CHATHAM, Ont. — In its latest salvo aimed at the CRTC and its May decision not to lower wholesale Internet rates, independent ISP TekSavvy today issued a press release and an election backgrounder in an effort to rally Canadian voters to visit paylesstoconnect.ca — where they can “demand concrete federal action that will lower monthly internet bills,” the release says.
“In this election, affordability remains top-of-mind for most voters. Recent polling by Abacus Data shows that 64% of Canadians believe the cost of things you use day-to-day have gotten worse over the past 2 years,” the press release reads.
“In another poll conducted by…
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WHITEHORSE — Far north telecom provider Northwestel announced today it has submitted two tariff applications to the CRTC asking for permission to increase the Internet speeds of its most popular residential fibre and cable Internet plans and to also lower the rates of these plans by $10 a month.
A subsidiary of Bell Canada, Northwestel’s Internet packages and rates are regulated by the CRTC and can only be changed with the Commission’s approval.
“The proposed changes would see download and upload speed increases and rate decreases in every residential unlimited Internet plan,” reads a Northwestel press release.
“For example, a residential Internet…
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OTTAWA – National Capital FreeNet (NCF), an Ottawa-based non-profit ISP, today petitioned the government to overrule the CRTC’s May 2021 decision on wholesale Internet rates, which reversed the Commission’s 2019 decision on the matter.
NCF has requested “the Governor in Council vary Telecom Decision CRTC 2021-181 and reinstate Telecom Decision CRTC 2019-288,” the petition reads.
The ISP states in its petition it is filing it because it believes the CRTC’s May decision “does not promote competition, affordability, or consumer interests, as ordered in the 2019 Policy Direction, but instead actively inhibits these goals, while disproportionately affecting those living on low…
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By Denis Carmel
YOU KNOW THERE is vigorous competition when companies are always at each other’s throats – and we can surely say there is no collusion between Bell Canada (BCE) and Québecor!
This time, BCE is complaining to the CRTC that Videotron, a Québecor affiliate, launched a new service on August 17 that is not available to competitive distributors contrary to the CRTC’s Terms and conditions of the exemption order for video-on-demand undertakings, related to hybrid video-on-demand undertakings (HVODs). The CRTC specifies an HVOD is an undertaking that “… offers its service over a broadcasting distribution undertaking provided that all…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) last week gave Telus permission to appeal the CRTC’s April 2021 wireless review decision, Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2021-130.
Telus went to court, not to argue against the CRTC’s decision requiring it to introduce a wholesale service that will enable eligible regional wireless carriers (Editor’s note: like Vidéotron) to use national wireless carrier networks to provide competing services while they build out their own networks.
No, when the CRTC issued its decision in April 2021, it took the opportunity to rule on other issues raised during the proceeding as well, including…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU — With a federal election officially called for September 20, the CRTC announced today its Voter Contact Registry is now accepting applications from candidates, political parties, corporations, trade associations and others who plan to use a calling service provider to contact voters during the election campaign.
“The Voter Contact Registry helps protect Canadians from rogue and misleading telephone calls during federal elections, and to ensure that those who contact voters during an election do so transparently,” reads a CRTC press release.
The Commission will accept registrations up until 48 hours after the federal election is held on Monday,…
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CHATHAM, Ont. – Ontario Big City Mayors (OBCM) at a meeting today called on the federal government to overrule the CRTC’s recent decision to backtrack on its 2019 wholesale rates decision.
“Ontario’s Big City Mayors call on the Federal Cabinet, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and ISED Minister Francois-Phillippe Champagne to overrule the CRTC’s reversal and immediately implement the evidence-based 2019 Rates Order,” an OBCM motion reads.
In a press release, TekSavvy “applauded the unanimous resolution passed by the Ontario Big City Mayors.”
“The CRTC’s reversal is bad news for consumers, as it effectively guarantees Canadian internet prices – which…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC announced yesterday it will hold a public hearing starting November 22 at 9 a.m. MST (11 a.m. EST) into the broadcast side of the proposed Rogers/Shaw deal.
The Commission will specifically consider an application “for Rogers to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Shaw and the authority for Rogers to operate various licensed broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) currently owned by Shaw in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba,” as well as Shaw Direct, Shaw Broadcast Services, and Shaw Pay-Per-View, according to a CRTC notice of consultation.
The application also seeks approval for Rogers to…
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Offers extended payment deadlines instead
OTTAWA – After holding a public consultation, the CRTC yesterday denied the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) request for Covid-related regulatory relief for private broadcasters.
In July 2020, the CAB, which represents the majority of private Canadian programming services, sought “immediate regulatory relief relating to expenditure and exhibition requirements for Canadian private broadcasters due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to the CRTC’s decision.
The organization specifically proposed that for the 2019-2020 broadcast year the CRTC “deem broadcasting licensees, absent any bad faith on their part, to have met requirements set out in their conditions of licence…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – The CRTC last week denied a request made in April by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications (FRPC) for a proceeding to be initiated to examine the Broadcasting Participation Fund’s (BPF) funding situation.
The BPF was set up to fund consumer and public interest groups, such as PIAC and FRPC, for their participation in broadcasting proceedings. The financing provided comes from portions of tangible benefits paid through broadcasting transactions since 2012.
Having not heard from the CRTC for several weeks after their April request, PIAC and FRPC wrote…
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