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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Competition Bureau has its worries, too
GATINEAU – In the summer Rogers Wireless introduced 36-month device financing plans into the Canadian wireless marketplace.
The service providers which introduced these new plans (Telus quickly followed suit, and then Bell and Ice Wireless had begun or where about to launch three-year device plans) were hailed by some as increasing smartphone affordability and generally being pro-consumer. Others hailed in the opposite direction.
On August 2nd, as we reported, the CRTC sent a letter to providers to cease that practice and then on August 30th, Continue Reading
GATINEAU – As part of the unrelenting effort by Canada and other jurisdictions to put an end to fraud and scam calls, last December, the CRTC launched a proceeding that would see the Implementation of universal network-level blocking of calls with blatantly illegitimate caller identification.
The deadline for telcos to have that in place, if they don’t already, is December 19th.
This summer, however, Bell suggested going even further and, as Cartt.ca reported, applied for Commission approval for a pilot project which would use artificial intelligence to build on universal network blocking tools to stop certain verified fraudulent and…
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