OTTAWA – There is no working market for domestic wholesale roaming in Canada, which has led to sky-high rates that injure competition, says Halifax-based cable and wireless company Eastlink. Conversely, Bell Mobility argues new entrants have the choice of three providers, all of which are girding for roaming business.
In comments to the CRTC’s investigation into domestic and international roaming, Eastlink says the incumbents’ wholesale domestic roaming rates are much higher than their retail rates and thus “are inherently commercially unreasonable.” It adds these rates “are a significant obstacle to new entrants’ ability to compete over…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadians are being asked to weigh in on the future of their 9-1-1 emergency services.
The CRTC issued the call for comments Thursday, the same day that it publicly released a report authored by former Commissioner Timothy Denton which examines 9-1-1 services in light of the telecommunications system’s evolution to next-generation networks based on Internet Protocol.
A Report on Matters Related to Emergency 9-1-1 focuses on the performance and adequacy of the technology currently employed for 9-1-1 services, such as that used to locate a caller who is using a cellphone; the issues related to the provision of 9-1-1…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC cracked down on four more telemarketers Tuesday, levying fines of more than $45,000.
Les Fenêtres et Portes Deluxe de Montréal Inc., based in Quebec, was charged a $1,000 penalty for each of its 10 violations of the country’s national do not call list (DNCL) rules.
The Commission found that the company made telemarketing calls to consumers whose telecommunications numbers were registered on the DNCL, and initiated these telemarketing telecommunications without being a registered subscriber of the National DNCL and having paid all applicable fees to the National DNCL operator, in violation of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules.
Concord, ON-based Canadian…
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MONTREAL – A group calling themselves the Steering Committee for an Independent Community TV Channel (ICTV) for Montreal says it wants Videotron to give up its community television license in Montreal.
In a press release issued through the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS), the group says that Videotron’s French-language community channel MAtv fails to meet the conditions of its CRTC licence to "reflect the official languages, ethnic and Aboriginal composition of the community."
“If Videotron is not willing to represent minority groups and to accurately reflect our city, then another group should administer this licence," said Laith…
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MARKHAM, ON – With the Ontario Association of Broadcasters’ fall conference less than a month away, organizers have added an industry executive town hall to the agenda.
Building upon the traditional President's Panel, the session will be expanded to include key high level industry executives from different areas of the broadcast industry providing their perspective on the state of radio, television and advertising.
The town hall will be moderated by radio executive Ross Davies and confirmed panelists include:
– Caroline Gianias; EVP trade & communications activation, Aegis Media;
– Patrick Grierson; president, Canadian Broadcast Sales;
– Catherine Kelly; VP electronic operations, BBM Canada;
– Geoff Poulton;…
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WHILE THE CANADIAN WIRELESS world and the politicians who oversee it spent the dog days of summer 2013 barking at each other over policies they said were either wrecking the business or boosting competition (depending on your point of view) one player, Halifax-based Eastlink, remained largely silent.
While Eastlink is a big deal in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island especially, and does daily battle down East with Bell Aliant, CEO, Lee Bragg told Cartt.ca in a recent interview that adding his own voice to that cacophony would have accomplished little. And besides, even though he can’t side with government…
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TORONTO – Cineflix Media on July 25 surprised the production industry by saying it was restructuring as it pulls back from Canada to focus on the U.S. and U.K. markets. The reason given for the pivot was an "in-depth evaluation of our operations and our broadcasting client requirements."
Translation: Cineflix Media's business model on the factual side to create original series and intellectual property (IP) and sell those shows worldwide is being undermined by localized format adaptations like Big Brother Canada and Amazing Race Canada both of which have been hits for their Canadian broadcasters. "The general consensus in the…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Network Operators Consortium has filed an application with the CRTC asking that a number of new regulations be applied to cable company ISPs who are not fairly treating its members acting as third party internet access providers.
The independent TPIAs (such as Teksavvy, Primus and Telnet) who provide internet service to their customers by purchasing wholesale high speed access service from the likes of Cogeco, Rogers, Shaw and Videotron say that either through malice or indifference their businesses are being seriously harmed by the cable companies and the CRTC must step in.
“This is necessary because ISPs,…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadians may soon be able to permanently register their telephone and fax numbers on the National Do Not Call List (DNCL), the CRTC said Monday.
While marking the DNCL’s fifth anniversary, CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais said the CRTC has extended number registrations for another year – to September 30, 2014, while it looks at making registrations permanent. The requirements originally said that Canadians would have to re-register their numbers every five years to avoid unwanted calls from telemarketers.
The Commission added that “it would be too cumbersome to establish a procedure to remove numbers that have been disconnected or…
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OTTAWA – Canada’s wireless industry has released a national blacklist of lost or stolen devices in an effort to help crack down on the theft of wireless devices.
Effective immediately, the authorization of any GSM, HSPA, HSPA+ or LTE wireless device on any participating Canadian carrier's network will require verification that the 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number of the device has not been reported as lost or stolen on that network or any other participating Canadian network as of September 30, 2013. The blacklist will also include devices that have been reported as lost or stolen by U.S. carriers…
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