OTTAWA – An application by the SouthWestern Integrated Fibre Technology Inc. (SWIFT) petitioning the CRTC to reconsider how it qualifies rural regions to receive broadband funding was denied by the Commission on Monday.
As Cartt.ca reported in December, SWIFT took issue with the portion of the CRTC’s $750 million rural broadband fund that proposed the use of hexagon methodology to determine geographic eligibility for fixed broadband Internet access service projects.
SWIFT submitted that there was substantial doubt in both law and fact as to the correctness of the Commission’s determinations, asserting that they were likely…
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MONTREAL – When Bell applied for an injunction back on April 11th against Quebecor’s decision to remove TVA Sports from Bell TV customers, it also filed an application to be reviewed in Québec’s Superior Court on the merits later.
On Friday, April 26th Bell modified that application. The details of the original became known as they had been overlooked earlier this month.
Bell had complained Quebecor’s public statements harmed its reputation and filed various examples of company CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau’s publicity campaign against the company and CRTC regulations – and cited relevant legislation which were allegedly breached, reads the court…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has turned down a request by Northwestel seeking to review and vary a determination that set out certain network quality metrics for basic broadband Internet service.
As Cartt.ca reported last July, TD CRTC 2018-241 further defined the universal service objective by establishing the broadband quality of service that should be provided to all Canadians. As part of that, it established a round-trip latency threshold of 50 milliseconds to define high-quality fixed broadband Internet access service.
In November, Northwestel filed an application asking the CRTC review and vary the decision, claiming that the latency threshold determination implies that any fixed broadband…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC awarded two new FM radio licences on Thursday, one for Listowel, ON and another for Afton Station, NS.
The new Listowel station, operated by Five Amigos Broadcasting Inc., will operate at 100.1 MHz (channel 261B1) and serve the municipality of North Perth with an Adult Contemporary music format targeting adults aged 18 to 54.
Despite interventions from radio broadcasters with stations in the neighbouring communities of Wingham and Mount Forest, the CRTC noted that there are currently no other commercial FM stations that are specifically licensed to serve Listowel, adding that “the proposed station would add to…
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OTTAWA – Back in 2015, the CRTC concluded a review of telecommunications wholesale wireline services. In that decision the Commission set a speed threshold for aggregated wholesale services of 100 Mbps.
In November 2018, the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) filed an application to review and vary the 2015 decision. Amongst others, CNOC sought, the removal of the Speed Cap on aggregated wholesale services on an expedited basis.
On March 20, 2019, the CRTC granted that interim relief while it continued to examine the file in front of it.
As said Chris Seidl, Executive Director, Telecommunications, in…
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GATINEAU – After hearing from a range of Canadians via Facebook in February and March (some who had cogent complaints and arguments, some who, um, did not…), the CRTC this week gathered up final written submissions on its new proposed Internet code of conduct for providers of retail fixed internet services.
Canadian carriers generally support such a code, or at least the idea of one, which would “enhance the transparency of Internet contracts, help consumers, regardless of who their Internet provider is, to better understand their rights and responsibilities under these contracts and enable them to…
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TORONTO – In a ruling issued Tuesday, April 23,2019, the Ontario Superior Court decided to stay a case brought by Iristel/Ice Wireless against Telus which relates to a dispute between the two companies over failed calls to the North.
This is the latest development between the two telcos who have each blamed the other for hundreds of phone calls to northern Canada failing to get through.
While the CRTC issued its interim ruling in November, making sure calls went through properly, it still must determine whether the traffic at issue is wrongly stimulated by Iristel as Telus claims…
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“Individuals can’t hide behind their company’s structure or online entities”
OTTAWA – The CRTC has nailed the corporate director of a business caught violating Canada's anti-spam legislation (CASL), the first time that an individual is held liable under CASL for violations committed by a corporation.
The Commission on Tuesday fined Brian Conley $100,000 after an investigation determined that his discount deals website nCrowd sent unsolicited commercial emails to Canadians without their consent. In addition, the unsubscribe mechanism in the emails did not function properly.
Operating under multiple business names such as nCrowd, Teambuy, DealFind, and Dealathons, the emails offered promotional vouchers…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has decided what the Competition Bureau wants is too much to ask of Canada’s wireless service providers.
On March 8, 2019, the Competition Bureau wrote to the CRTC as part of the Regulator’s review of mobile wireless service proceeding, requesting the Commission demand a series of data from the wireless service providers (WSPs) which would allow the Bureau to conduct an analysis of the competitive landscape.
As Cartt.ca reported, the WSPs responded strongly, arguing the new burden imposed on them by the request for years of data was too onerous and accused the…
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Telecom policy must encourage investment, says Natale
TORONTO – Rogers Communications CEO Joe Natale invoked the founder Friday morning while delivering a speech simultaneously to shareholders at its annual general meeting – and to policy makers in Ottawa.
The presentation at company headquarters in Toronto featured a long ago video of the first cellular phone call in Canada – made on what was called the Cantel network (Ted Rogers was famously rebuffed by his board of directors in 1983 when he wanted $500,000 to invest in mobile wireless technology, so he went it alone with his own money in launching Cantel)…
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