CHATHAM and GATINEAU – Last month, independent ISP TekSavvy lodged an official complaint to the CRTC over its most recent Communications Monitoring Report.
In its February 13th letter, TekSavvy noted the telecom portion of the 2018 CMR, which analyzes 2017 data, was not only very late (released December 20, 2018) and disjointed, but it also did not follow the same methodological standards and practices of prior reports.
“The CRTC published the 2018 Report in the waning days of 2018, during an open proceeding that involves a challenge to an earlier CRTC decision to…
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THE 2006 POLICY DIRECTIVE to the CRTC (which came under then-PM Stephen Harper and then-Industry Minister Maxime Bernier) said the Commission must regulate based on market forces to the maximum extent feasible and reinforced that facilities-based competition (Canadian-owned, built, networks) was to be the backbone of the Canadian telecom marketplace.
It said a bunch of other things, too, but didn’t mention consumers at all. However, the Conservative government of the day insisted as long as the CRTC followed its directive, that should spur competition and lower retail prices.
Last week’s Liberal government proposed…
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OTTAWA – TNW Wireless Inc. is eligible to operate as a wireless carrier in Canada and may begin offering mobile wireless services after it proves that it has complied with all applicable 9-1-1 service obligations, said the CRTC in a decision late Thursday.
The decision also means that TNW now has access to tariffed services for wholesale mobile roaming on Bell’s and Telus’ networks, something that it had asked the CRTC to help it obtain back in July 2017.
However, the decision also found that the company’s proposed iPCS (Internet personal communications system) service does not comply with the…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC on Monday yanked the basic international telecommunications services licences of 37 companies that it says have failed to comply with the conditions of licence.
All entities that provide basic international telecommunications services (BITS) to Canadians are required to be licensed by the Commission. As a condition of licence, licensees are subject to annual reporting requirements.
“Despite Commission requests that licensees comply with these filing requirements, a number of licensees failed to comply”, reads TD CRTC 2019-59. “Consequently, on 19 December 2018, the Commission, in accordance with subsection 16.4(1) of the Act, sent by registered mail a notice of intent to…
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GATINEAU – Two days after the ISED Minister Navdeep Bains issued a proposed policy direction requiring the CRTC to put Canadian consumers at the forefront of all future decisions so that telecommunications policy will ensure Canadians have access to quality services at more affordable prices, the CRTC launched a review of mobile wireless services.
This review, which it said last March would come this year (earlier than planned), will primarily focus on three issues:
Competition in the retail market
Mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) access
5G deployment
The Commission did state that a review of wholesale roaming won’t happen with…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Amidst a plethora of over-the-top options for video and audio content, Canadian broadcasting services generated total revenues of $17.3 billion in 2017, down 3.3% from 2016, the CRTC said Wednesday.
In the broadcasting portion of its 2018 Communications Monitoring Report (CMR), the Commission said that broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs), such as cable, satellite and IPTV distributors, generated almost half (49.4%) of the total revenues, with $8.5 billion reported in 2017. That was followed by television services with $6.9 billion (40.1%) and radio stations with $1.8 billion (10.5%).
The revenues of Internet-based audio and video services (a.k.a. OTT services) are…
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OTTAWA – In something of a surprising move, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Navdeep Bains announced Tuesday during Question Period he planned to issue a Policy direction to the CRTC requiring it to improve the affordability of Internet and cellphone services for Canadians.
If this is truly a shift away from market forces and facilities based competition (hard to tell for sure with the legalese), then this could be the most significant shift in the federal government's thinking on telecom in decades.
Even though the CRTC is independent, the government can, according to the Telecommunications Act “issue directions…
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OTTAWA – On Thursday, February 21st, as just about everybody else in Ottawa was watching the Clerk of the Privy Council defend the Prime Minister in front of the Justice Committee over the SNC Lavalin affair, another meeting just as important was taking place in front of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
That hearing was about connectivity in rural and remote areas following up on a Report from the Auditor General tabled in November. The first meeting had been held on December 12th but was interrupted by a vote after representatives from the Office of the Auditor General,…
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WINDSOR, ON — Brian Masse, MP for Windsor West and NDP Industry Critic, is asking the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Competition Bureau to launch an inquiry into whether Canadians’ privacy or consumer rights were violated by telecom companies whose “misleading and aggressive” sales practices were exposed earlier this week in a CRTC report.
In a letter written on Wednesday and posted to his website on Thursday, Masse requested that the Privacy Commissioner and Competition Bureau launch further investigations into the findings of the CRTC’s report on Misleading or Aggressive Communications Retail Sales Practices, which was…
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OTTAWA — The CRTC is proposing to amend the general authorizations for BDUs to authorize the satellite-to-cable CTV Two Alberta service to be included as part of the basic service in Alberta, but the Commission wants to hear from interested parties first.
In May 2017, the CRTC approved Bell Media’s request to continue to allow CTV Two Alberta to be offered on the basic service in Alberta, as part of its Broadcasting Decision 2017-149. At the same time, the Commission announced it would issue a notice of consultation calling for comments on amendments to the general authorizations applicable to…
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