GATINEAU – Shaw Communications Inc. says that while it prefers a volume-based billing model for wholesale services, it’s prepared to do the work to implement a peak period approach if directed to do so.
The company noted during its appearance on Day 3 of the CRTC’s usage-based billing hearing that if three specific criteria are met either approach could give the independent ISPs the flexibility they need to compete in the market while also appropriately compensating the wholesale network providers.
“We must be able to recover our investments; we must be able to charge more for higher speeds; and there…
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TORONTO and OTTAWA – Law professor Michael Geist is standing by a blog post he wrote late last week claiming satellite Internet provider Barrett Xplore altered its Internet management policies after a complaint made to the CRTC under the Commission’s guidelines on net neutrality.
Geist, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, also wrote in his blog that Barrett Xplore (now known as Xplornet) “was also the source of the longest running complaint as the company took months to respond to CRTC requests to improve its disclosure practices.” This prompted a tersely…
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EVEN THE VERTICALLY integrated companies know they need a code of conduct to help guide how – as the 800-pound Canadian gorillas – they do business in a country where they own most of the content and distribution channels.
CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein said repeatedly during last month’s vertical integration hearing that he wants to see some sort of code of business practices for vertically integrated media companies set out in writing in order to try and avoid new regulatory and legal battles when the new BDU regulations come into force this September. So final replies, which were due…
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MARKHAM, ON – Xplornet Communications is disputing allegations made by law professor Michael Geist in an article that he wrote last week about the CRTC’s inability to enforce its net neutrality guidelines.
The satellite Internet provider, which is formerly known as Barrett Xplore, issued a statement Tuesday afternoon saying that Geist’s depiction of its dispute with Ontario-based Internet phone company ExaTEL omitted "material information" and drew "incorrect conclusions regarding Barrett Xplore Inc.’s actions”.
Cartt.ca will have more on the story shortly.
– Lesley Hunter
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GATINEAU – Independent ISPs and some of their supporters came under significant criticism on day two of the CRTC’s wholesale usage-based billing hearing for wanting to profit off the backs of the incumbent providers and not invest in their own networks because the deal is too good.
CRTC vice-chair of broadcasting Tom Pentefountas first took OpenMedia and the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) to task in the morning session wondering whether there is actually an incentive for the independent ISPs to invest in building out networks. “Isn’t part of the issue that the deal is so…
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OTTAWA and TORONTO – Wait just a minute: we didn’t mean that the whole licence renewal hearing should be postponed.
That was the message from the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) and the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) after learning that the CRTC decided to push back the CBC’s licence renewal process from September to June, 2012. While acknowledging that they both supported a request from the Quebec English-language Production Committee (QEPC) for more detailed financial data from the CBC, the two organizations were quick to issue statements expressing their collective disappointment with the Commission’s decision to delay the…
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GATINEAU – Aggregated volume pricing (AVP) shouldn’t be seen as a penalty on independent ISPs, but as an incentive for them to manage their network congestion, Bell Canada told the CRTC during the first day of the re-hearing of the wholesale usage-based billing issue.
Bell argued its AVP approach is a better economic internet traffic management practice (ITMP) than the 95th percentile method proposed by the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) because it provides returns on network investments and incents independent ISPs to reduce congestion in their networks.
“ ensures that incumbents receive an appropriate return on their…
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GATINEAU – It didn’t take long for the CRTC to modify its schedule in the usage-based billing proceeding. With Bell Canada’s appearance lasting all morning on Monday, the Commission has decided to push the testimony from the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Centre and OpenMedia.ca until Tuesday.
Konrad von Finckenstein, chair of the CRTC, noted that the OpenMedia.ca-CIPPIC appearance is likely to be lengthy and therefore would be better to hear from the consumer advocacy groups on Day 2 of the hearing.
The other interveners on Day 1 were Telus Corp., a panel of consumer interests from Ontario…
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OTTAWA – Two years after establishing guidelines on net neutrality, the CRTC has fallen short on its goal to protect users, writes Michael Geist, a University of Ottawa law professor who holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law.
Geist’s report, which also appeared Friday in the Toronto Star, says that after filing an access to information request and reviewing “hundreds of pages of documents”, he found “that virtually all major Canadian ISPs have been the target of complaints, but there have been few, if any, consequences arising from the complaints process. In fact, the CRTC has…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has postponed the CBC’s licence renewal hearing from this September until June 4, 2012.
The Commission said Friday that the decision was made for two reasons. First, in response to a request by the Quebec English-language Production Committee (QEPC) for the ‘pub caster’s “aggregate financial production information”, similar to that made available by the private English-language television broadcasters for their group-based licence renewals last April.
“The (CBC’s licence renewal application and appendices) do not provide the data that the commercial broadcasters publish in their annual independent production reports, such as the number of projects, aggregate length, region…
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