OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The CRTC announced today some Canadians are now eligible to receive paper bills from their communications service provider upon request, at no charge.
Customers who qualify include those who self-identify as persons with disabilities, those who do not have home Internet access or mobile data services and seniors who are aged 65 or older.
Service providers should include this information on their websites and must update their systems as well as train their customer service representatives on the change, a CRTC press release says. Major providers are to report to the CRTC within 90 days on how they…
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OTTAWA – CRTC chair Ian Scott (above) found himself in the position of defending recent Commission decisions as well as his meeting with then chief operating officer of Bell, Mirko Bibic when he appeared before the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology on Tuesday.
Scott spoke to the parliamentary committee about the CRTC’s ongoing work in support of competition as well as investment in the marketplace so all Canadians have access to broadband and wireless services.
“We understand your concerns about the affordability of these vital services for the Canadian population, and we share those concerns,” he said. “We’ve been working…
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GATINEAU – The Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) filed an application to the CRTC yesterday seeking an order that CRTC chair Ian Scott recuse himself, or be recused, from deciding matters that affect service-based competition pending the results of an appeal that raises allegations of bias, among other things.
CNOC is referring to TekSavvy’s appeal of a CRTC decision made in May 2021 on a review and vary application. The decision reversed a previous CRTC decision (Telecom Order 2019-288), which lowered the wholesale third-party Internet access rates companies like TekSavvy pay carriers such as Bell and Rogers for…
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Reliant on service, member association may seek help from government or CRTC
By Ahmad Hathout
TELEVISION SERVICE PROVIDERS in remote parts of the country may see a disruption in television services at the end of the year due to an American company’s decision to end support for technology that distributes satellite TV signals.
U.S.-based network technology provider CommScope said late last year it is ending support for the Quick Take Plus (QT+) system used by Shaw Communications, which relays satellite TV signals to Canadian customers living in certain areas of the country that may lack traditional wired infrastructure.
Jay Thomson, CEO of the…
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WHITEHOUSE and YELLOWKNIFE – Northwestel announced today it received approval from the CRTC to lower its unlimited home Internet rates by $10 per month, with the rate changes being made effective immediately.
“Northwestel will also be upgrading all home Internet 125 and Internet 250 monthly data plans to unlimited Internet at no additional cost,” a press release explains.
The company currently has unlimited Internet plans available in the Northern communities of Carcross, Dawson City, Upper Liard, Watson Lake and Whitehorse in the Yukon as well as Behchokǫ̀, Fort Smith, Hay River, Inuvik, Norman Wells, and Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories and in Fort Nelson in B.C.
“We’re…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU — The CRTC’s chief compliance and enforcement officer, Steven Harroun, announced today penalties totalling $300,000 against four Canadians for their involvement in the Dark Web marketplace Canadian HeadQuarters, also known as CanadianHQ.
Following the execution of warrants by CRTC staff in the greater Montreal area during 2020 and 2021, the marketplace was taken offline.
“Before shutting down, CanadianHQ was one of the largest Dark Web marketplaces in the world and significantly contributed to harmful cyber activity in Canada. It specialized in the sale of goods and services, including spamming services, phishing kits, stolen credentials and access to compromised computers, which…
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MONTRÉAL – Cogeco has wanted to move into wireless for several years now, and while progress has been made towards that goal, it has been a marathon, not a sprint.
This was clear last Friday during an annual press briefing prior to the company’s annual general meeting, when Cogeco president and CEO Philippe Jetté highlighted the continued development of the company’s mobile wireless plans as one of its achievements of the year. (While Jetté gave his speech in French, Cogeco provided an English translation.)
Jetté listed Cogeco’s acquisition of 38 new spectrum licences last July and the CRTC’s decision last…
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GATINEAU – Revenue from Canadian broadcasting services declined 6.6% to $15.8 billion in 2019-2020 compared to 2018-2019, the CRTC says.
This is highlighted in the broadcasting portion of the CRTC’s Communications Market Report (CMR; formally the Communications Monitoring Report), released last month, which covers the broadcast year spanning from Sept. 1, 2019, to Aug. 31, 2020, and as such includes around six months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The $15.8 billion in revenue does not include revenues from Internet-based services, known as over-the-top services (OTT), operating under the CRTC’s digital media exemption order.
Over half of the revenues were generated by broadcasting distribution…
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GATINEAU – Total revenue for Canada’s telecommunications sector was $53.4 billion in 2020, a decrease of 1.4% compared to 2019, the CRTC says.
This is according to the telecom portion of the CRTC’s Communications Market Report (CMR; formally the Communications Monitoring Report), released last month.
The report features data from 2020, during which the Covid-19 pandemic began, non-essential travel was curtailed and many Canadians ended up working from home. During this time, there were higher volumes of wireline voice calling, significantly increased Internet data usage and decreased mobile roaming, the report explains.
The 1.4% total revenue decrease for telecommunications in 2020 is…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The CRTC announced yesterday four projects in Alberta and Nova Scotia will receive up to $8.8 million in funding from its Broadband Fund.
“The projects will target approximately 680 households in five communities, including four Indigenous communities,” a CRTC press release says.
ATG Arrow Technology Group Limited Partnership was allocated up to $7.9 million to build or upgrade local fixed access infrastructure in three Indigenous communities in Alberta, according to the CRTC’s decision on the matter.
Of that funding, the Commission approved up to $3.8 million for the community of Louis Bull 138B (approximately 165 households), up…
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