repackage and remove.
Following a hearing in September, the high court ruled Thursday that Rogers cannot change the terms of its agreement with Corus after the initiation of a dispute because that would be contrary to the standstill, which requires that the status quo be maintained until the dispute is resolved.
“If, following a dispute, Rogers could invoke any provision…
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By Ahmad Hathout
TekSavvy is once again asking the CRTC to stop Cogeco from decommissioning copper facilities it relies on to provide internet service to customers in Ontario.
In a Part 1 application made public Thursday, the largest independent internet wholesaler said it received notices from Cogeco about its move away from hybrid fibre-coaxial facilities (HFC) to pure fibre in parts of Windsor, Burlington, Kingston and its hometown of Chatham.
Until it can make a final decision on its application, TekSavvy is asking the CRTC to order an immediate suspension of any decommissioning before April 1, which is when it said it…
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The CRTC on Tuesday announced the launch of a new webpage to make it easier to find benchmark wholesale wireless roaming rates.
This is part of the commission’s commitment to publish on an annual basis the average retail data rate of Canada’s national wireless carriers to provide a benchmark for negotiations, as outlined in its October 2024 decision mandating commercial negotiation with final offer arbitration for setting wholesale roaming rates.
While annual benchmark figures are published in the CRTC’s Canadian Telecommunications Market Report, the new webpage is designed to centralize them…
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The CRTC last week approved, by majority decision, a CBC application for a broadcasting licence to operate an English-language FM radio station replacing its AM radio station CFFB Iqaluit and to make technical amendments to its existing rebroadcasting transmitter CFFB-FM-3 in Iqaluit.
The commission also approved a related application by the CBC to revoke the broadcasting licence for the existing AM station.
The CBC had indicated any potential failure of CFFB’s current infrastructure could cause the loss of CBC Radio One programming in the region. The purpose of CBC’s applications was to…
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