CHATHAM – TekSavvy's Internet customers will soon have a little more money in their pockets after being told by the company that it will cut prices starting in January.
The independent ISP began contacting customers Monday promising to pass along savings that it realized as a result of the CRTC’s wholesale high-speed access rates decision in October. That decision made interim changes to slash the prices that the big incumbents are allowed to charge third-party internet providers for wholesale high-speed access services.
“Correcting wholesale network access rates to a fairer level lets us create more savings for our customers, get back…
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GATINEU – The CRTC today declared that broadband access is now considered a basic telecommunications service for all Canadians, that it is setting new speed targets while also creating a new fund that will invest up to $750 million over and above existing government programs.
Further to its legislative mandate, the Commission has set the following targets for the basic telecommunications services that Canadians need to participate in the digital economy:
speeds of 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download/10 Mbps upload for fixed broadband Internet access services. In 2015, 82% of Canadians already had access to speeds of 50 Mbps download/10…
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TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) has joined the fight against the CRTC’s decision to ban simultaneous substitution of the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast.
The performers union, which calls simultaneous substitution “a longstanding and successful CRTC policy that ensures Canadian advertising dollars stay in Canada”, wants its 23,000 members to contact their Member of Parliament to demand that the decision be reversed; share messages of support on social media; and visit the new website supportcreators.ca to help spread the word.
“Most Canadians don’t know that the Canadian ads they see during the Super Bowl…
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MONTREAL – Videotron has added music streaming service SoundCloud to its controversial Unlimited Music service.
The company said Wednesday that the service has more than 175 million unique listeners each month and that its subscription service SoundCloud Go, which recently launched in Canada, gives listeners access to a diverse music catalogue featuring music from the biggest artists to the freshest, raw talent. The move brings Unlimited Music’s catalogue to a total of 18 music streaming platforms.
Unlimited Music, which allows Videotron Mobile customers to stream music using popular music apps without using up any of their data plan, prompted the CRTC’s…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has given MTS the go ahead to transfer ownership and effective control of its licensed terrestrial broadcasting distribution undertakings operating in Winnipeg and surrounding areas to Bell Canada.
The Commission’s decision is the first of three regulatory approvals required to complete the closing of BCE's proposed $3.9 billion acquisition of MTS. The Competition Bureau, which is still reviewing the deal as part of a merger review, must also give its thumbs up, as does Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.
The CRTC stressed that it exclusively reviewed the change in ownership of the licensed BDU, and reiterated…
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WHATEVER THE CRTC says Wednesday are to be the new basic service obligations for Canadian telcos and ISPs, Quadro Communications is more than ready. It might well be the Canadian incumbent carrier which will have the least trouble adapting to the new rules.
The 3,100-member telecom co-op headquartered in Kirkton, Ont., has already deployed fibre to the home to every farmhouse, barn and business in its four exchanges which sit in in parts of Perth, Huron, Middlesex and Oxford counties in southwestern Ontario farm country about 45 kms north of London, Ont.
That’s right, the folks living in places like Wartburg…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has revised the results of its inaugural national study on broadband performance in Canada after determining that Bell's broadband speeds were not as fast as initially reported.
The Commission said Monday that the data published in its initial Broadband Measurement Report in September showed that Internet service providers (ISPs) largely met or exceeded their advertised download and upload speeds, and that this conclusion is still valid.
A CRTC spokesperson told Cartt.ca that the Commission was contacted on October 24, 2016 by “industry stakeholders” who noted possible discrepancies between the Bell DSL advertised speeds and those that…
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OTTAWA – Two Liberal MPs, both committee chairs, are asking the CRTC to review its ruling that bans simultaneous substitution of the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast.
A Toronto Star report says Bob Nault (Kenora, ON) and Wayne Easter (Malpeque, PE) have written to several policy-makers, including Heritage Minister Joly, urging a policy change before the February 5 game. The two say that the decision is costing the Canadian economy tens of millions of dollars and that it will result in the airing of ads for some products that Canadians can’t even buy.
The report says that the duo is considering appealing to Health…
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HAMILTON – Mohawk College Journalism’s pioneering new program teaching accessible content production to its aspiring journalists took another step on Tuesday when its initial group of second-year journalism students showed off their work to some members of the community (pictured).
Some of whom (including Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien, who also serves on the journalism program’s advisory board) acted as judges of the students’ final portfolio showcase and gave direct feedback to the students on both their written and video projects. The CRTC’s Antica Corner, manager, social policy, also served as a judge, among many others, some of whom…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC received two awards Wednesday from the Community of Federal Regulators.
At a ceremony in Ottawa, the Commission received the award for Service Excellence in Regulatory Program Delivery for its work on the Voter Contact Registry. The registry was created to protect Canadians from rogue and misleading telephone calls during federal elections, and to ensure that those who contact voters during an election do so transparently, reads the press release.
The Regulator also received the Award for Contribution to Regulatory Openness and Transparency for its assessment of broadband Internet service performance. This initiative, a first for Canada,…
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