By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Back in the fall, Vidéotron stopped offering its retail high-speed Giga Internet services arguing that the final wholesale third party internet access rates imposed by the Commission in August 2019 made it impossible for the company to affordably offer the service to anyone at all.
It then asked the CRTC for permission to withdraw its wholesale equivalent service rates, therefore making impossible to resellers to offer that service using Videotron. Even though there was no take-up yet to this service on a wholesale basis, TekSavvy objected Videotron’s application.
One of its arguments is that since…
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GATINEAU — In light of its new role under the Accessible Canada Act (ACA), which came into effect in July 2019, the CRTC announced today it is launching a proceeding to seek input into new regulations the Commission will create regarding the accessibility reporting requirements for broadcasting undertakings, Canadian telecom common carriers and telecom service providers.
The call for comments was made in the Commission’s Telecom and Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2020-124, published today. The ACA establishes three main requirements for regulated entities, which are related to accessibility plans, progress reports and feedback processes. Each of these requirements…
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Incumbents say claim they disadvantage resellers on tech work is false
By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – Despite an ongoing judicial review of lower wholesale rates the CRTC set last summer, the Regulator’s ability to set new emergency rates is unaffected by the case and the Commission should install new, lower fees for resellers, ISP TekSavvy is arguing.
On Monday, TekSavvy said in a press release the CRTC should consider emergency measures to reimpose lower rates which third party internet access providers like itself pay the incumbents to use network space. The Federal Court of Appeal is currently scheduled to hear…
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By Mark Goldberg
ON THURSDAY, THE CRTC issued a press release to provide an “update on its proceedings further to COVID-19 pandemic”. In it, the Commission references the role of the sector of Canada’s economy under its jurisdiction:
It read, in part: “More than ever, Canada’s communications system plays a vital role in our lives.
Broadcasters are doing their best to help Canadians navigate their way through the COVID-19 pandemic by disseminating accurate and high-quality news and information updates, despite facing some challenges. For its part, the telecommunications sector is working diligently to maintain a high level of service so…
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By Greg O’Brien
CALGARY – “To say that the events over the last several weeks have been extremely challenging would be an understatement, both professionally and personally,” Shaw Communications CEO Brad Shaw said today kicking off the company’s second quarter conference call with financial analysts.
Of course, the call wasn’t really about the company’s fiscal quarter, which ended February 29th, but more about what has happened since then with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and its fallout.
“We want to express our deepest gratitude to those standing on the front lines doing their very best day in and day out,” Shaw added, singling…
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By David Farnes
GATINEAU – The Commission has quickly responded to a notification from the Emergency Services Working Group that the Next Generation 9-1-1 implementation dates are in jeopardy due to Covid-19.
In a letter dated April 8, 2020, the Commission suspended the upcoming deadlines. The CRTC also provided a preliminary view that the new date at which the NG9-1-1 network providers must have their networks ready to support NG9-1-1 Voice service is March 30, 2021. The former date was June 30, 2020.
The deadline for NG9-1-1 network providers to support NG9-1-1 text messaging, was moved from June 30, 2020 to…
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GATINEAU – Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the CRTC today officially postponed the upcoming public hearing into the renewal of the CBC/Radio-Canada broadcasting licences.
The hearing was supposed to begin May 25th and a new date will be set at a later date, said the Commission.
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OTTAWA — The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), ACORN Canada and the National Pensioners Federation (NPF) jointly called Tuesday for more Covid-19 relief for low-income consumers in the form of unlimited Internet access for at least the next six months and low-income Internet and wireless plans to help all Canadians stay connected while isolating at home during the coronavirus pandemic and possibly beyond.
The consumer groups addressed their demands to not only the federal government and the CRTC but also Canada’s Internet and wireless service providers.
“The Canadian government has told Canadians to stay at home which we are doing,” said…
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GATINEAU — In a procedural letter dated April 3, the CRTC informed Bell and Rogers it was extending the deadline for Bell to comply with the Commission’s December 2019 decision that directed Bell to deploy one-way toll trunks to connect to Rogers switches in the Bell operating territories in which Rogers also provides service, which was supposed to resolve the two companies’ dispute over toll-free call routing.
In the letter, the Commission says it considers the Covid-19 pandemic to be “an unprecedented force majeure situation during which it would not be appropriate for the Commission to expect Bell…
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Quarterly results reporting begins this week
By Greg O’Brien
TORONTO – Both Cogeco Inc. and Shaw Communications will release their fiscal 2020 second quarter results this week, but since their quarters ended February 29th, those numbers will resemble more of a time capsule than an account of what is going on in the market right now and the real news will be what the companies have to say about what’s happened since with the Covid-19 crisis.
“We believe Canadian telcos and cablecos remain structurally sound and even after our target price revisions, we believe the sector will provide investors attractive potential total…
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