By Ahmad Hathout
The federal government’s procurement website published late last month a contract on behalf of the CRTC that requests a report that delves into a comparative analysis of international mobile wireless roaming rates.
The regulator is asking for an in-depth analysis of the rates provided by Canadian carriers versus their international peers in the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
“The study must include an analysis of the factors that may explain the differences (e.g. regulatory, economic, geopolitical, structural and/or technical)” in the pricing between the Canadian and international carriers, according to a statement…
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Bell calls application an ‘attempt to abuse the CRTC process’
By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor is alleging that Bell is delaying access to its national wireless network despite the CRTC already determining the rate for that access.
In a Part 1 application posted Wednesday, Quebecor said it had prepared to launch services using Bell’s network on October 11 in areas where it doesn’t have a wireless network. But since the CRTC selected Bell’s rate for that access after arbitration on October 10, Quebecor alleges Bell has delayed its cooperation, which it says amounts to an anticompetitive practice.
Part of that delay,…
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CRTC also announced more money allocation from third call
The CRTC has formally denied an application by Bell that requested the regulator change the way it collected money for the $750-million Broadband Fund.
Bell requested last December that the regulator stop collecting money from the internet service providers until it has disbursed the money it has collected and to return the money it hasn’t given out. Part of the reasoning is that there have been many more funding programs available since the Broadband Fund was launched and that the unused money held by the CRTC and not distributed could be…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Eastlink is alleging that competitors using its network – who have complained to the CRTC about negligence in relation to an Eastlink network failure that affected their customers – are misrepresenting claims about the aftermath of the July outage.
City Wide, Frontier Networks, and Purple Cow Internet allege in a Part application filed last month that Eastlink disconnected their customers’ service for 24 hours starting July 3 due to an error caused by a new software update to the company’s billing system that they said incorrectly flagged all of the cableco’s third-party internet access customers as not having…
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Bell subsidiary Northwestel announced Tuesday it has connected the Northwest Territories community of Dettah to its newly built fibre line extending to Dettah from Yellowknife along the Ingraham Trail.
The upgrade means residents of the community can get internet download speeds up to 500 Mbps and unlimited data from Northwestel as well as access to the new Northwestel TV Plus service that offers live and on-demand TV.
“Northwestel first launched in-community fibre Internet to Dettah last year which upgraded the community from 15 Mbps to 50 Mbps speeds with the option for unlimited monthly usage….
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Governor in Council has rejected an application to force the CRTC to relook at a decision it made that automatically renewed the broadcasting licences of major broadcasters that have been clamouring for changes to their regulatory obligations due to worsening financial conditions.
The Governor in Council said in the decision dated December 8 that it “is not satisfied that the decision derogates from the attainment of the objectives of the broadcasting policy for Canada set out in subsection 3(1) of that Act,” and that it, on the recommendation of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, “declines to refer…
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Platforms have 180 days to notify CRTC if they are subject to law
By Ahmad Hathout
Canadian Heritage on Friday provided its final rules for the Online News Act ahead of its enforcement next week, including capping compensation for broadcasters and CBC/Radio-Canada on single agreements.
The legislation, which comes into force on December 19, will require web giants to compensate publishers for hosting news content on their platforms. Deals will be done on the basis of single group agreements or multiple agreements.
Under the single agreement, Heritage announced Friday that news products owned by broadcasting undertakings will have their compensation capped at 30…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The large telecommunications companies are urging the CRTC to turn away applications asking it to require a pre-production test environment for next generation 911 calls, saying it is unnecessary and too costly.
Some public safety answering points (PSAPs) and the government of British Columbia filed separate Part 1 applications with the regulator asking for it to mandate the ability of these emergency entities to hook up to a pre-production test environment for NG911 so that real 911 calls are not at risk when testing software updates and new features. The NG911 networks are expected to carry multimedia, such…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor is asking the CRTC to align the access rates to large last mile fibre networks for both disaggregated and aggregated regimes.
Last month, the regulator approved on an interim basis and within six months competitor access to the fibre of Bell and Telus that goes directly to buildings in Ontario and Quebec under the aggregated regime, which allows competitors to bundle from the large telco the traffic transport mile with the last mile. The decision is being appealed to the Federal Court by Bell, which is disproportionately affected by it.
In a Part 1 published…
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Northwestel announced Thursday the launch of what it is calling the north’s fastest home internet to Tagish.
Residents in the Yukon community will be able to get download speeds of up to 500 Mbps download with unlimited data, powered by the Bell subsidiary’s fibre network. Businesses will be able to get download speeds of up to 550 Mbps.
Tagish residents will also have access to Northwestel TV Plus, which offers live and on-demand TV.
“These fibre upgrades are part of Northwestel’s Every Community Project, a 3-year project to bring high speed unlimited Internet to 10,000 homes across the Northwest Territories and Yukon,”…
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