OTTAWA – The CRTC estimates that its regulatory costs under section 9 (1) of the broadcasting regulations will total $30.16 million. The annual adjustment amount referred to in section 8(2) for the 2011-2012 fiscal year is $0.377 million.
A second adjustment pertaining to the 2012-2013 fiscal year in the amount of $0.005 million is being made following the revision of the Part I billing for one broadcasting undertaking. Part I broadcasting licence fees were recalculated and the adjustment is being invoiced to the other broadcasting undertakings.
The net billing for the Part I licence…
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GATINEAU – Upstart wireless operator EastLink had its opportunity to address the contentious issue of a mandatory $50 cap on overage charges on customers bills as a way to prevent bill shock on day three of the CRTC’s wireless code of conduct hearing.
The Commission’s draft wireless code calls for a cap on additional fees of $50 (usually driven by data usage), but also says that once the cap is hit, the service provider is to suspend all service so that no more charges are incurred.
“We feel basically a cap is just not necessary or necessarily…
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GATINEAU – The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association urged the CRTC to take national responsibility for regulating consumer cell phone contracts. The CWTA made the comments during the first day of hearings into a wireless code of conduct.
Canadians “would be best served by a single set of regulations, not today’s patchwork of provincial laws, regulations, guidelines and interpretation bulletins,” said CWTA president and CEO Bernard Lord. He urged the Commission to adopt a code that “supersedes any current or future provincial legislation in this area.”
Under questioning, the CWTA said multiple pieces of guidelines, codes or legislation will only increase costs…
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GATINEAU – CRTC commissioners said they are concerned Canadian wireless companies are overcharging their customers when the device subsidy is paid off and there isn’t a corresponding drop in their monthly bill.
On Tuesday morning during day two of the Wireless Code of Conduct hearing, chairman Jean-Pierre Blais wondered if Telus customers who have paid off their device subsidy will see a reduction in their monthly bill. The company said it doesn’t happen automatically and consumers have to request it.
David Fuller, chief marketing officer at the “future is friendly” wireless operator, said customers can see a bill reduction, but only…
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OTTAWA – There is now real hope that a comprehensive “Wireless Code” can solve many of consumers’ most daunting problems with their wireless service providers says consumer rights group the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) said today
PIAC represented the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC) and Council of Senior Citizens’ Organizations of British Columbia (COSCO) before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), in an oral hearing today. PIAC’s remarks focused on closing loopholes and improving the CRTC’s draft Wireless Code, which it maintains will revolutionize consumer rights to receive fair and understandable service from…
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OTTAWA – In Canada’s broadcast and communications industry, knowledge is power. The CWC 2013 Jeanne Sauvé Career Development program is designed to give women both. Whether you work in the private or public sector, the programs give you a "backstage pass" to learn how the other half lives.
The intensive learning experience is designed to give five participants (one each from Industry Canada, Canadian Heritage and the CRTC, and two from private-sector organizations) new perspectives, insights and direct access to some of the industry’s most influential policy and regulatory decision makers, as well as new…
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MONTREAL – Carolle Brabant's mandate as executive director of Telefilm Canada has been renewed for another three years.
"Under Carolle Brabant's leadership, the past three years have been very productive," said Michel Roy, Chair of the Board of Telefilm. "In the spirit of our 2011-2015 corporate plan, Fostering Cultural Success, to which she largely contributed, Carolle has managed to implement the Board's strategic direction while fostering a culture of success at Telefilm and in the industry.
"Under her management, over the next few years we'll be able to further integrate these recent changes and…
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TORONTO – Roam free? Well, not quite, but Rogers Communications promises it will soon launch new, more affordable, roaming rate for customers travelling to the United States. Rogers says it will lead the market with a new easy and worry-free roaming solution designed for Canadians travelling to the U.S.
Coming this spring, the company is introducing a new $7.99 pay-per-use roaming rate that gives customers access to 50 megabytes of data over a 24 hour period while travelling in the U.S. This new rate, available to consumers and businesses, gives customers nearly twice the data…
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INDUSTRIES CONSOLIDATE. All industries. That’s the natural growth path. The big get bigger. If you doubt that, check the retail, mining, automotive, heck, any sector. Shareholders decide to divest, or need to divest and sell to the highest bidder. Sometimes they go bust. That’s our global economy.
So at this point, we have to accept the fact that unless we are going to slap some mighty regulations on wireless, all but nationalize the networks and force-feed Canadians many carriers (all of whom would then be undercapitalized weaklings), our market is not going to develop any more telecom companies. It’s too…
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MONTREAL – While Q4 revenue at BCE remained virtually stagnant over the past year at nearly $5.161 billion, missing analyst estimates, it reported net earnings spiked by 45.7% from a year earlier in the quarter ended Dec. 31, rising to $708 million from $486 million. BCE also provided an update that it was still pursuing its purchase of Astral Media and expects that its new $3.38-billion proposal will address the CRTC’s concern that the original bid was “not a good deal for Canadians.”
Adjusted net earnings attributable to common shareholders were $506 million, an increase of…
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