By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau said on the company’s fourth quarter conference call Thursday that he is “not surprised” by the “little progress” the company has made on negotiating a deal to roam on the large carriers’ wireless networks, but said things may change with the new head at the CRTC.
The company’s Videotron subsidiary was denied last week an arbitration hearing with the regulator about a price for access to Bell’s wireless network, alleging Bell is stalling on negotiations. The CRTC, which asked about the status of those negotiations…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – There have been “dozens” of agreements since 2012 that deviated from the CRTC’s established rate regime for wholesale access to the networks of the larger telecommunications companies, and they are all in-line with the Telecommunications Act, Shaw argued in a submission to the CRTC on Tuesday.
Shaw was responding to a Part 1 application by independent internet service provider TekSavvy, which asked the CRTC last month to examine the legality of these off-tariff agreements (OTA) that provided a competitor with favourable wholesale access rates not available to other providers. TekSavvy alleged that Rogers…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC has formally launched Wednesday its proceeding on a network outage notification framework, and in the meantime has put in place a temporary order for all Canadian carriers to report major service outages within two hours of them becoming aware of it.
The new order, which takes effect March 8, also requires that the carriers file a “comprehensive” report to the regulator within 14 days following the outage.
The interim order narrowly defines an outage as ones that affect the 9-1-1 network, critical infrastructure, major transport facilities, a carrier with more than 100,000 subscribers affected for…
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OTTAWA – Canadian Heritage has released Friday the job posting for the Quebec representative on the CRTC.
The job ad says the department will review applications starting March 20 for the position that was recently vacated by Alicia Barin, who became the full-time vice-chair of broadcasting in December.
With the Barin announcement came the appointment of commission head Vicky Eatrides and vice-chair of telecommunications, Adam Scott. Then, late last month, Heritage appointed Bram Abramson for commissioner of Ontario.
The Quebec commissioner position is the final piece to complete the nine-person commission, which received a new policy direction from Innovation…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC on Thursday denied a request by Videotron to bring the two Montreal companies before it to deliberate on a final offer for access to Bell’s wireless network.
“The Commission believes that Videotron and Bell did not make a good-faith effort to initiate and conduct negotiations sessions,” the CRTC said in a letter. “In this regard, the Commission notes that many of the communications exchanged between the companies—communications that were reproduced in Videotron’s application—were addressed to the CEOs of these companies and not to the personnel responsible for the relations between suppliers.”
The regulator said the parties must engage…
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By Ahmad Hathout
YELLOWKNIFE – The CRTC’s decision to decline an application by Cabin Radio, an online station, to operate a commercial FM station in Yellowknife was “shocking” and “flies in the face” of supporting northern businesses, a member of legislative assembly of the Northwest Territories said during debate Thursday.
The regulator’s decision on Wednesday said the addition of another FM station would financially harm the incumbent and only commercial station in Yellowknife, Vista Radio’s CJCD-FM, which has experienced declining revenues in the five years before the pandemic and after in an environment with declining profitability. Two commissioners dissented in…
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OTTAWA – In light of new information, the CRTC said Monday it is opening another round of comments for a proceeding initiated by some broadcast distributors seeking to increase the price of the skinny basic packages with the rate of inflation.
When the regulator first ordered the broadcasters in 2015 to have a basic television package at no more than $25 per month, it declined to consider at the time but left open the possibility for a future review for a price adjustment to scale with inflation.
In September, the commission sought comment on a January 2022 application by Bell, Cogeco,…
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OTTAWA – CRTC chair Vicky Eatrides announced Wednesday the appointment of lawyer Leila Wright as the commission’s executive director of telecommunications.
Wright, like Eatrides, has done work at the Competition Bureau and will replace Fiona Gilfillan, who was appointed to the position in November 2021 but is now retiring.
“I’m pleased that Leila has accepted this senior leadership position at the CRTC,” said Eatrides in a press release. “Her deep experience in competition and telecommunications will be a tremendous asset as we work to deliver tangible results for Canadians.
Wright, who has a law degree from the University of Toronto, is currently…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A thorn in the side of third party cable companies told to bear the full cost of a pole replacement to attach their telecom equipment on wood structures has been addressed Wednesday by the CRTC, which ruled that attachers should not bear more than 50 percent of the cost of a replacement in most instances.
Pole owners – mainly legacy telephone companies Bell and Telus – have historically charged full price for the pole replacement if a third party wanted to put their equipment on the wood structures (the regulator said this is “often” the case)….
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By Konrad von Finckenstein, pictured above, former CRTC chairman from 2007 to 2012
Bill C-18 was passed by the House of Commons and is now in the Senate. Except for a few minor changes, it was passed as originally presented.
In the interim a new chair of the CRTC was appointed. The congratulatory appointment letter of Ministers Pablo Rodriguez and Francois-Philippe Champagne (in fact, a thinly disguised mandate letter) states, inter alia:
“Unfortunately, our sense is that public confidence and trust in the CRTC has waned in recent years. Over the course of our mandates, we have spoken and…
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