By Ahmad Hathout
Canada’s largest telecoms are welcoming news that the federal government will invest in a national internet backbone.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced at the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto on Tuesday that the government will spend money from private investment, including in the country’s four largest airports, on “new nation-building infrastructure, including a sovereign broadband backbone” that connects Canadians across the country “with more direct and secure links to Europe and Asia.”
When reached for comment, Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) only added Wednesday: “Further details regarding the initiative will be provided in due course.”
One…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Wednesday made projects focused on redundant networks eligible for Broadband Fund money.
The regulator confirmed a preliminary review that such projects, which ensure networks are backed up in cases of outages, should be subsidized. A resiliency project is defined by the commission as a second transport route “that provides a similar or greater level of capacity as the existing route but that is geographically or technologically diverse.” This can also apply to satellite projects.
“The benefits of high-speed Internet and cellphone services can only be fully delivered with reliable access,” the CRTC said in its decision….
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers and Telus want the Federal Court of Appeal to determine whether the CRTC adequately established why it believes the three largest telecoms may be violating a new rule that bans fees discouraging customers from switching providers.
The CRTC launched a show-cause proceeding on June 30 ordering Rogers, Bell and Telus to show why their new device setup and SIM card fees are not in violation of the June 12 rule that eliminates fees on activation, changing and canceling internet and wireless plans. The proceeding came before the Big Three tried…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers’s chief financial officer said Tuesday that offsetting the CRTC’s ban on activation fees has become part of the company’s strategy.
“The headwinds we have going into the second half of this year are coming from the ongoing effects of that first quarter discounting, but then also the CRTC regulation around fees,” Glenn Brandt said at the BMO TMT conference Tuesday. “As all of us adjust to figure out how to offset the loss of that fee income … we’re all doing it with setup fees, shipping fees, delivery fees that have always been there, but they become more…
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Telecom now says bulk agreements can be good for customers
Beanfield Technologies Inc. has withdrawn a complaint filed to the CRTC in September 2023 that alleged Rogers’s bulk internet service agreement practices in multi-dwelling unit (MDU) buildings were giving the cable giant an undue advantage.
In a letter made public on the CRTC’s website on Sept. 10, the telecom regulator said Beanfield submitted a letter to the commission on Aug. 14 withdrawing its Part 1 application in which it had complained Rogers’s practices served to limit competition and were inconsistent with the CRTC’s MDU…
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CMPA joins global coalition calling for domestic production protections
A group of Canadian independent radio and TV broadcaster associations has sent an open letter to the federal government urging it “to stand firm in its commitment to Canadian sovereignty and culture” and to reconsider its intention to redirect the CRTC on its decisions requiring foreign streaming services to contribute to Canadian content funds.
The letter dated Sept. 14 is co-signed by Joel Fortune, legal counsel for the Independent Broadcast Group/Le groupe de diffuseurs indépendants (IBG/GDI); Cal Millar, chair of the Local Independent Television Stations (LITS) group; Chris Pearson,…
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By Alistair Vigier, CEO of Caseway, an AI company that co-creates products with large enterprises and shares the revenue with them
Canadian telecom has spent the better part of 20 years arguing about who gets access to whose infrastructure: wholesale rates, resale, aggregated and disaggregated access, fibre. Anyone who works in this business knows how long those arguments can run.
Watching Bell and Telus build their AI businesses, I would like us to ask a few of the same questions earlier this time.
Bell announced its AI Fabric in May 2025, with plans for more than 500 megawatts of…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell President and CEO Mirko Bibic said Thursday that Northwestel’s prospective buyer, a consortium of indigenous organizations known collectively as Sixty North Unity, is still discussing a critical component of the deal: funding.
“That is very much an active file,” Bibic said in response to a question about the deal during the Bank of America Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference in New York. “We’re working through with the potential new investors there how to structure it. They’re in discussions with funding partners on their end in order to fund their contribution. Should it proceed, which…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Thursday ordered internet service providers (ISPs) to establish, within six months, the “typical” download and upload speeds their customers can expect to get in their area at pre-sale and then ensure they can deliver on them.
The only reprieve to that is during peak period – established by the commission as between 7 pm at 11 pm local time – inside of which the CRTC acknowledges that there can be significant congestion that will impact speeds.
“Accordingly, for compliance and enforcement purposes, the Commission considers that 100% of the typical download and upload speeds must be…
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Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) has announced that John Melville will be leaving the company at the end of the year.
The vice president of content development and operations at the not-for-profit media company “been instrumental in the broadcaster/content creation company’s evolution from making media accessible to all Canadians to creating exceptional, award-winning content for AMI-tv, AMI-audio, AMI+ and YouTube,” a statement said.
“Projects greenlit during his tenure at AMI include Underdog Inc., Crip Trip, How We Do It!, Reflections, Audiobook Café, Para Sport Nation, Pretty Blind and Adapting,” the statement added.
Prior to joining AMI in 2011, Melville worked for the Blue Jays Radio network,…
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