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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TORONTO — Bloomberg TV Canada’s first year of operation has been one of growth and expansion, with distribution and advertising levels increasing monthly, the first of several news bureaus across the country coming online, and an “A-list” of newsmakers having appeared on the channel.
Despite not having carriage on Bell TV nor Bell Fibe, Bloomberg TV Canada executives say it has achieved distribution parity with its main business channel competitor, Bell-owned Business News Network (BNN). “We’re very happy, 12 months in, with the progress that we’ve made and the expansion that we’ve seen,” said Chris Fuoco, vice-president of sales and…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC will release its decision on basic telecommunications services late next Wednesday.
The Commission confirmed that it will stage a media “lock-up” from 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM ET on December 21 at its Central Office, where “subject matter experts” will give an overview of the decision and answer questions. The decision itself will be released at 4 p.m. followed by a short statement by chairman Jean-Pierre Blais.
The main focus of 14 day basic service objective (BSO) public hearing, dubbed #TalkBroadband by the Commission, was determining Canada’s minimum target broadband speed, and to what…
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MARKHAM, ON – Iristel has not only denied Rogers’ allegations of traffic pumping, it says that the claims are “at best a result of recklessly poor due diligence and at worst, a vexatious fiction intended to injure Iristel’s business reputation”.
Rogers’ November 18 application accused Iristel of “being unjustly enriched by gaming the regulatory framework for local competition” by profiting from the higher local termination charges applicable in the Northwest Territories. In its December 2 response, Iristel said that excessive calling by a group of customers leading to correspondingly high call termination charges stem from Rogers’ own business decision…
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VANCOUVER – Wireless upstart TNW Networks last week announced plans to launch a data-only smartphone-over-IP (SoIP) mobile service in Canada, billed as a high quality, low cost alternative to existing mobile services.
The CLEC said Friday that it will utilize Internet Personal Communication System (iPCS), its proprietary, patented, login-based mobile connectivity access technology, that provides Internet connectivity with voice and text services. The mobile service will be operated through its new subsidiary RuralCom Communications, acquired by TNW Networks Corp's parent company Investel Capital Corporation last week. Once that acquisition receives regulatory approved, RuralCom will operate as TNW…
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“Arbitrary and discriminatory”
WASHINGTON – In a letter to the Canadian Ambassador to the United States, the National Football League has taken the unusual step of asking the federal government, through its top diplomat in the U.S., to prevent the CRTC order suspending simultaneous substitution of the Super Bowl broadcast, from coming into effect.
Banning simultaneous substitution of the Super Bowl, annually the most-watched single TV show in Canada, was announced in January of 2015 as one of the first decisions to come out of the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV process. Every year, some Canadians complain to the CRTC that they…
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