GATINEAU — The CRTC today launched a proceeding to review certain elements of its regulatory framework for Bell subsidiary Northwestel, and is asking for Canadians living in the North to provide feedback on telecom services in the region.
“The CRTC is seeking to better understand the state of telephone, wireless and Internet services in the areas served by Northwestel. This will help determine whether more needs to be done to ensure Canadians living there have access to high-quality services at reasonable rates,” reads the Commission’s press release.
Broadband services, or their limitations, are a constant topic of conversation in…
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By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL — Seven years after it convinced the CRTC to allow it to acquire Astral Media, Bell Media wants to adjust one of the promises it made in order to keep an extra radio station in Montreal.
In an application submitted in August 2019 but only published on Friday, Bell asks the Commission to reduce the minimum hours of local programming for CKGM (TSN 690) Montreal by a third, from 96 hours to 63 hours a week.
“To the best of our knowledge no other commercial AM station has a set number of local programming hours or even a…
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By Ahmad Hathout
YELLOWKNIFE – Members of the legislative assembly of the Northwest Territories (NWT) are losing patience with a regional government they say hasn’t formulated an economic plan to pull the territories out of a broadband slumber that awaits long-desired expanded connectivity while relying on very few companies to deliver it.
During assembly debates last week, MLAs lobbed questions and concerns at Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek about an alleged lack of broadband financial planning in the budget to apply for federal programs, while also charging that the region has become too reliant on Bell subsidiary Northwestel, the dominant service…
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CHATHAM, Ont. – Independent ISP TekSavvy Solutions has asked the Federal Court of Appeal to quash the September 28 CRTC decision which granted Bell Canada’s request to stay the implementation of the CRTC’s August 2019 order setting final rates for wholesale Internet services.
Over fourteen months ago, the CRTC released its final wholesale rates which third party internet access providers pay incumbent network owners. The rates in that decision are far lower than the interim rates which had been in use and called for retroactive payments. This came after a four-year proceeding and as readers will recall, the incumbents…
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Broadcasting industry needs relief from Covid, Netflix impacts
By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Back in July, the newly invigorated Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) requested measures to provide regulatory relief to private Canadian broadcasters on an urgent basis in the face of the hardships presented by the Covid-19 crisis.
The Commission responded on September 17, by issuing a call for comments on the application – along with some of its own preliminary views on the CAB’s application – while also asking for comments on seven specific questions.
Of course, the CAB application represents the views of its members suffering serious ad…
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But Commission won’t entertain issues related to merits of Covid contact-tracing apps
GATINEAU — After dismissing the Public Interest Advocacy Centre’s (PIAC) request in May for the CRTC to clarify the rules and responsibilities Canadian wireless carriers have regarding Covid-19 contact-tracing apps, the Commission has now decided to give further consideration to the issues raised in PIAC’s subsequent Part 1 application filed on September 9.
PIAC’s second application is not a re-submission of its first application, explains PIAC’s cover letter, which says it “seeks Commission guidance on privacy rules for potential government requests to TSPs to provide…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC announced today it has approved the implementation plans for new area codes to be introduced in southern Ontario and New Brunswick, with some further revisions to the implementation schedule in the case of New Brunswick.
In southern Ontario, the regions surrounding Toronto which are currently served by area codes 289, 365 and 905 will be overlaid with the new area code 742, effective October 16, 2021. The Canadian Numbering Administrator (CNA) has advised the Commission the projected exhaust date for the current 289/365/905 area codes is December 22, 2022.
In New Brunswick, the province’s 506…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC has provided some relief to Iristel as it continues to consider a review and vary (R&V) application submitted by the independent telecom service provider regarding the Commission’s recent decision which found Iristel guilty of traffic stimulation to the 867 area code.
In its August 14 decision (which we reported on here), the Commission ordered Iristel to reduce its long-distance interexchange (IX) termination rate for calls to the 867 numbering plan area (NPA) in northern Canada from $0.038 per minute to $0.0098125. The new rate was to apply on an interim basis, and was to become…
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Will Canada’s big media companies even show up for the streaming wars?
By Brad Danks
LIKE MANY PEOPLE IN THE INDUSTRY, I wasn’t surprised to see Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi shut down last week after rapidly blowing through $1.8 billion in start-up financing. The business model had so many flaws it was just a matter of when it would implode, rather than if.
A staff member reminded me I predicted at Quibi’s launch that they wouldn’t last six months; they made it to seven so I was off by a month. However, predictions aren’t important. What is important is looking at the reasons…
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By Len Katz
THE WORDS IN THAT headline came from a senior executive at a wireless conference almost a decade ago as he commented on the Joint Network and Spectrum Sharing Agreement that saw Bell Canada and Telus carve up the build-out of one national wireless high speed digital network to compete with Rogers. Telus trumpeted the agreement saying it allowed for an accelerated buildout.
It also resulted in one less national infrastructure network in Canada. So did the benefit outweigh the cost?
ISED (then Industry Canada) repeatedly approved the applications to extend the Sharing Agreements during subsequent spectrum auctions Continue Reading
