NEWMARKET, Ont. — The Canadian Telecom Summit today announced it will host a free webinar next month to help Canadian telephone service providers prepare for the CRTC-mandated implementation of the STIR/SHAKEN framework for authenticating IP-based voice calls later this year.
The acronym means Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs (SHAKEN)
In April, the CRTC announced all Canadian telecom providers must implement STIR/SHAKEN by November 30, 2021. In advance of their implementation of the framework, telcos are required to submit an implementation readiness assessment report by August 31.
The CTS webinar, scheduled for Wednesday, June…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC will announce its decision on the wholesale fees third party internet access providers must pay incumbents to access their wired networks on Thursday.
The Commission sent out an email Tuesday afternoon saying the announcement, which is actually a decision on a review and vary appeal filed by the incumbent telcos and cablecos over the original decision announced in August 2019, will be this week.
When we asked the CRTC if Thursday is the day – because that’s the day of the week the Regulator normally chooses to make public such contentious decisions – and if there will…
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By Denis Carmel
MONTREAL – In a ruling issued on May 5th, the Court of Appeal of Québec denied the appeal of the Government of Québec of a July 2018 Superior Court ruling which said telecommunications was a strict federal Jurisdiction.
On March 26, 2015, Québec’s Budget Speech announced a new provision would be added to the Consumer Protection Act so it would be amended to say Internet service providers would be required “to block access to unauthorized online gambling sites.” The judge concluded this new provision was to allow Loto-Québec to force ISPs to block access by individuals in…
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CEO Péladeau has already said he is interested in Freedom Mobile
By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau has been making headlines in recent weeks by suggesting he is interested in acquiring Freedom Mobile in the event that condition is forced by regulators as part of a Rogers-Shaw merger. Now, he’s sending lobbyists west to familiarize the brand.
During a conference call related to his company’s first quarter earnings report this month, Péladeau expressed interest in taking Videotron’s brand nationwide. He said regulatory conditions are better now, following the CRTC’s decision to give regional carriers access to the wireless…
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By Greg O’Brien
“Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.” – Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, speaking to president Richard Nixon in 1969 on Canada-U.S. relations
I THOUGHT AGAIN OF THIS famous-if-you’re-a-Canadian quote after the latest American media mega-merger which will see Discovery and WarnerMedia become one.
Naturally, this particular twitch has many worried this particular elephant will now (along with other pachyderms like Netflix and Disney+ and Amazon) simply roll over,…
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Says facilities-based is best
By Ken Kelley
TORONTO – When CRTC Chairperson and CEO Ian Scott looks back on all that has transpired in the last 15 months, he is especially proud of the way Canada’s ISPs rose to the unprecedented technological demands and other challenges posed by the pandemic. Speaking yesterday during a virtual event hosted by Canadian Club Toronto, Scott told Android Central’s Shruti Shekar industry players both big and small deserved a proverbial tip of the hat.
“Both large and small players navigated network management during an incredibly transformative period without a lot of disruption,” he told Shekar. “The…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – After three meetings that interrupted the clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-10, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage got back to work Wednesday afternoon but did not advance at a pace that would suggest that the bill will get out of committee anytime soon.
The amendment discussed today was proposed by the government and announced previously by Minister Guilbeault. It was supposed to correct the impression that the removal of Section 4.1 was an attack on the freedom of expression, the impression that the CRTC would be given power to somehow regulate user generated content. The amendment,…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC today denied an application by Xplornet to review and vary the Commission’s 2019 decision which created the Internet Code, specifically regarding the policy covering the conditions under which Internet service providers can disconnect customers.
In the Internet Code (Telecom Regulatory Policy 2019-269), the disconnection conditions set out by the Commission say an ISP can disconnect customers who fail to pay a past-due account only if the amount owing exceeds $50 and if the account has been past due for more than two months.
During the proceeding which resulted in the Internet Code, the Commission initially drafted…
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By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – Lawyers for Quebecor’s Groupe TVA and Bell Canada said Tuesday the CRTC shouldn’t be able to force the two companies to come to an agreement on retransmission of discretionary television channels when one or both sides disagree on the terms.
Just over two years ago, the CRTC said TVA must continue to provide its sports channel signal to Bell for retransmission under a provision in the law called the standstill rule, after TVA cut the signal during the NHL playoffs in April 2019 citing unfair economic terms of the agreement. That means, during commercial disputes,…
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Association says consensus was achieved
By Steve Faguy
GATINEAU – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ submission to the CRTC’s commercial radio policy has exposed a long-standing rift between large and small broadcasters, and one of them is speaking up to say the CAB’s comments do not represent them.
Leclerc Communication, which owns two radio stations in Quebec City and one in Montreal, owes its very existence to the CRTC’s Common Ownership Policy, which sets limits on how many stations in one market a company can own. When Cogeco bought Corus’s Quebec radio stations in 2011, it was forced to divest two stations…
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