Not the legacy an outgoing chair would want
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – The federal government had until tomorrow to respond to the cabinet appeal of the CRTC’s decision on wholesale rates, in which the CRTC voided its own decision and made interim rates (from 2016) permanent and today, on May 26, they issued a proposed policy direction in response to the three appeals from stakeholders.
The language in the backgrounder issued with the proposed policy direction seems to lay severe blame on the CRTC’s recent decisions:
requiring large companies to continue to give access to competitors at regulated rates so…
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The new direction also axes ‘market forces,’ a remnant from the 2006 directive
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A new telecommunications policy directive to the CRTC proposed by Innovation Canada today has replaced the 2006 directive that focused on market forces and added an emphasis on improved wholesale rates, but the department at the same time denied a petition to reverse a CRTC decision that did not review lower rates.
There is no mention in the new proposed directive of a requirement for the CRTC to view decisions that allow for market forces to the greatest extent possible, which was central…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Last week, on May 19, the CRTC issued a decision to reverse a previous decision and cancel penalties worth $250,000 against two companies delivering ads on computers without the consent of their owners, contrary to the Anti-Spam Act.
In 2015, investigators from the Commission identified five IP addresses linked to Datablocks and Sunlight Media Networks “that appeared to be redirecting users to webpages hosting exploit kits.”
“An ‘exploit kit’ is a collection of multiple exploits that affect unsecure software applications. Each exploit kit is customized to search for specific vulnerabilities and execute the corresponding exploit for the…
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GATINEAU – Complaints to the government’s Spam Reporting Centre (SRC) between Oct. 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022 totalled over 167,939 or around 6,459 per week, according to the CRTC’s latest Enforcing Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) report.
Of the total complaints, around 4,069 were submitted through the SRC’s online form while the rest were submitted by email.
The reasons for complaints submitted through the SRC’s online form include lack of consent (94%), identification of sender (39%), deceptive marketing practices (33%), other (20%) and software and malware (3%), the report says. (Please see chart above.)
The sources of spam reported through the online…
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OTTAWA – While some witnesses emphasized the importance of passing Bill C-11 for Canadian broadcasters, others raised concerns about the role it sets out for the CRTC and the potential for user-generated content (UGC) to be regulated during the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage’s first five-hour meeting on the bill today.
Over the course of the meeting, multiple witnesses told the committee the CRTC does not have the expertise the bill requires of it.
“The number of decisions that are left for it to make in Bill C-11 – deciding what companies this applies to and that sort of stuff…
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Contingent on Globalive acquiring Freedom Mobile
By Amanda OYE
TORONTO – Globalive announced yesterday it has signed a network and spectrum sharing agreement with Telus, contingent on Globalive acquiring Shaw Communications’ Freedom Mobile.
“It’s a transformational agreement – it’s the first of its kind,” said Globalive’s founder and chair Anthony Lacavera in an interview with Cartt.ca.
The agreement, which would span a minimum of 20 years, “marks the first time that a Canadian carrier has entered into a network and spectrum sharing agreement with a pure-play independent wireless competitor,” according to a Globalive press release.
Globalive is the founder of Wind Mobile, which…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Even though next week was supposed to be devoted to constituency work, the members of the Heritage Committee have worked out a deal and have agreed to devote five hours to start hearing witnesses on Bill C-11 on Tuesday, May 24, on autopilot (and the following week for five hours on the 30th, five hours on the 31st and five hours either on June 1 or 2, depending on the availability of rooms and personnel.)
This equals a total of 20 hours for witnesses, the list for which must be submitted to the clerk…
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OTTAWA – Canada needs a stable regulatory environment to support investment in digital networks, argued Robert Ghiz (above), president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), during his keynote speech at the International Institute of Communications Canada’s annual conference yesterday.
Ghiz pointed out how during the pandemic, when suddenly people became more reliant on the Internet and mobile communications, there was concern about “whether our digital networks would buckle under the strain.” This did not happen – “Canada’s digital networks rose to the occasion,” he said.
Ghiz attributed this to Canadian network operators having “invested heavily and consistently” in…
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OTTAWA – Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez says he has heard the criticisms of the CRTC, but he still believes the time has come to modernize it, and in doing so, entrust it with regulating online platforms through bills C-11 (the Online Streaming Act) and C-18 (the Online News Act).
“Some argue that the CRTC is not responsive to consumers and creators, that it lacks the expertise and resources to deal with the new legislation,” Rodriguez said during the final keynote speech at the International Institute of Communications Canada’s annual conference yesterday.
Rodriguez acknowledged that essentially, some say…
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CHATHAM, Ont. — As the one-year anniversary of the CRTC’s wholesale Internet rates decision approaches, independent ISP TekSavvy Solutions Inc. announced today it has relaunched its Pay Less To Connect campaign to enable Canadians to express their views about the CRTC’s decision to their members of Parliament.
“By the end of the month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Cabinet must decide whether to overturn a controversial CRTC ruling that allows big telecom companies to hike prices and legally pillage consumers’ steadily evaporating savings,” reads an email from a TekSavvy spokesperson.
“TekSavvy has relaunched its PayLessToConnect.ca campaign this…
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