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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WHITEHORSE – The north needs to take a holistic approach to the modernization of its satellite and broadband infrastructure that empowers the consumer and not the “band-aid solution” that Northwestel is proposing. In its submission to the CRTC, ahead of a June 19, 2013 hearing in Whitehorse to review Northwestel’s $273 million modernization plan, SSi Micro, northern Canada's largest ISP, says Canada still lacks a coherent policy plan for broadband.
Rather than address key investments that would help modernize northern telecommunications, the main focus of the Northwestel plan is on items such as “advancements…
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IT SEEMS OBVIOUS NOW that the federal government’s attempt at building more competition into the Canadian wireless market has been a failure.
With the benefit of hindsight, looking back at how the Canadian wireless market has evolved since the 2008 advanced wireless spectrum auction, I keep wondering: “what did the federal government think was going to happen?” Back then, in an ill-advised attempt to foster more competition to the burgeoning wireless market in Canada, the federal government offered any Canadian-led wireless newcomer a leg-up in that auction, setting aside spectrum that was just for newbies willing to gamble on becoming…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has denied a request by Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) to have Rogers increase the speed of its older broadband services it offers third-party Internet access (TPIA) providers, so they match the faster speeds Rogers now offers its customers, but at no price increase. CNOC made the complaint even though the older broadband speed offerings are to be phased out by November 15, 2013.
In its complaint, CNOC urged the Commission to require Rogers Communications Partnership (RCP) to comply with Telecom Decision CRTC 2006-77 and increase the 18 Mbps,…
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OTTAWA – Telelatino Network (TLN) has lodged a complaint with the CRTC regarding Telus’ Optik TV service urging it to force Telus to add at least one Canadian Italian third-language service.
It contends that since Optik TV now carries Italian foreign service Rai Italia, to comply with section 27(4) of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations it needs to add at least one Canadian third-language service offering at least 90% Italian language programming. In its complaint TLN notes that Telus does not distribute either Mediaset Canada or Sky Tg24 (Canada) which are the only two…
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GATINEAU – Wind Mobile has some pretty harsh words for the CRTC’s attempt at creating a wireless code of conduct for mobile service providers. The upstart carrier says the Commission completely missed the boat in not addressing three-year contracts and the de-linking of handset subsidies and service terms.
Simon Lockie, chief regulatory officer at Wind, lauds the CRTC for taking this necessary step to listen to consumers concerns and try to implement a wireless code of conduct, but by not dealing with three-year term contracts or exploring ways to separate handset subsidization from service pricing, the Commission is missing a…
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GATINEAU – The fine print shouldn’t be so fine and it should be written using regular words people understand, says the CRTC.
The Commission is putting the interests of consumers front and centre in the new draft wireless code of conduct released Monday by stating that contracts and other policies “the terms or use of the service, such as privacy policies and fair use policies, must be written in clear, easy-to-understand language, and presented in an appropriate font size.”
It’s not only the use of plain language the Commission is insisting wireless carriers adopt. The Regulator is also suggesting a personalized…
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AFTER SIX YEARS, SATELLITE radio produced its first-ever profit in Canada when earlier this month SiriusXM Canada reported it was $3.3 million in the black for the first quarter of fiscal 2013.
For executive chairman John Bitove, that Q1 result is vindication after plugging away just as XM Canada to begin with – in competition with Sirius Canada – and then finally merging with it in 2011 two years after the American satellite radio companies combined themselves. Satellite radio faced numerous launch obstacles, chiefly convincing people to want to pay for radio in the first place,…
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AMONG CANADIAN TELEVISION executives, no one is more active on Twitter than Kirstine Stewart. Some feel Twitter is an waste of time and it sure can be if you let it, but for Stewart, EVP of English Services at the CBC and a smart user of the social network, Twitter is a good way for @KStewartCBC to listen to Canadians, get her message out – and even make her personal opinions known, about more than just the CBC.
Of course, her tweets are often back-slapping congratulations for this or that CBC program doing well in the ratings (there have…
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WINNIPEG – Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) is calling for public support in its bid to renew its licence with the CRTC. APTN is requesting a 15 cent increase wholesale fee for the next term in order to “sustain a strong and talented Aboriginal production industry and grow opportunities to better serve the needs of Aboriginal communities through a comprehensive strategic plan,” it said in a statement.
Since 2005, APTN has received a nominal fee of 25 cents per Canadian subscriber through monthly subscription fees. This says APTN has fueled a nationwide network of Aboriginal…
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