EDMONTON – Indigenous-owned telecom service provider Arrow Technology Group has secured an $8.1-million loan from the Canada Infrastructure Bank for new broadband infrastructure serving indigenous and rural communities in Alberta, according to a press release today.
The project, whose construction is already underway, will connect 20 indigenous and four rural communities with internet download speeds of 50 Mbps to 300 Mbps and unlimited data. Arrow will manage construction, installation, operations and maintenance of the project.
The funding comes from the bank’s Indigenous Community Infrastructure initiative, which is intended to accelerate indigenous infrastructure projects. It will be the bank’s first investment toward…
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Competition watchdog says wholesale deal could be appealed to the CRTC
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The Competition Bureau said in a filing to the Federal Court of Appeal on Friday that the tribunal’s decision to allow Rogers to buy Shaw assumed the fulfillment of commitments from the merging parties that could actually be challenged at the CRTC.
Those commitments include Rogers supplying Videotron – the target buyer of Shaw’s Freedom Mobile – with long-term access to its infrastructure at below market rates, which are regulated by the CRTC.
“The Tribunal failed to consider that these arrangements could be challenged by third parties…
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By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL — Cogeco is launching a wireless service in Canada. Or at least, it’s almost certain. The question now isn’t so much whether it will launch, but how and where.
Speaking to analysts and journalists on Friday ahead of the company’s annual general meeting, Cogeco CEO Philippe Jetté confirmed a dedicated team of 30-40 people is in place working on a wireless network plan, with many other employees contributing to it, and major capital expenditures have been budgeted for the rollout.
The remaining step before the real work begins is to await the CRTC’s determinations on specific rules for…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Canada’s largest independent internet service provider is urging federal Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne to block the transfer of Shaw’s wireless spectrum assets to Videotron over concerns that the latter will receive favourable wholesale rates compared to competitors.
The Competition Tribunal earlier this month provided reasons for denying an application to block Rogers from purchasing Shaw, saying Videotron – the regional carrier that is lined up to buy Shaw’s Freedom Mobile as a condition of the deal’s approval – would be a strong competitor in the market and would take market share from the major players in…
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By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Telus Corp. has filed a lobby registration with the City of Toronto to talk about infrastructure resiliency.
The purpose of the registration, approved January 5, is to “discuss infrastructure resiliency with a focus on climate change and impacts on critical services, including telecommunications networks.”
The lobby category is filed under emergency planning and restoration.
The largest city was just one of many affected in the nationwide blackout in July of Rogers’s network, which impacted governments and private sector services.
The fallout from the blackout led to a commitment from the major telecommunications companies to support each other during…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA — Far north service provider SSi Canada is urging the CRTC to push back by a month the deadline for applications to its third round of its $750-million broadband subsidy program.
The April 18 deadline for applications for money from the Broadband Fund “creates significant difficulties and a barrier to participation” for First Nation and Inuit communities across the far north, said a procedural request letter dated late last month from Dean Proctor, chief development officer of SSi Canada. The provider is asking for an extension until, at least, May 16.
The issues identified include…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – The Senate transportation and communications committee pushed forth more amendments on the last leg of its clause-by-clause review of the Online Streaming Act, approving an age verification requirement for explicit material on the internet.
“Online undertakings shall implement methods such as age verification…to prevent children from accessing programs on the Internet that are devoted to depicting, for a sexual purpose, explicit sexual activity,” according to a committee-approved amendment this week.
Bill C-11 would give the CRTC the power to further regulate digital platforms, so platforms will be subject to scrutiny to implement those measures.
Other amendments adopted by…
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WHITEHORSE and YELLOWKNIFE — Bell subsidiary Northwestel announced today it has marked the completion of its 2022 fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) projects with community celebrations in Burwash Landing and Haines Junction, Yukon — two of 17 communities in Yukon and Northwest Territories (NWT) that received FTTH service this year through Northwestel’s Every Community Project.
“Over 80% of Yukon and NWT homes now have access to unlimited high-speed Internet that meets or exceeds the CRTC’s universal service objective of 50/10 Mbps unlimited service,” reads a press release. “The majority have access to the North’s fastest home Internet, up to…
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OTTAWA — The Broadcasting Accessibility Fund (the Fund) announced last week it will award $398,016 to three new projects, approved by its board of directors, that will advance the accessibility of Canadian broadcasting content.
“These three innovative projects represent the completion of the Fund’s eighth round of grants, with a total commitment of approximately $4.4M to date, to address gaps in broadcasting accessibility,” a press release explains.
The CBC is receiving $107,467 for a project designed to optimize closed captioning for children with disabilities. “This project aims to advance the current state of accessibility to…
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By Howard Law, former director of media locals for Unifor, who writes in mediapolicy.ca
The Australian finance minister’s overdue anniversary review of the groundbreaking News Media Bargaining Code (NMBC) gives Canadians some welcome pointers on how to think about, improve or critique our bill C-18, the “FaceGoogle” Online News Act.
The report does two things well, the first being an evaluation of how well the Australian legislation was implemented. The other is that finance minister (‘Treasurer’ in Oz lingo) Jim Chalmers unapologetically backs the code as an anti-oligopoly law and downplays using the code…
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