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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By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor is asking the CRTC to vary a decision related to its subsidiaries’ access to Bell’s mobile wireless network and to get the telco to reimburse it for amounts paid in excess of the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) tariff established by the CRTC.
For about a year now, the company’s telecom subsidiaries, Videotron and Freedom Mobile, have been paying Bell regular roaming rates to operate as MVNOs in certain areas as Quebecor grows its business as a fourth player. Quebecor says these rates are “considerably higher” than the MVNO rates proposed by Bell and picked by the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri on Monday defended a $7-per month price hike on the company’s TV set top boxes in front of House’s committee on industry, saying it’s the result of increased investments the company makes to improve software and functionality to the device it considers a premium product.
The cable giant’s head also said the majority of customers are not impacted by the hike on the Ignite boxes first revealed by a CBC/Radio-Canada investigation – stemming from consumer complaints that promises of fixed-rate contracts were allegedly broken – and that customers who were affected,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Cogeco last month filed its first trademarks for mobile wireless services after announcing it had secured agreements to launch its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business.
The trademark applications cover services including the selling of phone plans, device financing, device accessories, device warranties, insurance, returns, repair and trade-ins under the names Cogeco Mobile, Cogeco Financing, Cogeco Protection, Cogeco Trade-In, and Cogeco Exchange, according to the federal trademarks database.
A request for comment was not returned as to when the services are expected to launch.
The Montreal-based telecom announced in August that it signed a five-year mobile virtual…
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The CRTC has asked Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for clarification on whether Canadian news is still being made available on its platforms in Canada — despite the social media giant not paying to host Canadian news links, which is a violation of the Online News Act.
The commission previously asked Meta in October what measures it is taking to comply with the Act, and has now sent additional questions to the company in a follow-up letter dated Nov. 25 and addressed to Meta’s public policy director, Dan Ball.
“You have described measures…
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Telus announced Tuesday it has launched a petition looking to drum up support for the Vancouver-based telecom’s plans to use the CRTC’s aggregated last-mile fibre regime to bring its PureFibre internet to Ontario and Quebec, following a federal cabinet decision earlier this month asking the commission to reconsider allowing the Big 3 telecom providers to use the bundled fibre networks of Bell and Telus in those two provinces.
Telus said in its Tuesday press release that it is “calling on Canadians to protect their right to choose their Internet service…
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By Ahmad Hathout
A group of creatives sent a letter last week to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the relevant cabinet ministers requesting that the government include in its fall economic statement a doubling of Canada Media Fund’s stabilization subsidy to $85 million and make permanent a $30-million annual commitment to its equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility (EDIA) initiatives.
The letter, addressed to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge and seen by Cartt, states that the CMF’s EDIA initiatives – backed by a $20 million per year injection over three years from the 2020 federal budget –…
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