By Greg O’Brien
“THERE’S A WASTE OF two hours,” was my thought after listening to the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology on Thursday evening.
Not just my own time. Everyone’s.
The meeting notice said only that the INDU committee was looking at the Canadian response to the Covid-19 pandemic, but with a witness list of Jay Thomson, CEO of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance; Ian Stevens, CEO of independent broadband provider Execulink; Andy Kaplan-Myrth, vice-president, regulatory and carrier affairs at TekSavvy; two rural politicians – Steve Arnold, mayor of St. Clair Township and Rob Gay, the board chair of the…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – On December 10, 2019, the CRTC opened a new proceeding to examine potential barriers to the deployment of broadband-capable networks in underserved areas in Canada, such as support structures and the cost of access to transport networks.
It identifies two issues that might help accelerate the rollout of broadband”: In this regard, identifying barriers to extending transport networks and accessing support structures, while considering regulatory steps to address such barriers, could simultaneously help to reduce the costs associated with extending broadband networks and serve to improve Canadians’ access to high-quality telecommunications services,” the CRTC document…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – In the middle of March, Rogers Communications was asked to prepare a document by Innovation, Science and Economic Development that floated ideas for how governments could potentially help enhance network capacity if needed, including mobilizing temporary wireless sites, fast-tracking permit applications and allowing access to rights-of-way for emergency fibre installs.
The example measures, obtained by Cartt.ca through an access to information request, was in response to one of several questions asked of Canadian telecommunications companies by the federal department in the event the virus strained networks – and before the full effect of what the virus…
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OTTAWA — The Conservative caucus issued a call to action on rural Internet by launching its own consultation process Wednesday morning which purports to force the country to meet the CRTC’s 50/10 Mbps universal service objective, everywhere, including rural and remote regions, by 2021.
In 2016, the CRTC set 2030 as the deadline for that particular speed to be made available everywhere in Canada.
“Today’s digital economy means that affordable, reliable access to consistent high-speed internet is a determinant to economic productivity, and individual equality of opportunity. Despite the CRTC designating broadband as an essential service more than 5 years…
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GATINEAU — A letter sent to the CRTC by Quebecor Media after interventions were closed for the CBC/Radio-Canada’s licence renewal process will not be added to the public record, the Commission announced Wednesday.
Quebecor made the late submission to the proceeding on April 14, after the February 20 deadline for interventions. In its letter, Quebecor complained that CBC/Radio-Canada is competing unfairly with private broadcasters during the Covid-19 crisis. Quebecor had already submitted an intervention before the deadline, but followed up with additional complaints against the public broadcaster in its letter.
In a letter dated May 6 sent to Quebecor,…
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OTTAWA — In a follow-up letter to the CRTC regarding incumbent wholesale high-speed access (HSA) service provisioning processes during the Covid-19 crisis, the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) says it was not accusing any party of wrongdoing when it wrote to the Commission in early April.
“We wish to underscore that the sole intent of the CNOC/TekSavvy Letter was to emphasize the need to ensure that changes to wholesale HSA service provisioning processes are overseen and approved by the Commission. CNOC is of the view that even in times where urgency requires fast decisions, the Commission should be kept…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Quebecor has filed a notice with the Federal Court of Appeal saying it may seek to appeal a decision by the CRTC that approved Bell’s purchase of the V network.
The filing serves to reserve the right of Quebecor to challenge the April 3 decision because the CRTC did not release its full set of reasons for why it approved the deal – and a judicial review applicant has just 30 days to notify the court of a possible challenge. As such, following the release of the CRTC’s reasons, Quebecor will weigh whether it should…
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By Greg O’Brien
ON SATURDAY, CBC.ca published a story that said nearly 60% of rural Canadians don’t have access to high speed broadband, a piece which of course whipped around on social media and was republished unquestioned by other websites.
If I want to be nice, I’d say the story is terribly misleading. What it is though, is just untrue.
The story’s sub-headline and again in the body copy says “CRTC data suggests as few as 40.8 per cent of rural households have access to high-speed broadband.”
This is, simply put, a false sentence devoid of all context split from reality and…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – The Public Interest Advocacy Center (PIAC) want the CRTC to clarify the rules and responsibilities telecom service providers have in regard to Covid-19 contact tracing applications.
The application refers to news reports that federal and provincial governments might have contacted TSPs to assist the health authorities to help control the spread of the virus.
For example, the Alberta Government has launched ABTraceTogether, an application which, through wireless Bluetooth technology, mobile contact tracing will complement the work of health-care workers and drastically speed up the current manual tracing process.
“Contact tracing is currently performed by interviewing patients who…
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GATINEAU — Quebecor’s Videotron continues to pursue an undue preference claim against Bell with regard to the latter’s Super Écran and how it is distributed free of charge as part of Bell Alt TV’s basic service.
However, the CRTC said in a letter Friday to Videotron and Bell that it won’t expedite the matter as requested by Videotron in a letter dated March 23.
The Quebecor-owned cable company has been pursuing its undue preference claim regarding Bell’s Super Écran since June 2019, but on March 23, 2020 it submitted a request asking the Commission to withdraw its Part 1 application dated…
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