OTTAWA – The country’s largest cable companies want the CRTC to treat them the same as Bell and Telus. At least, as far as the Commission’s rules on speed matching go.
In a petition submitted to Cabinet last week, Cogeco, Quebecor on behalf of Videotron, Rogers and Shaw asked that the Governor in Council vary, rescind, or refer back to the Commission its decision on Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010-632 issued on August 30, 2010.
That decision, as Cartt.ca reported, was based on a public proceeding launched in May 2009 to consider whether incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) and cable…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC said Wednesday that it has initiated a process to address the projected telephone number shortage that will affect British Columbia within the next six years.
The Canadian Numbering Administrator, which is the authority that administers the distribution of phone numbers in Canada on behalf of the CRTC, told the Commission that the province is expected to run out of telephone numbers by August 2016. The Commission said that it is establishing a relief planning committee to evaluate various options and provide recommendations.
Until 1996, 604 was the only area code in the province. At that time, 250 was…
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GATINEAU – Perhaps not a full U-turn, but the CRTC did alter the way it allows Bell Canada to implement usage-based billing on certain wholesale gateway access service (GAS) customers. And small ISPs believe the Commission made the wrong decision.
Speaking with Cartt.ca on the floor of the CRTC’s obligation to serve hearing in Gatineau, Michael Garbe, president of Accelerated Connections Inc. (ACI), says the decision (an approval of Bell Canada’s request to review and vary the original decision) will still create serious trouble for the small and medium business Internet provider.
“It absolutely creates a significant negative impact on…
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GATINEAU – Expanding the basic service objective to include broadband would have substantial negative financial impacts on their businesses, a group of small independent ISPs told the CRTC on Monday during the fourth day of hearings into the obligation to serve and other telecom matters.
This is the second week of the hearing, which moved back to Gatineau after three days in Timmins, Ont.
David Buffet, president of Radiant Communications Corp., said that creating a new subsidy regime to fund broadband expansion would turn a slight profit the company generated in 2009 to a net loss. Revenue…
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NEW LISKEARD, Ont. – As the provision of rural broadband has been the focus of an ongoing CRTC hearing, one of the companies which faced the CRTC last week today announced the launch of its new wireless network for Northern Ontario.
By early December, mobile customers along the Highway 11, 101, 65 and 66 corridors in Northern Ontario will be able to get on a brand new HSPA+ 3G network thanks to NorthernTel, a division of Bell Aliant. The company will switch on the High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+) network that is being built out across Canada by Bell…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Telus is not violating the country’s unsolicited telecommunications rule by using automated calling devices, the CRTC has determined after an investigation.
Automated calling devices are used to dial telephone numbers and automatically deliver a pre-recorded message. The CRTC’s Automatic Dialing and Announcing Device Rules prohibit telemarketers from using these devices to sell or promote a product or service unless a consumer has consented to be called by them. Telus has used these devices to notify its prepaid mobile customers of an actual or imminent service interruption and how to purchase more minutes to avoid such an interruption.
“We are pleased that Telus acted…
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OTTAWA – Talk of the contribution regime and the appropriate level for a high-cost serving area (HCSA) subsidy became heated at times during the fifth day of testimony at the CRTC’s obligation to serve hearing.
Len Katz, vice-chair of telecommunications and national commissioner, took the l’Association des companies de téléphone du Québec to task over the importance of the subsidy to their businesses. He suggested that based on the ACTQ’s subsidy proposal, it would actually be more beneficial for its members to lose customers because they could then become takeover targets.
“The perversion as I see it is, at…
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TORONTO – While subscriber numbers are being held back for now and legal challenges from its competition are in progress, wireless brand chatr has gained a strong foothold in the Canadian market as it heads into a crucial two-month sales stretch, according to Garrick Tiplady, chatr’s senior vice-president.
“We’re not releasing (subscriber numbers) now but what I can say is we’re quite pleased with the results – and when you step back… we’re seeing strong results across the country in all the markets we’ve launched in,” Tiplady said in an interview Tuesday afternoon with Cartt.ca.
Chatr is so far…
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TIMMINS – It became clear through the first day of the CRTC’s obligation to serve hearing that commissioners would like to set some sort of speed target for service providers to hit when it comes to providing broadband for rural Canadians.
Both chairman Konrad von Finckenstein and vice-chair telecom Len Katz repeatedly asked executives with Bell Aliant, Barrett Xplore and Northwestel if they would accept some sort of megabits per second speed target to come out of this proceeding.
All were reluctant.
While government and the industry has tended to define a base of 1.5 Mbps as “broadband”, most recognize that just…
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TIMMINS – It’s hard to disagree with Northwestel’s assertion that when it comes to telecom operations, it is like no other.
The Bell Canada-owned company’s networks cover about 115,000 people spread across 40% of Canada’s total land mass – or four million square kilometres.
To say “there are important differences between the environment and the provision of telecommunications services in the far north as compared to the rest of Canada,” as the company’s president and CEO, Paul Flaherty told the CRTC Tuesday morning in Timmins, is quite an understatement.
Flaherty appeared in front of commissioners during day one of the Regulator’s obligation…
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