Buying smaller ISPs “a strategy” for getting to 100% coverage, Rogers CEO says
By Ahmad Hathout
Note: This story has been updated with comments from Bell CEO Mirko Bibic.
TORONTO – Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri said Tuesday that the delay in getting approval for the company’s proposed acquisition of Shaw has allowed it to refine its strategy as a consolidated entity.
“While we’re disappointed with the delay…what the time has allowed us to do is solidify our integration plans while at the same time – over the last year and a bit – we went through a bit of our own…
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Bill follows in footsteps of U.S. broadband ‘nutrition’ label
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA — A private member’s bill that would require internet service providers to include the “typical” download and upload speeds that customers should expect when buying service received support from small internet service providers, according the author of the bill on Monday afternoon.
Dan Mazier, Conservative Member of Parliament for Manitoba’s Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa riding, appeared before a House industry committee to discuss bill C-288, which would amend the Telecommunications Act to effectively eliminate vague language such as “up to” and “maximum” used by ISPs to market their internet packages. The…
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By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – Quebecor’s Videotron has a new beef with Bell, and it relates to prices charged by the latter for wholesale access to its fibre and transport services.
Videotron is alleging in a Part 1 application filed to the CRTC Friday that Bell is forcing the company to accept a long term contract for access to the services that serve to deliver traffic to the last mile or face “abusive monthly price increases” that are in areas where Bell allegedly has a “dominant position or a quasi-monopoly.” The charges are redacted from the application.
The company is alleging that…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – An application by Bell requesting the CRTC stop collecting money for the Broadband Fund until it delivers money already collected is drawing support from other providers.
The Part 1 application, filed by the telco in December, requested that the CRTC refund existing amounts not distributed and pause its intended collection of $150 million from the internet service providers in 2023 until it conducts the preplanned policy review in year three of the $750-million fund this year.
The fund, which is used to get high-speed internet to underserved areas, collects the money from the providers…
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REGINA – Access Communications Co-operative said Tuesday that it has launched its gigabit internet product to 25 more communities in Saskatchewan.
The AccessHyperSpeed 1 Gig service will now be available for the communities of Biggar, Canora, Churchbridge, Coronach, Cudworth, Davidson, Delisle, Esterhazy, Foam Lake, Gravelbourg, Grenfell, Humboldt, Kerrobert, Lampman, Langenburg, Maple Creek, Melfort, Nipawin, Outlook, Oxbow, Regina Beach, Rosthern, Stoughton, Unity, and Wakaw.
“This is a meaningful step in bridging the rural-urban digital divide,” Carmela Haines, CEO of Access Communications, said in a press release. “The need for high-speed connectivity has never been greater. For many of these communities, the fastest service currently…
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By Ahmad Hathout
YELLOWKNIFE, NWT – Yellowknife’s internet radio outfit Cabin Radio said Wednesday it is reapplying for a commercial FM licence in the capital city within 60 days.
The company was denied an application last month by the CRTC, which said the market could not support another station and would pose a financial threat to the only commercial FM radio station in the city, Vista Radio’s CJCD-FM. The regulator noted the poor radio revenue climate since the pandemic. Two commissioners dissented.
But Cabin Radio said in a letter to the CRTC dated Tuesday that it will file again by the end…
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Editor’s note: This story has been updated on March 2 with a comment from Quebecor.
By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Bell is temporarily pausing its next generation 9-1-1 network until further notice, according to a Friday email from a Bell technician seen by Cartt.
“Bell Canada is advising all Originating Network Providers of a temporary embargo for NG9-1-1 Onboarding and Go-Live activities,” said Richard Little, a technical network specialist for Bell’s emergency services division said in the email to representatives of the providers. “The embargo will continue until further notice.
“ONPs will be notified once our planned resumption of activities is known,” Little…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers has told the CRTC that there is no undue preference given to Videotron in its proposed wholesale access agreement.
The Toronto-based company was responding last week to a Part 1 application by independent internet service provider TekSavvy, which is accusing Rogers and Bell of providing to certain competitors preferable network access rates compared to others, who must follow the costs regulated by the CRTC – called off-tariff agreements (OTA).
But in response, Rogers challenged TekSavvy’s knowledge of its deal with Videotron, which has so far been hidden from public view.
“The rates in the…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his displeasure Friday with actions by Google to take its opposition to bill C-18, the Online News Act, to users of its search engine.
This week, The Canadian Press broke the story that Google would limit access to news content – including from Canadian broadcasters and newspapers – for under four percent of its Canadian users over about a five-week period.
“It really surprises me that Google has decided that would rather prevent Canadians from accessing news than actually paying journalists for the work they do,” Trudeau said…
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By Len St-Aubin, pictured above, an independent internet and telecoms consultant whose clients have included streamers, carriers, government, and not-for-profits. Formerly he was director general of telecommunications policy at Industry Canada and a member of the policy teams that developed both the 1991 Broadcasting Act and the 1993 Telecommunications Act. The opinions expressed in the following are his alone.
On February 14, Quebec’s National Assembly unanimously passed a motion demanding 11th hour amendments to bill C-11, the federal government’s proposed update of the Broadcasting Act, called the Online Streaming Act. Yet in May 2021, the assembly had unanimously passed a…
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