The CRTC announced last week it is committing more than $17 million from its Broadband Fund to help bring high-speed fibre internet to 18 rural communities in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
The funding is being awarded to Minto Communications Society, County of Forty Mile No. 8, MCSnet, Missing Link Internet Inc., and Vianet Inc. to build nearly 330 kilometres of new transport fibre infrastructure to improve access to reliable and high-quality internet services, the CRTC said in a press release.
According to a CRTC backgrounder, Minto Communications Society will…
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Appeals on the horizon
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC ruled Friday that it will continue allowing the three largest internet service providers to use the wholesale access regime, pointing to the “several thousand” Canadian households now on service plans offered by the “dozens of providers” using the final framework from August 2024.
The decision flies in the face of concern from a broad swath of ISPs big and small, who have argued this would be a disastrous decision for investment in networks and for the viability of regional players as the deeper-pocketed, bigger brands will now be able to ride on their…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor said Thursday that the CRTC should consider eliminating rules that have no equivalent in the online world, including what it calls micromanaging of commercial relationships under the decade-old Wholesale Code.
Similar to sentiment from Bell on Wednesday, Quebecor executives told the CRTC studying the market dynamics between broadcasters and programmers that the Canadian system is no longer a “walled garden” environment closed off from the myriad of online options, and that more needs to be done to level the playing field.
Quebecor’s recommendations in general include the removal of the Wholesale Code; in particular, it…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell urged the CRTC on Wednesday to loosen the rigid rules surrounding how broadcasters and programmers are allowed to negotiate the packaging and payment of content.
The vertically-integrated company said there are certain commission rules dating back to 2015 that are hampering the ability of both the distributor and programmer to get the best commercial outcome in a system that is now flooded with online options.
“Since the introduction of the Wholesale Code, there’s a lot of prohibitions on specific packaging terms in our negotiations with BDUs,” Ben Keys, Bell Media’s director of content distribution, said Wednesday. “And what…
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Far north telecom Northwestel has filed with the CRTC revised tariffs and proposed winback discounts to introduce residential 1 Gbps internet packages to its customers.
The two plans — Cable Internet 1 Gbps Unlimited and FTTP Internet 1 Gbps Unlimited — are the first residential 1 Gbps internet packages to be offered by Northwestel. The FTTP plan offers symmetrical download and upload speeds of up to 1 Gbps, while the cable plan offers 1 Gbps download and 30 Mbps upload speeds, according to Northwestel’s tariff filing made public on the CRTC’s website on Monday.
Northwestel…
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Telus alleges Bell complaint a delay tactic
By Ahmad Hathout
Bell is alleging that Telus is unduly disadvantaging its newly branded television networks after the broadcaster signed a deal in March to carry Rogers’s Warner Bros. Discovery programming.
In the partially redacted complaint, dated late April but only made public by the CRTC last week, Bell says its USA Network, Oxygen True Crime, CTV Nature, CTV Speed, and CTV Wild services are being treated unfairly because the broadcaster is allegedly looking to remove the services from some packages containing Rogers’s Discovery content.
“We are not trying to maintain a de facto access right…
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By Ahmad Hathout
If the CRTC mandates information disclosure for wireless services like its 5G home internet, then it could stunt Rogers’s effort to bridge the digital divide, the cable giant said Thursday.
“Introducing what’s being considered here, for something that’s not captured by the legislation, could impose costs and burdens upon Rogers in the infancy of its launch of this product that actually undermine achievement of that critical public policy objective,” Dean Shaikh, Rogers’s senior vice president of regulatory affairs, told the commission studying the implementation of standardized information to make it easier for customers to choose internet services.
“This is…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers has received the final regulatory approval it needs to purchase Bell’s 37.5 per cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), after the CRTC greenlit its purchase of the corresponding portion of NBA TV on Thursday.
As a result of the approval, Rogers now owns 75 per cent of Toronto Raptors Network Ltd. (TRNL), which it valued at $37.2 million for the sake of determining tangible benefits. It offered to pay $3.7 million (10 per cent) to the broadcasting system as a condition of approval, which the CRTC accepted.
The CRTC divided those amounts as follows: 80…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC should specifically tailor its broadband transparency efforts on certain technologies that have been shown to demonstrate more variation in internet speeds, such as satellite and fixed-wireless services, according to Bell executives.
Otherwise, if the CRTC must impose standardized transparency language to make it easier for consumers to choose services, it can force internet service providers to change their “up-to” or “maximum” language to “typical” because that’s what most service providers are already offering on wireline.
“We’d be well within … the margins by which what we advertise as a maximum speed would be advertised as a typical…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Cogeco representatives on Tuesday implored a panel of CRTC commissioners to carefully examine the cost-benefit analysis of implementing a broadband label that they say has been largely ineffective in the purchasing decisions of their American customers.
The regional cable company, which has a division called Breezeline in the United States, says such a proposed label – which would resemble a nutrition label on foods and include information beyond just download and upload speeds – would just serve to confuse customers.
“The reality is that we already provide consumers with the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions –…
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