OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC and Access Communications worked together this summer to shut off a deluge of spam messages that were unknowingly being sent from a server owned by a Saskatchewan-based computer reseller.
The Commission got involved after the Spam Reporting Centre received reports of spam messages routed through Access Communications. During its investigation, it was discovered that the spam messages were actually coming from a small business’s server, which used Access Communications as its ISP. This business’s server had become infected with malware, which had caused it to join the botnet ‘Ebury’.
According to spamrankings.net, the Autonomous Systems (AS21804)…
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GATINEAU – Quebecor’s Videotron will be Canada’s fourth national wireless player “if the CRTC creates the right conditions”.
The Montreal-based communications giant used its appearance Friday at the CRTC’s wireless hearing to encourage the Commission to regulate tower sharing and introduce roaming charges that are based on real network usage costs.
"Currently, the rates stipulated by Bill C-31 are based on costs that include equipment subsidies, marketing, customer acquisition, retail and online distribution channels, customer service and debt collection," said Videotron president and CEO Manon Brouillette. "It is unfair and absurd to make new entrants finance the incumbent carriers by supporting their…
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OTTAWA – Consumer complaints received by the CRTC regarding bandwidth throttling by their Internet service providers (ISPs) continued to fall in the third quarter of this year.
In its latest status report issued Thursday, the Commission reported that it received a total of 6 complaints regarding Internet Traffic Management Practices (ITMPs) from July 1 to September 30, down from the 10 complaints that were filed in the second quarter between April 1 and June 30, 2014.
There is no distinction made between ITMP disclosure complaints, (those related to whether the ISP has disclosed information, on its website or in customer materials, about any ITMPs…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable could add wireless service to its mix as the country’s newest Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), a move that it said will help foster wireless competition in a market dominated by incumbent providers.
In advance of its appearance Monday at the CRTC’s review of wholesale mobile wireless services, Cogeco said in a statement that it will seek “the implementation of appropriate regulatory measures to allow it to enter the wireless market as an MVNO to offer customers more choice, better value and differentiated wireless services”. MVNOs are mobile wireless service providers that lease capacity from facilities-based wireless…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – With wireless service networks now accessible to 99% of the population, more and more Canadian households are dropping their landlines, according to the 2014 edition of the CRTC’s Communications Monitoring Report.
The report, released Thursday, provides an overview of the Canadian communication industry for the year ended August 31, 2013. This year, the CRTC is releasing the report in three parts. The first, about the country’s broadcasting sector, was released earlier this month, and the third part will be released in October with data on international comparisons, the National Do Not Call List and consumer spending on…
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GATINEAU – It didn’t seem like that big a deal.
Tiny wanna-be Internet video distributor Leiacomm (no word if it’s named after the Princess…) complained to the CRTC claiming Bell Media was granting itself an undue preference by refusing to sell content to the independent company which wants to stream video content online, without a license, as a sort-of online BDU, instead of a subscription VOD product like many other OTT providers are. (It’s online presence is known as Picktv.net)
The Commission dismissed Leiacomm’s complaint on Monday saying the preference Bell granted itself by not dealing with Leiacomm was not undue,…
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GATINEAU – Being exempted from regulation, CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said in 2013, is still a form of regulation. So, one shouldn’t get the sense that just because Netflix on Monday refused the Commission’s order to provide data about its Canadian users, the chairman feels he has no arrows left in his quiver.
In May 2013, during the third day of the hearing analyzing Bell Media’s second attempt to acquire Astral Media, CRTC chairman Blais said this: “I never talk about regulated and unregulated. I always talk about licensed and unlicensed for the very fact that one couldn't have exempted…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – Rogers and Bell are among the last wireless services companies that have yet to fully comply with the CRTC’s wireless code.
On Thursday, the Commission issued a report card assessing the implementation of the wireless code by the country’s 33 wireless services providers. That code, which turns one in December, was designed to make it easier for Canadians to understand their contracts for cellphones and other mobile devices, plus outline their basic rights.
Noting that verification of the code’s implementation is the first step in assessing compliance, the CRTC asked the wireless companies to submit reports…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC was awarded Public Service Awards of Excellence Tuesday at Rideau Hall for its work in the areas of Official Languages, Employment Equity and Diversity, and Policy.
The Public Service Award of Excellence recognizes employees who have demonstrated excellence in achieving results for Canadians and who reflect the priorities of the public service, while demonstrating key leadership competencies.
CRTC employees received the Official Languages Award for the high degree to which the use of English and French was promoted in all aspects of the CBC/Radio-Canada licence renewal proceeding. Throughout the proceeding, the CRTC instituted measures…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has granted Gold Line Telemanagement Inc. regional broadcasting licences to operate terrestrial broadcasting distribution undertakings serving Vancouver and Victoria in B.C. and various locations in Ontario, including Toronto, Ottawa, Windsor and Hamilton/Niagara.
Based in Richmond Hill, ON, Gold Line distributes prepaid phone cards and long distance services in Canada. According to the company’s website, it is also the frontline sales and marketing department for all of Group of Gold Line's products and services, which includes IPTV and VoIP. The Commission says that Gold Line is wholly owned and controlled by Ata Moeini.
Gold Line has…
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