YELLOWKNIFE – Bell Mobility has launched its 4G wireless service in the Northwest Territories communities of Gameti, Nahanni Butte, Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok.
The upgrade, completed in partnership with Falcon Communications, is part of Northwestel's Modernization Plan that will see advanced Internet and wireless services delivered to northerners in all three territories, the company said Monday. Bell Mobility is meeting the wireless commitments in the plan after Northwestel transfered its wireless portfolio to Bell Mobility in October 2013.
The federal government is contributing approximately $700,000 to the 4G projects in Gameti, Nahanni Butte, Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok through Falcon Communications. This contribution accounts…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has approved, with conditions, an interim service that will make it easier for residents in the Yukon to access emergency responders.
This service was proposed by the Yukon Government as a temporary solution for communities that currently do not have 9-1-1 service, while it strives to implement 9-1-1 service throughout the territory within the next 12 to 20 months. Basic 9-1-1 service is currently available only in the Whitehorse area.
Callers within all communities of the Yukon will be able to dial 9-1-1 in an emergency situation rather than one of the seven-digit numbers currently used by…
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GATINEAU – The increasing of usage-sensitive rates such as capacity-based billing (CBB) as a tool to incent competitors to build their own high speed networks, as was suggested by Rogers Communications on Tuesday, would have a disastrous impact on the independent ISPs, the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) argued in its oral reply on Thursday.
Even using current Third Party Internet Access (TPIA) rates from Rogers, combined with its own projected data usage growth of 60% annually, wholesale customers would be saddled with unsustainable prices over the next decade, the group told…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is throwing its support behind the Leave the Phone Alone road safety awareness campaign initiated by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA).
According to the CCMTA, drivers who use hand-held devices when they are behind the wheel are four times more likely to be involved in an accident serious enough to cause injury, and in 80% of collisions, the driver had looked away from the road three seconds prior to the crash.
The CRTC is urging drivers to use their mobile devices responsibly and to avoid talking on the phone, texting or checking messages on…
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VANCOUVER – TVO CEO and current TIFF chair Lisa de Wilde will join the Telus board of directors effective February 1, 2015.
Telus said Thursday that the appointment reflects its commitment to further strengthen its board by recruiting candidates who bring strategic expertise and significant operational experience across key markets.
De Wilde, pictured, served as Astral Television’s president and CEO prior to being named CEO of TVO in 2005. She also worked as legal counsel to the CRTC and later, as director general of its Cable Television, Specialty and Pay Television Service. Her board experience reflects her interest in film, media and…
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GATINEAU – “Contrary to the assertions of some parties, there is simply no problem to solve when it comes to Canadian broadband.” Those comments from Ted Woodhead, senior VP of federal government and regulatory affairs at Telus Communications, during the company’s reply on Wednesday pretty much sum up the views of all the major incumbent ISPs when it comes to wholesale broadband access regulations which the CRTC has under review.
The big players have argued throughout the hearing that competition is alive and well in retail Internet access markets between the cable and telephone companies, and any decision that grants…
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GATINEAU – Wholesale access rates that are too low, as Rogers Communications contends they are now, will not lead to further competitor investment in networks, the company said on Tuesday to the CRTC. Rather, it will continue to encourage independent ISPs to lease capacity from the incumbents in perpetuity.
Rogers said its wholesale business – customers who pay 45% less than retail consumers – has grown from essentially zero to nearly 15% of customers in the last four years. If the current growth trajectory continues, it will top 30%. Company executives appeared before the Commission as part of its look…
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GATINEAU – With a cost profile four times higher, an unclear applications future and potentially new access technologies, fibre to the premise (FTTP) carries far too high a risk profile to allow competitors to ride on the networks at low mandated rates, Telus told the CRTC on Monday.
The communications giant kicked off the second week of a hearing into wholesale wireline services by arguing the question about mandating access to competitors isn’t about whether such a decision will cause Telus and others to stop investing, it’s about how and where that capital would be deployed.
“These networks require care and…
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GATINEAU – The current wholesale broadband access regime has made it very difficult for new IPTV providers to compete against incumbents, argued independent ISP/IPTV provider VMedia in appearance before the CRTC’s Fibre Hearing on Friday.
Company representatives said that costing under capacity-based billing (CBB) doesn’t make sense for them and the resulting inconsistent rates affect its ability to offer a triple-play bundle of voice, Internet and TV at prices that are competitive with the incumbents.
In its opening remarks, VMedia provided details about rates it would be required to pay to access facilities from an incumbent to replicate current incumbent IPTV…
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GATINEAU – Cogeco Cable says it doesn’t need to be all or nothing when it comes to regulating wholesale access to incumbent broadband facilities. The company told the CRTC Thursday morning that establishing a framework which encourages negotiation while providing a reference rate as a backstop could help stimulate more wholesale competition.
“We’re proposing something that will actually help the markets move from a current situation with regulation to a completely deregulated market. We think we need some steps along the way so that’s why we’re proposing this approach,“ said Philippe Jetté, senior VP of technology and strategy…
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