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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By Ahmad Hathout
An independent telecommunications association is asking that the CRTC to raise the revenue threshold for companies required to contribute annual fees to the commission, after the regulator ruled similarly for broadcasters last month.
The Independent Telecommunications Providers Association filed a Part 1 application made public this week imploring the regulator to this year increase the revenue threshold from $10 million to $25 million of previous year’s financial results – money that goes toward CRTC operations and a regime that funds telecommunications services.
“Today, the application of the $10 million mandates contribution payments by…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell’s joint request of the CRTC to permanently block the three largest telecommunications companies from accessing its bundled fibre facilities is an attempt to nullify the competitive impact of the interim access regime, Rogers and Telus argued earlier this month.
The country’s largest telco partnered with wholesale competitors to ask the regulator in a procedural request to clarify that the Big 3 are ineligible to access the bundled middle- and last-mile facilities of Bell and Telus before the May 7 deadline to implement the interim regime in Quebec and Ontario. The CRTC did not explicitly…
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