Canadian Heritage announced via X on Thursday that Claire Anderson has been reappointed as CRTC commissioner for British Columbia and Yukon for a second five-year term.
The official order in council dated May 3 says her reappointment is effective Aug. 26, 2024.
A citizen of the Taku River Tlingit First Nation and based in Whitehorse, Anderson is the first Indigenous woman and first Yukon resident to be appointed as a CRTC commissioner. Her original appointment started in August 2019.
Called to the Yukon bar in 2014, Anderson started…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telus said the CRTC must pony up if it requires the telco to build a new network to keep landline customers in certain remote communities of British Columbia connected – even though there are alternative service providers in those areas.
Earlier this year, the Vancouver-based company was forced by the CRTC to explain what was going on with home telephone services in those BC communities after it proposed to disconnect the services. Telus explained that those services are based on decades-old wireless technology known as the SR500 system that uses the 3.5 GHz spectrum, which…
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Regulator says it is aiming for wholesale internet decision by end of summer
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said Friday it will not immediately decide whether the three largest telecommunications companies should be banned from accessing the large telcos’ bundled middle- and last-mile fibre facilities, effectively greenlighting Bell, Rogers, and Telus to ride on those networks in the interim.
A consortium made up of Bell, Cogeco, Eastlink, TekSavvy, and the indie rep the Competitive Network Operators of Canada filed a late March request for the CRTC to rule that the Big 3 are banned from accessing Bell’s and Telus’s fibre facilities…
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Public Safety Canada and Pelmorex Corp. announced Monday a test of the Alert Ready national public alerting system (NPAS) will take place in most provinces and territories on Wednesday, May 8 as part of Emergency Preparedness Week, which runs from May 5 to 11.
A test alert will be distributed May 8 to Canadians in the participating provinces and territories on their television, radio and compatible wireless devices. While issuing a test alert is at the sole discretion of each provincial and territorial emergency management organization (EMO), the CRTC requires broadcasters and wireless service providers to…
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By Doug Barrett, adjunct professor in the Arts, Media & Entertainment MBA program at the Schulich School of Business
This is the third piece examining the current debate on the definition of Canadian content.
In the first I examined the different legal foundations of the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO) system and the CRTC system
In the second I argued that the CRTC should require CAVCO certification for all programs benefiting from “public purpose” money available because of CRTC regulation or other subsidies.
In this piece I look at the appropriate role of the CRTC content certification…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell CEO Mirko Bibic said Thursday that the higher rate of customers switching to other carriers is “concerning,” but that the telco is mitigating that with bundled offers.
Last week, Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri blamed competition from aggressively priced mobile wireless offers in the market and ease of switching for its postpaid churn rate rising to 1.1 per cent in the quarter compared to the same period last year. While Staffieri said he expects the trend to continue, he added the company isn’t worried about it.
Bell’s postpaid churn rate for the first quarter that ended…
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The Canadian Communication Systems Alliance, which represents 100 independent communications companies, announced Wednesday that consultant John Roman is the organization’s new director of legal and regulatory affairs.
“With more than 14 years of dedicated experience in policy, regulation, and consulting within the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors, Roman’s extensive track record of crafting regulatory submissions, supporting Governor in Council (GIC) requests, and creating and delivering presentations for appearances at CRTC and Senate Committee hearings underscores his invaluable expertise in understanding and achieving results in the regulatory field,” a CCSA press release said.
“His involvement with licensing, mergers, pricing models, and service frameworks demonstrates his deep…
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The Municipalité régionale de comté (MRC) de D’Autray, located in the Lanaudière region northeast of Montreal, has submitted a Part 1 application asking the CRTC to clarify the rules regarding costs related to preparatory work on Bell poles to which the regional county municipality wants to attach.
In an application dated April 18 and posted to the CRTC’s website Tuesday, the MRC’s director of information systems and telecom services asks the commission to facilitate and to encourage Bell’s application of the provisions of the CRTC’s February 2023 telecom regulatory policy regarding costs associated with make-ready work…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Not-for-profit media company Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) has lodged a complaint with the CRTC alleging Videotron is not treating institutional subscribers in a way that conforms with industry standard when it comes to carrying AMI’s programs.
Since 2016, AMI and Videotron have been deadlocked on the terms of a distribution agreement in which Videotron must carry AMI-TV and AMI-tele as part of the 9.1(1)(h) rule.
Central to AMI’s undue disadvantage complaint, as outlined in a Part 1 application made public this week, is that Videotron allegedly will not budge on how to treat institutional customers, such as hotels and…
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Wireless prices in Canada decreased an average of 18.2 per cent for data plans in 2023 when compared to 2022 prices, according to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s 2023 Price Comparison Study of Telecom Services, published Tuesday.
The annual report — which provides a comparative price analysis of wireless and home internet services in Canada, both regionally and relative to G7 peer countries and Australia — also found home internet prices in Canada declined across all service plans in 2023. There were significant decreases on plans up to 100 Mbps, including decreases…
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