By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said Thursday that it has streamlined the process by which it evaluates Broadband Fund applications to speed up the process and has given indigenous communities more flexibility and control over their subsidized builds.
The regulator said it is implementing a new system that includes triaging applications so that it can focus on approving builds in priority underserved areas first, suspend the evaluation of applications that do not meet key assessment criteria, and defer some information submitted by the applicants so they are not bogged down by data collection upfront, only to repeat that process when more…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Representatives from the country’s largest telcos urged Senate members to consider legislation that would make copper theft a serious crime to deter what they say is becoming an increasing problem as the value of the element rises.
Currently, the criminal code penalizes copper theft as “theft under $5,000,” which the telecoms say does not align with the significance of the impact of that crime and doesn’t match what other jurisdictions have been doing – which is to charge the matter more severely.
Over the first two days of hearings on copper theft on Tuesday and Wednesday, members of the…
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In a decision published on its website Wednesday, the CRTC has approved Access Communications Co-operative’s April application to acquire Regina community radio station 91.3 FM CJTR from non-profit corporation Radius Communications.
The CRTC said the proposed transaction is in the public interest and will ensure the continuation of community-based radio programming for the Regina area.
In its application to the broadcasting regulator, Access indicated it will invest in equipment upgrades, expand volunteer opportunities in the community, and integrate CJTR-FM into its existing community engagement department, which “would help continue CJTR-FM’s unique voice and provide the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Television network TV5 Quebec Canada is asking the CRTC in a Part 1 application to raise the rate at which broadcasters must carry its channels by two cents to get through a difficult financial period before the next licence renewal date in August 2026.
The request would increase the rate to 30 cents per subscriber, per month in French-language markets and 26 cents in English-language markets. The station reasoned that the commission hasn’t adjusted the rate for the former market in 35 years and hasn’t budged on the latter market in 10 years.
It is proposing that the change…
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By Ahmad Hathout
A group of internet service providers has filed a petition to cabinet on a precautionary basis asking it to vary the CRTC’s wholesale framework decision from August in case the regulator decides, after its latest consultation, not to ban the three largest ISPs from accessing the regime.
The launch of the CRTC’s latest consultation came at the behest of cabinet, which ordered the CRTC to revisit an interim decision from November 2023 that did not exclude Rogers, Bell and Telus (Big 3) from accessing the last-mile fibre networks of the latter two…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Senate Transport and Communications committee is scheduled to hold hearings starting next week looking into the issue of copper wire theft that has plagued the telecom industry.
Industry Canada, Public Safety Canada, and the Department of Justice are all scheduled to appear on the first day, Tuesday, December 10, while the industry association Canadian Telecommunications Association (CTA), Bell, Telus, and Electricity Canada are scheduled for the day after, according to the committee website.
The study comes after a number of incidents reported by telecoms, specifically telco Bell, in which individuals have cut and stolen the copper wire to…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telus is asking the Federal Court to quash a decision by the Governor in Council to force the CRTC to consider banning the three largest telecoms from accessing the bundled last-mile fibre networks of Bell and Telus in part because cabinet allegedly held “dozens of closed-door meetings between various parties adverse” to the Vancouver-based telecom without providing an opportunity to respond.
Those meetings, it argues, are outside the legal bounds of the review process permitted under the Telecommunications Act, which requires all parties who submit comments to the CRTC on a matter be given an opportunity to respond…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has launched an expected proceeding Wednesday into what kind of information and to what granularity consumers need when purchasing internet plans.
The commission will look at six issues, it said in the consultation document: standardizing information in a broadband consumer label, such as those on foods; providing clear and comparable information on network performance; measuring network performance and quality; providing information with examples and context; strengthening the position of consumers in their relationships with service providers; and implementing consumer protection measures and identifying associated costs.
For labels, the CRTC is soliciting comments on what kinds of information…
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The CRTC on Tuesday denied Accessible Media Inc.’s (AMI) application earlier this year to increase the monthly per-subscriber rates broadcasters are required to pay the not-for-profit media company to carry its English-language AMI-tv and French-language AMI-télé channels.
AMI had been seeking a one-cent and two-cent increase per subscriber per month for AMI-tv and AMI-télé, respectively, on a temporary basis until the next licence renewal period in August 2026.
In its decision Tuesday, the CRTC said AMI had not demonstrated an immediate financial need for the monthly rate increases and it did not propose clear and substantial…
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The CRTC has asked Bell Canada for additional information regarding the factors that may have contributed to a 911 network outage that affected all of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island on Jan. 31, 2023, which Bell subsequently reported in its annual 911 outage report for that year.
The issue reportedly occurred due to network changes with respect to implementation of 10-digit dialling required to support the 988 service on the Atlantic 911 tandems. Both the primary and secondary Atlantic 911 tandems were rendered unable to process 911 calls originating in the Maritimes, resulting in 911 callers in…
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