MONTREAL – Quebecor CEO Pierre Dion says the company is keeping its options open about the idea of becoming a national wireless player after this week’s CRTC decision on wholesale roaming.
In a press conference after the company’s annual general meeting in Montreal on Thursday, Dion said “we will continue to use a very, very disciplined process” in evaluating whether to make use of its spectrum licenses in English Canada to expand its wireless services to other provinces, or come to agreements with other players.
He said “we think that the CRTC is taking a step in the right direction” with…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Four companies have paid $92,500 as part of settlements over violations to Canada's telemarketing rules, and the CRTC has fined a fifth company $30,000, the Commission said Thursday.
Acting on complaints, the CRTC investigated four companies for presumed violations of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules. As part of settlements, these companies paid a total of $92,500 in monetary penalties as follows:
– AcademyOne Learning Ltd., a company offering educational tutoring – $25,000
– Eagle Water of Ontario, a water treatment company – $32,500
– Outsources Inc., a telemarketer offering calling services for telemarketing – $15,000
– Scentral Cleaning Services, a residential and commercial…
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MONTREAL – The various interventions carried out by the federal government to encourage the establishment of a fourth wireless player will hurt consumers by undermining innovation in this industry, according to a new report released this morning by the Montreal Economic Institute.
“This is all the more worrisome given that important technological revolutions are in the works that will require billions of dollars of investments from the country’s telecommunications companies,” reads the MEI’s press release touting the 2015 edition of The State of Competition in Canada’s Telecommunications Industry.
“In telecommunications, true competition, which allows consumers to enjoy better services at a…
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THE INSTANT REACTION to the CRTC’s Tuesday decision to rate-regulate the domestic wholesale wireless roaming business was met with a range of reactions, including complete silence from the big three wireless operators at whom this decision was directed.
From Quebecor, owner of Vidéotron: The company “welcomed the move to regulate roaming rates as a step in the right direction. Quebecor shares the CRTC's goal of offering Canadian consumers more competition and greater freedom of choice.
“Quebecor intends to actively participate in the regulatory process established by the CRTC and hopes that it will be completed quickly. The…
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TORONTO – Conference organisers have made available the final 20 delegate passes after initially selling out a month before the event.
They are on sale now on a first-come-first-served basIs. Over 160 delegates are already confirmed to attend to hear keynotes from the CRTC, GroupM, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Bell, Rogers, QMI and many more.
Register to attend the May 20-21st event now. www.futuretv-canada.com.
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CHICAGO – Although there is a lot of buzz about skinnier programming packages here at this U.S. show, the Federal Communications Commission has not mandated this change yet, like the CRTC has for the Canadian BDUs.
From an outsider looking in, it appears they are just going to keep talking about what works best for everyone, so the consumer gets what they want – eventually. We have to wonder when they will walk the walk. No one stated they had any clear plans on what they may do and with the American cable channels are not budging yet (that we…
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OTTAWA – Linda Vennard has been appointed as the CRTC’s Regional Commissioner for Alberta and the Northwest Territories, and Christopher MacDonald as Regional Commissioner for the Atlantic Region and Nunavut.
They have been appointed for five-year terms, according to an announcement by CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais on Tuesday.
Vennard, who will begin in her new role on May 11, joins the CRTC from the University of Calgary and has 15 years of experience in research focused mainly on broadband and community engagement, science, technology and society, as well as national security and advanced technologies. She holds PhD from the University of Calgary.
MacDonald…
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GATINEAU – New wireless entrants got their wish. The CRTC has concluded that Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications and Telus Corp. “have the ability and incentive” to impose wholesale roaming terms, conditions and rates that wouldn’t “prevail in a competitive market” and therefore will regulate their wholesale roaming rates.
Telecom Regulatory Policy 2015-177, released on Tuesday, only covers GSM-based networks (which is the tech most run on now).
Even though wholesale roaming caps as established by the federal government in Section 27.1 of the Telecommunications Act last June offered some relief to the new entrants, “the interests of users are not…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – Canadian local television stations saw profits plunge in 2014, according to the CRTC’s latest statistical and financial report for this sector released Monday.
According to the report Conventional Television – Statistical and Financial Summaries 2010-2014, profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) for private local TV stations dropped from -$2.3 million to -$138.7 million, and the PBIT margin decreased from -0.1% to -7.7%.
Revenues fell by 7.2% from $1.94 billion in 2013 to $1.8 billion for the broadcast year ended August 31, 2014. While revenues from the sale of local advertising declined 5% from $351.2 million in 2013 to $333.6…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC should keep a close watch on how much television service providers pay broadcasters to distribute their programming to ensure greater competition and increased choice and flexibility for Canadian viewers, the Competition Bureau said Monday.
Responding to the Commission’s consultation on a new wholesale code to govern the commercial arrangements between television service providers and television channel owners, the Bureau’s submission took aim at the use of a sliding-scale of prices that a television service provider pays to a channel owner in order to carry a particular channel. These penetration-based rate cards (PBRCs), as they are…
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