Shaw CEO also warns regulators not to change things now
CALGARY – After showing strong wireless subscriber additions of more than 266,000 customers in fiscal 2019 and bringing in $1 billion in annual wireless revenue for the first time, Shaw Communications executives didn’t hold back their opinions during the year-end conference call with financial analysts.
CEO Brad Shaw, said the company spent the fiscal year (ended August 31) focused on adding broadband and wireless customers, expanding its wireless network in the west by rolling out its 700 MHz spectrum – all the while managing a large…
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LONDON, Ont. – Independent ISP Start.ca this week announced further improvements to its internet plans, with cost reductions and speed improvements.
After lowering prices and increasing speeds on several internet plans last month thanks to the CRTC’s recent decision on third party internet access (TPIA) wholesale rates, the company said Thursday more plans will be getting faster or more affordable.
The changes will affect over 14,000 existing Start.ca customers, who will now see either more money in their pockets or a free speed increase next month.
We asked for a few more details from Start.ca CEO Peter Rocca who told us…
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New one is coming, though
GATINEAU – On October 11, 2019, Videotron filed an application to the CRTC to decommission its fastest Internet service, saying it would cease offering its Giga-Service to its retail as well as wholesale customers.
In a bit of a twist, the CRTC wrote back to Videotron noting mistakes in the application meant it could not accept it – and so it returned it to the company.
First, Videotron had indicated it wished to cease offering the Giga Service starting immediately but Commission staff told the company that such service eliminiation has to be…
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WITH THE FEDERAL ELECTION done, Canadians can go back to really important matters: will the Montreal Canadian make the playoffs.
In all seriousness, we know the Liberals will be forming the next government but from a minority standpoint. This means they will need the support (or the abstention) of only one of the Bloc Quebecois or NDP, but not both. So, there’s a little room to manoeuvre. Both of those parties are reported to be utterly broke, so they will have little interest to drive everyone back to the polls for now.
The ideological positioning of those parties looks to bring…
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There’s pain now, but “simplicity dividend” will pay off for Rogers, CEO promises
TORONTO – This summer, Rogers Communications was the first to take the leap into lower wireless prices and modern device financing plans, each with the goal of making things easier and cheaper for both the company and its customers.
The new plans, starting at $75/month for unlimited data (albeit slowed after 10GB) sent the wireless market (and the Regulator) into a bit of a tizzy in the summer as all of the…
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GATINEAU – The Telecommunications Act allows the CRTC to order “telecommunications facilities to be provided, constructed, installed, altered, moved, operated, used, repaired or maintained on any property.”
Furthermore, “No Canadian carrier or distribution undertaking shall construct a transmission line on, over, under or along a highway or other public place without the consent of the municipality or other public authority having jurisdiction over the highway or other public place.”
In that context, the Commission has had to resolve conflicts that arose over the years between some municipalities and carriers. The general rule is a municipality is compensated for its costs incurred…
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MONTREAL – Stingray Digital Group announced Monday Valérie Héroux is joining its management team as vice-president, content acquisition and programming, effective November 11.
Héroux, who will be based in Montreal and report to Mathieu Péloquin, will oversee Stingray’s content and programming team as well as publishing and label relations to advance Stingray’s content strategy, says the company press release.
She had been senior director of content and strategic partnerships at Videotron and prior to that role, she was senior legal counsel for Québecor Média.
Héroux “brings over 10 years of experience in media and broadcasting, with a proven track record of…
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GATINEAU – In what’s being described as a puzzling move by many (all of whom declined to go on the record with us), Videotron has filed a tariff modification with the CRTC to decommission its Giga Service "Download 501-1000 Mbps/Upload 0–100 Mbps” since it will cease offering that service to its retail as well as wholesale customers.
Puzzling because while the general assumption is that customers will always want more speed, Videotron is left with a 400 Mbps maximum offering in the Quebec market while its biggest competitor Bell is offering 1.5 Gbps speeds.
As we reported…
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SHAWINIGAN – The Québec government today announced a new $100 million Régions branchées (Connected Regions) project.
The projects (submit yours now!) receiving funding will deliver reliable, high-speed broadband Internet service at a cost comparable to urban services, reads the press release, in French. The province made it clear it is seeking projects which hit the CRTC defined broadband threshold of 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps up.
The new money should help over 70,000 homes and several thousand businesses in Quebec which are currently underserved by their current connectivity choices.
The zones being given priority with this new…
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But it may have support to change that CoL from other Canadian BDUs
OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal this week refused to hear Vidéotron’s appeal of its condition of license which requires it to take part in a new ratings system using set top box data from all large pay TV providers.
Earlier this year, the Quebecor-owned BDU pulled out of the industry working group which is tasked with making the set top viewer data part of the ratings of the television industry in Canada and in May, as we reported, the company asked the…
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