OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Effective October 20, 2012, 10-digit local dialing will be required for all local calls made in Manitoba, the CRTC said today. As well, a new area code, 431, will be introduced in the province, effective November 3, 2012.
The transition to 10-digit dialing will begin on July 29, 2012, and will be gradually introduced over the following weeks. It will become mandatory by October 20, 2012.
At the same time, in order to prevent running out of telephone numbers in the “glorious and free” province, the CRTC is introducing a new area code, 431 as of November 3, 2012….
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CARTT.CA’S UPDATED STORY on the Shaw/Canwest deal seeks to fill in “incomplete data” on Shaw’s proposed benefits package of $23 million for a transaction reported at $2 billion. That’s not a typo. We estimate that this comes to 1% of the value of the transaction. Since Commission policy dictates 10% for benefits it’s fair to ask: Are we missing $177 million? Let’s look at the numbers.
In their main application, Shaw ascribed a value of the transaction at $475 million. At that point, they were proposing a benefits of $23 million, which would be spent on the conversion to…
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GATINEAU – Thanks to the “certainly created in the industry by the new Canada Media fund and the need to give this fund time to establish itself,” the CRTC today called off its proceeding looking into amending its benefits policy.
Two years ago, the Commission decided it would examine the policy that says 10% of the value of any business transaction involving broadcast companies must be set aside for “benefits”, that is, something the acquiring company might not normally spend on. So, if a broadcaster is purchased for $100 million, the rule of thumb has said that $10…
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GATINEAU – The squeaky wheel gets the, well, the expanded regulatory proceeding.
Today the CRTC said it would restart its look at regulatory symmetry in the telecom world when it comes to the handling of customer cancellations and transfers (BTNC 2010-406) so that it will include wireless as well.
As reported by Cartt.ca here and here, Rogers Communications repeatedly asked for the Commission to expand the scope of the proceeding, arguing it didn’t make any sense to examine how the transfer of TV, land-line telephony and internet customers from one company to another is handled, but to exclude…
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INDUSTRY JOURNALIST, Cartt.ca contributor and our friend, Norma Reveler died Thursday night after a long battle with cancer. She was 46.
Norma was well known among cable, radio, television and telecom industry folks as a determined, hard working journalist who knew this industry as well as anyone.
“Norma was a terrific reporter and very committed to her craft,” said Greg O’Brien, editor and publisher of Cartt.ca. “And she loved this industry. She worked as long as she could, covering last month’s Banff TV Fest for us. She was so hopeful that she even accepted another assignment from me for next month.”
“Norma contributed…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC introduced a new policy for community and campus radio stations on Thursday which, among other revisions, will provide the sector with stable funding.
The Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC) will see its annual funding increase by over $700,000, which will be distributed among the more than 140 community and campus radio stations across the country. The CRFC is a not-for-profit organization that supports the development of non-commercial, community-based broadcasters.
The funds will be supplied by commercial radio broadcasters through a reallocation of the contributions they must make each year toward the development of Canadian content, benefitting the…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has nabbed two more companies for violating the national do not call list (DNCL), and has slapped them each with $20,000 in fines.
Between July 21, 2009 and January 19, 2010, the Commission said that it received numerous complaints in relation to fax telemarketing telecommunications made by Roofing by Peerless Mason Ltd. After issuing a notice of violation and a fine of $20,000 to the company on February 15, 2010 and receiving no reply, the Commission imposed an additional $20,000 administrative monetary penalty on Wednesday. The fine plus any outstanding amount is due by August…
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OTTAWA – A decision released this week by the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) denying a Telus Corp. appeal of two CRTC rulings related to the ongoing Department of National Defence (DND) telecom contract dispute is only a minor setback, the company says.
“It’s a small part of the larger picture and in no way impedes, or in fact, affects in any way our larger concern which is frankly the state of, and the prognosis for, a competitive market in the enterprise segment,” Ted Woodhead, Telus’ VP of telecom policy and regulatory affairs, tells Cartt.ca in an interview….
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is gearing up for the projected telephone number shortage expected to affect Toronto within the next five years.
The Commission said Tuesday that it will establish a relief planning committee to evaluate various options and make recommendations for the area in southern Ontario currently served by area codes 416 and 647.
The Canadian Numbering Administrator, which is the authority that administers the distribution of phone numbers in Canada, told the CRTC that this area is expected to run out of telephone numbers by July 2015.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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GATINEAU – After having been told by CRTC staff on Friday that the Regulator would not consider adding wireless to its look at regulatory symmetry in the telecom world when it comes to the handling of customer cancellations and transfers, Rogers Communications has again pushed the issue back into the lap of the Commission.
In a story on Cartt.ca last week, we told you Rogers wrote the Commission saying it didn’t make any sense to be looking into so-called regulatory symmetry for broadcasting, telecom and Internet while skipping wireless – and that the communications giant wants the notice of…
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