The CRTC has invited members of official language minority communities to participate in a CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee (CISC) Emergency Services Working Group (ESWG) study related to improving access to 911 services in both official languages.
Following incidents reported in January where 911 calls from francophone residents of Quebec were answered in English, the CRTC tasked the ESWG to come up with recommendations to ensure 911 calls routed to intermediary call centres are handled in the caller’s preferred official language.
The ESWG is to provide the commission with a report with its recommendations by Feb….
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The CRTC is prepared to provide the Kativik Regional Government of northern Quebec roughly $79.4 million – the amount it asked for – from the Broadband Fund to build undersea fibre transport infrastructure and five new points of presence.
The project will serve five Inuit communities in the north of the province – Aupaluk, Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kangirsuk, Quaqtaq, and Tasiujaq – encompassing roughly 707 households. The build will also connect 42 anchor institutions, such as schools and health care centres, and will link all communities in the entire Nunavik region.
The transport infrastructure will allow last-mile service providers to offer service to…
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The CRTC is asking Rogers to explain how the recent increase of its service set-up fee from $60 to $70 on Rogers and Fido plans is consistent with the federal government’s recent amendments to the Telecommunications Act introduced this spring in Budget 2024.
Division 37 of Bill C-69, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 16, 2024, which received royal assent on June 20, contains a prohibition stating, “A telecommunications service provider must not charge a fee to a subscriber that is related to the activation or modification of a telecommunications service…
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The CRTC last week approved an implementation plan from incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) Westport Telephone Company Limited, operating as WTC Communications, for local competition by Bell Canada in the exchange of Westport, Ont.
Given there is no other competitive local exchange carriers currently operating in WTC Communications’ local interconnection region, the ILEC said it does not already have the necessary processes in place. In its implementation plan, it asked for 60 days to file competitor services tariffs related to local network interconnection in Westport once the commission approved its implementation plan. It further proposed that Bell…
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The CRTC has told Rogers in a letter it plans to publish the full Xona Partners report on the cable giant’s July 2022 major service outage, after receiving letters from public interest groups requesting disclosure of the full text of the report.
On July 4, the CRTC posted an executive summary of the Xona report, which detailed the results of an independent assessment of the Rogers network architecture for reliability and resiliency, as well as the processes in place at Rogers to manage network changes and respond to network incidents like…
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The CRTC has approved a request from Northwestel for additional funding via the Broadband Fund to drive its fibre expansion in rural Whitehorse.
Representing the sixth increase in funding for its Yukon fibre project, Northwestel has been approved for a further 7.1 per cent increase ($4.1 million) in funding to add fibre for internet access services in the rural Whitehorse areas of Deep Creek, Golden Horn and Takhini River Road, adding approximately 250 households to the overall project scope.
This brings the total CRTC Broadband Fund funding for Northwestel’s Yukon fibre project to $62.7 million.
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The CRTC is asking for comments on a Part 1 application from the Broadcasting Participation Fund (BPF) to expand its mandate so it can provide financial support for public interest participation in Online News Act proceedings.
The BPF was established in 2012 to help support research and reimburse the costs of public interest participation in the CRTC’s broadcasting proceedings.
A Part 1 application dated June 18, posted to the CRTC’s website on July 5, proposes that the BPF’s mandate now be expanded to accept applications for public interest intervenor costs in CRTC digital news proceedings under the Online…
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The CRTC conditionally approved Thursday up to $272-million to the Government of Nunavut to build a 1,300-kilometre fibre transport connection to four remote Inuit communities in the territory.
The fibre line funded by round three of the $750-million Broadband Fund is expected to provide the requisite transport infrastructure to provide high-speed internet – with minimum speeds of 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload – to over 80 essential public institutions, including six health car centres and 15 schools, early learning and community learning centres.
The government’s application was supported by several local associations and businesses. It now requires the support…
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MPA filed challenge against mandated foreign streamer contribution to news
By Ahmad Hathout
Amazon and Apple have filed Wednesday separate challenges at the Federal Court of Appeal against the CRTC’s decision to impose a base contribution on foreign streamers, arguing among other issues that it isn’t equitable because it doesn’t require the same for online Canadian streamers that are part of large broadcasting groups and goes beyond Canadian contributions for audio services.
Amazon, which has a video and music streaming service, said the CRTC’s mandated five per cent of annual revenues is contrary to section four of cabinet’s policy direction to the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
One of the major contention points throughout the CRTC’s proceeding to bring online streamers under its ambit is now the subject of a judicial review application at the Federal Court of Appeal, as the Canadian affliate of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) hopes the court will hear its argument that foreign streamers shouldn’t have to contribute to a news fund from which its members derive no benefit.
As part of the implementation of the Online Streaming Act, the regulator issued a proposed order early last month that foreign streamers making $25 million or more must…
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