WHITEHORSE – Northwestel told its customers this week it will extend its temporary Internet usage relief during the Covid-19 crisis for every Northwestel residential Internet customer until May 31st, subject to CRTC approval.
The company received CRTC approval to waive any overage charges for customers exceeding their Internet usage caps through to the end of April in terrestrially-served communities (which are most communities in Yukon, NWT, northern Alberta and northern B.C., says the company).
The company has also been augmenting capacity to accommodate the increase in usage on its terrestrial network. All Northwestel’s terrestrial Internet packages and rates are regulated,…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC announced Monday it has extended the deadlines for responses to its request for information and for interventions to the proceeding regarding paper billing practices of telecom and TV service providers.
The new deadline dates are as follows:
Responses to the Commission’s request for information must be filed by June 1, 2020.
Interventions must be filed by July 3, 2020.
Replies to interventions must be submitted by July 24, 2020.
crtc.gc.ca
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By Ahmad Hathout
THE CANADIAN NETWORK OPERATORS Consortium (CNOC) is facing fresh denials from some incumbents to a request by the organization to lift certain network restrictions during the Covid-19 crisis.
The three-part ask from CNOC, which represents smaller third party internet access operators that rent part of the network of the larger providers, includes a lifting of capacity restraints free-of-charge, expedited network augmentations through more physical interconnections, and wholesale payment term flexibility of 60 additional days to help support customers who are unable to pay on time.
The letter was sent over the course of the past couple of weeks to…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – The CRTC today approved Bell Canada’s March 24th application seeking to block fraudulent what are called Wangiri fraud calls on its networks, at least until June 1.
Wangiri calls work the following way: one gets a phone call, most often on a cell phone and it rings only once. Wangiri is Japanese for “one ring”. Then the victim is tempted to call back, thinking they missed a call. When it does, the “bad actor” will try to keep the victim on the phone for as long as possible and when the victim gets its telephone…
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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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