OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The CRTC announced yesterday four projects in Alberta and Nova Scotia will receive up to $8.8 million in funding from its Broadband Fund.
“The projects will target approximately 680 households in five communities, including four Indigenous communities,” a CRTC press release says.
ATG Arrow Technology Group Limited Partnership was allocated up to $7.9 million to build or upgrade local fixed access infrastructure in three Indigenous communities in Alberta, according to the CRTC’s decision on the matter.
Of that funding, the Commission approved up to $3.8 million for the community of Louis Bull 138B (approximately 165 households), up…
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GATINEAU – Numerous intervenors in their final submissions to the CRTC continue to argue the merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications is not in the public interest and should be denied, despite the fact Rogers offered some concessions in its reply on day five of the recent hearing into the matter as well as in other documents since submitted by the company to the Commission.
(You can read Cartt.ca’s coverage of the CRTC hearing here, here, here, here and here.)
The final submissions, which were due Monday, point to several problems the intervenors argue remain…
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By Denis Carmel
After the election on Sept. 20, 2021, the appointment of ministers on Oct. 26 and the appointment of critics on Nov. 11, the House of Commons reopened with the Speech from the Throne on Nov. 23. The parliamentary secretaries were later named on Dec. 3, the members of the Heritage and Industry committees were chosen on Dec. 9 with the chairs of these committees being elected on Dec. 13 and 14 respectively.
Despite the fact this is the continuation of the old government and some cynics could say the election did not change anything,…
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WHITEHORSE – Bell Canada subsidiary Northwestel this week asked the CRTC to modify the tariff filing process for retail Internet services so it can respond to the competitive threat of Starlink in the North.
“We are filing this Application today because we require the ability, on an urgent basis, to respond to the competitive threat that Starlink poses in the North,” reads Northwestel’s application to the CRTC, which was posted on the Commission’s website today.
The Commission approved an application made by SpaceX for a Basic International Telecommunications Services licence to provide telecom services via its low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation Starlink…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU — Clothing company Gap Inc. has agreed to pay $200,000 for allegedly violating Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL), the CRTC announced today.
In addition to agreeing to pay the fine, the U.S.-based global apparel retailer has also implemented corrective measures, a CRTC press release says.
Gap operates several clothing divisions, including Banana Republic and Old Navy.
“CRTC staff issued a warning letter to Gap in December 2018 to inform the company that it had received complaints from Canadians regarding Gap’s electronic messaging practices,” the press release reads.
“In June 2021, in light of continuing submissions from Canadians, the CRTC’s Chief Compliance and Enforcement Officer (CCEO)…
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Rogers and Fido see largest increases
OTTAWA – The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) accepted 17,003 consumer complaints in the past year – a 9% increase compared to the previous year, according to its annual report released today.
The annual report covers the period from Aug. 1, 2020, to July 31, 2021. In this timeframe, CCTS concluded 17,506 complaints, a 10% increase from last year (this includes complaints received before Aug. 1, 2020, which were concluded during the year covered by today’s report.)
The concluded complaints raised over 42,000 issues. The top issues were billing (16,304), contract dispute (13,147), service…
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By Denis Carmel
On Wednesday, the CRTC rendered decisions denying the Review and Vary (R&V) requests filed by Telus and Iristel in November and September 2020 respectively.
At stake was a CRTC decision made in August 2020 following a complaint issued by Telus in August 2018 alleging traffic stimulation activities conducted by Iristel regarding long-distance calls using area code 867, which serves Northern Canada.
Later, Telus proceeded to block 867 calls from Iristel using self-help remedies, basically taking the law into its own hands.
Both were found guilty and the CRTC decided that by violating the Telecom Act, they would…
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TPIA providers say they’ve had to make tough financial decisions to stem the bleeding
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Canada’s large telecommunications companies are claiming third party internet service providers have never had it better with the interim bulk internet purchase rates the CRTC made permanent in May.
The telecoms were responding to petitions to the federal government to overturn the May decision filed by large independent internet service provider TekSavvy, ISP National Capital FreeNet, and the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC), an organization representing smaller telecoms who lease network space from the larger carriers. In the decision, the regulator said it…
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GATINEAU — With telecom service providers now required to implement STIR/SHAKEN technology to combat caller ID spoofing, many Canadians will now be able to determine which calls can be trusted, says the CRTC in a press release issued today.
As of Nov. 30, service providers are mandated to use STIR/SHAKEN (Secure Telephony Identity Revisited/Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) to “certify whether a caller’s identity can be trusted by verifying the caller ID information for Internet Protocol-based voice calls,” explains the press release.
The CRTC notes in the release “not all calls will be verifiable due to device and network…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC hearing into Rogers Communications’s proposed acquisition of Shaw Communications wrapped up Friday with a reply from Rogers during which the company argued the deal is good for Canadians and for the broadcasting system despite what interveners have said over the past week.
“As our panel highlighted on Monday, there is no question that this transaction is in the public interest,” said Ted Woodhead, senior vice-president of regulatory at Rogers.
“It embraces the transformational moment we face, positioning Canada’s broadcasting system for a strong and sustainable future. With Shaw and Rogers joining forces, Canadian consumers will enjoy more…
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