GATINEAU — In an application filed last week, Eastlink has asked the CRTC to review and vary its mid-February decision regarding the terms and conditions of access to cable carriers’ aggregated wholesale high-speed access (HSA) services (also known as third-party Internet access services).
In the decision issued February 14, the CRTC clarified the rules for resellers, saying they can offer HSA services on a wholesale basis to other resellers. The CRTC also directed Eastlink and other cable carriers to make a number of revisions to the terms and conditions of their wholesale HSA services.
While Eastlink doesn’t reference the general…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – On May 12th, Rogers and Videotron filed an application together asking the CRTC to force Bell to let wireless providers, like them, to attach small wireless cells to Bell telephone poles at the Support Structure Service Tariffs set by the CRTC some 15 years ago.
Small cells are a key component of the wireless network helping accommodate the increasing demand for high-speed wireless data. It will in time become a key component of the 5G networks. The SSST was first established so that other telecoms could serve customers without building another set of poles.
To that point:…
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MONTREAL — Following the recently approved acquisition of Groupe V Média’s V television network and Noovo.ca by Bell, specialty channels Elle Fictions and MAX (which were not included in the Bell-Groupe-V-Média deal) are now part of a new corporate entity called Remstar Media Group.
Remstar Media is majority-owned by Maxime Rémillard’s Remcorp Inc. (formerly Remstar Group), and partly owned by Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Québec, Investissement Québec and the Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec (FTQ).
Remstar Media is the 100% owner of MusiquePlus, which is the current licensee of Elle Fictions and MAX.
“My shareholders and…
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FREDERICTON — The province of New Brunswick’s planned introduction of a new area code and local 10-digit dialling later this year is being deferred, as approved by the CRTC in a recent decision.
The introduction of the new 428 area code was initially planned for November 21, 2020. However, based on the most recent numbering forecast conducted by the Canadian Numbering Administrator, New Brunswick’s current 506 area code will not reach capacity this year, and therefore there is no requirement to add a new area code yet, says the news release.
In fact, the most recent numbering forecast indicates…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC released Tuesday its full rationale for approving Bell Media’s acquisition of the V television network from Groupe V Média.
Although the V purchase was approved by the Commission at the beginning of April in an expedited release of its decision, its rationale behind the decision was not released at that time.
On Tuesday, in a newly numbered decision, the CRTC not only published its rationale but also made a number of corrections to its original decision approving the Bell-V transaction. The corrections are related to errors made in Appendix 2 and 3 regarding conditions…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC wants to know if the ongoing Covid-19 crisis has altered the positions put forward by any participants at the public hearing held earlier this year as part of the Commission’s wireless policy review.
Given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic became more pronounced in Canada after the hearing in February, the Commission is giving participants an opportunity to provide additional information to be considered within the proceeding.
In a request for information issued as a procedural letter on May 15, the Commission asks: “Does the ongoing situation with respect to the Covid-19 pandemic change the view…
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MONTREAL – Bell Canada announced Friday it has completed the acquisition of French-language conventional TV network V and ad-supported VOD service Noovo.ca from Groupe V Média.
“Bell Media has the commitment and resources to invest in French-language content necessary to take V forward, and to bring much-needed consumer choice and competition to Québec’s television sector,” said Mirko Bibic, president and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada in the press release.
A legal wrench in the works remains, however, in a possible legal challenge by Quebecor Media of the CRTC decision which allowed Bell Media to purchase V. The company recently…
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By Ken Kelley
OTTAWA – An exchange between a Telus executive and a Calgary MP got a little heated late Thursday during a virtual meeting of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology
The bulk of the tension stemmed from a line of questioning directed at Telus EVP and chief customer officer Tony Geheran by Conservative MP Michelle Rempel-Garner (Calgary Nose Hill).
After asking the executive for the company’s cost per gigabyte when it comes to serving its customers (something Geheran said he didn’t have at hand and offered to send after the meeting) and noting that the figure doesn’t seem…
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Only 50 communities, 25,000 households, have so far been connected under Connect to Innovate
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The federal government has denied the vast majority of the nearly 900 applications it has received for the $585 million Connect to Innovate rural broadband program, according to an order paper answer from the rural economic development minister last month.
So far, the program has received and assessed all 892 project applications, with 874 of those receiving a response and 610 denied funds, according to the answer.
“It’s shockingly high,” Brian Masse, NDP MP and innovation critic, said in an interview with Cartt.ca about…
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By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – In a somewhat unusual move when it comes to a conference call with financial analysts, but perhaps not for one of two of Montreal’s perennial corporate rivals, Quebecor’s president Pierre Karl Péladeau thumbed his nose directly at Bell Canada over his company’s wireless performance in the first quarter of 2020.
“It is worth noting that our wireless subscriber growth, at over 39,000 new lines this quarter, is almost twice that of Bell even though they have a national footprint and we are only in Quebec,” Péladeau said Thursday during his company’s quarterly conference call. Mentioning…
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