GATINEAU, QC – Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) filed an application late last month asking the CRTC to review and vary its July 27 decision, announced in Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2021-239, not to mandate access to fibre in-building wire (IBW) in multi-dwelling units (MDUs) across the country.
In the application, CNOC asks the CRTC to “etermine that mandated wholesale access to fibre IBW will be provided pursuant to a single, nationwide wholesale rate, and…
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Shaw asks CRTC to dismiss requests of “opportunistic proponents of delay”
OTTAWA – Bell and Telus both filed letters yesterday with the CRTC supporting the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and National Pensioners Federation’s (PIAC-NPF) procedural request to have the Commission’s public hearings into the broadcasting side of Rogers Communications’s purchase of Shaw Communications delayed.
The hearings are scheduled to begin Nov. 22. PIAC-NPF, Bell and Telus all argued there is too much uncertainty around who controls Rogers for the CRTC to conduct fair hearings that protect the public interest.
Bell, in its letter, called the situation “unprecedented” and said it “places…
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TORONTO — Organizers of the Canadian Telecom Summit confirmed today CRTC chair and CEO Ian Scott (above) will deliver a keynote speech at the upcoming event.
Scott is scheduled to speak on Monday, Nov. 15 from 3:00-3:30 p.m. ET.
In his role at the CRTC, Scott supervises and directs the work and staff of the Commission. He also chairs CRTC meetings and participates in public hearings and consultations. Scott has more than 25 years of policy and regulatory experience in broadcasting and telecommunications both in the public and private sectors, according to his biography on the event’s website.
The Canadian Telecom Summit…
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By Denis Carmel
Starting Nov. 15, the CRTC will have a new head of telecommunications – Fiona Gilfillan.
Until recently, Gilfillan was the assistant deputy minister at Innovation, Science, and Economic Development/Innovation Canada (ISED) where she was responsible for the management of spectrum, ICT and telecom security, the Communications Research Centre and telecom equipment standards and certification in the spectrum and telecommunications sector.
In 2006, she was associate executive director of telecommunications at the CRTC, after which she left, according to her LinkedIn page, to take care of her kids between 2007 and 2009. She then spent 11 years at ISED…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is now allowing Cable Public Affairs Channel Inc. (CPAC) to participate in the proceeding dealing with the broadcast side of the proposed Rogers/Shaw transaction as an interested party, thereby granting it several new rights.
In a letter dated Oct. 7, the CRTC authorized CPAC to appear at the upcoming hearing into the matter in its own right and granted CPAC the right for its representatives to participate in any in camera discussions that may be held regarding its governance.
The CRTC also granted CPAC “the right to file a reply to intervenors in accordance with section 27…
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Panelists talk C-10, competition and of course, the Rogers/Shaw deal
By Lynn Greiner
TORONTO – Every ISP Summit, a highlight session is the regulatory panel. The CRTC always seems to generate enough controversy to make the panel entertaining as well as interesting.
This year was no different.
Moderated by Monica Auer, executive director of the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications, the panel featured two CRTC alumni who are less than impressed with the way the organization has operated recently.
Konrad von Finckenstein, a consultant and arbitrator, was CRTC chair from 2007 to 2012, and Timothy Denton, now chairman of the Internet…
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TORONTO – Canadian wireless upstart Data on Tap Inc. (dotmobile) announced yesterday there has been wide support for the petition it submitted in May to the Governor in Council to review and vary the CRTC’s April Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) decision.
“As of today, the petition has been supported by 30 independent telecom providers (the Competitive Network Operators of Canada), TekSavvy, the Public Interest Advocacy Group, and more than 34,000 Canadians,” a press release says.
The Liberal government promised more affordable connectivity in 2019, and introduced a new policy, which “kicked off a formal two year review of…
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Dear Greg,
SPEAKING PERSONALLY, I disagree with your commentary “Letter to the Prime Minister: Keep C-10 Dead”. You are right that the legislation needs to be clear, and well-explained.
However, no broadcasting legislation can be so good it doesn’t need a mechanism to amend it short of brand new legislation. After all, if the U.S. Constitution did not have an amending formula, our neighbours would either still have slavery, or a new (and improved?) Constitution.
We don’t know how commercial content will be delivered in the future. We need to allow the regulator the flexibility, within clear limits, to keep up with changes…
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Independent ISP pushing voters to get pledges to lower rates from election candidates
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal will look into whether the CRTC was correct in its May decision to revert back to older, more expensive bulk internet purchase rates set in 2016.
The court said it will review the case in a decision dated last Wednesday after independent internet service provider (ISP) TekSavvy, which buys network capacity from the larger telecoms, filed an appeal of the decision in June. The larger carriers include Bell, Rogers, and Telus.
The CRTC originally set lower final rates in a 2019…
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By Amanda Oye
OTTAWA – A CRTC inquiry into accessible wireless originally announced in June 2020 is now well underway, with the deadline to submit comments having passed in late August of this year.
Three organizations representing Deaf, Deaf-Blind or Hard of Hearing (DDBHH) Canadians – Deaf Wireless Canada Consultative Committee-Comité pour les Services Sans fil des Sourds du Canada (DWCC-CSSSC), Canadian Association of the Deaf-Association des Sourds du Canada (CAD-ASC) and Canadian National Society of the Deaf-Blind (CNSDB), (collectively DWCC et al.) – came together and submitted several documents in response to the CRTC’s call for comments.
The documents delve…
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