OTTAWA – The CRTC approved via letters Wednesday separate applications from the Indigenous Screen Office and the Black Screen Office’s fund, The Black Screen Fund, for certification as independent production funds.
Both newly certified funds are subject to the fulfilment of specific conditions of approval, some of which require amendments to the by-laws of the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) and the Black Screen Fund, to ensure the funds operate in accordance with the commission’s policy framework for certified independent production funds (the CIPF Policy).
In the letter to the ISO, the CRTC…
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TekSavvy says it is currently not for sale
By Ahmad Hathout
Bell announced Monday evening that it is cutting its fibre investments by over $1 billion in 2024-25 after the CRTC said it must negotiate access with competitors on that network.
The telco said that plan will also include a minimum cut of $500 to $600 million in 2024.
“Bell’s fibre network is now available to over seven million homes and businesses,” Bell said in a press release. “Prior to the CRTC’s decision, Bell’s near-term plan was to build high-speed fibre to nine million locations by the end of 2025. Bell will now…
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By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – The CRTC approved Monday a limited and temporary regime in which competitors can force negotiations for access the last mile fibre services under the current aggregated regime.
The regime will be narrowed to the incumbent telephone companies, who will be required within six months to provide wholesale access to their fibre-to-the-premises networks in Ontario and Quebec, noting there is increasing demand there for faster speeds that are provided by a direct fibre line to homes and businesses.
The CRTC reasoned that the fibre builds of the cable companies, which have largely relied on hybrid fibre-coax builds, are…
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TORONTO – Canada’s telecommunications sector directly contributed up to $76.7 billion to the national GDP and supported 724,000 Canadian jobs in 2022, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report commissioned by the Canadian Telecommunications Association (CTA).
The same report estimates that the Canadian telecom sector’s delivery of enhanced connectivity, including 5G, has the potential to contribute an additional $112 billion to Canada’s overall GDP by 2035.
The report, titled Connecting Canadians through resilient networks: The impact of the telecom sector in 2022 and beyond, shows how Canada’s telecom sector invests billions of dollars each…
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WHITEHORSE, YT – Bell subsidiary Northwestel announced last week it has launched fibre internet in the Yukon communities of Mayo and Stewart Crossing, located on the traditional territory of the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation.
In addition to connecting fibre directly to homes, Northwestel has extended its fibre network from Stewart Crossing to Mayo, a press release explains.
Residents in these communities can now order “the north’s fastest home Internet”, with download speeds up to 500 Mbps and unlimited monthly data, the release says. For business customers, Northwestel’s new fibre internet service offers…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telus CEO Darren Entwistle said Friday he believes there will a future where the regulatory environment will be tempered by heightened competition and current declining prices despite higher inflation.
“God forgive me for saying this, but I see over the longer term the environment moderating,” Entwistle said during a third-quarter earnings call Friday. “I think a lot of the goals that the federal government has had on the regulatory front have effectively been answered, and I think this is an era to allow free market forces to determine competitive outcomes, not regulatory or government intervention.”
The telecom said…
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By Doug Barrett, adjunct professor in the Arts, Media & Entertainment MBA Program at the Schulich School of Business. From 2004 to 2008 he was the chair of the Canadian Television Fund
Phil Lind was an unlikely hero, but a genuine one. Since his passing, much has been written about his decades’ – long service to Rogers Communications, his role as consiglieri to Ted Rogers, his determined recovery from a major stroke in his mid-fifties, his art collection, and his love of the Yukon.
However, scant attention has been paid to what I think is his greatest accomplishment: he was the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Cogeco CEO Philippe Jette said Thursday that the company is still in commercial negotiations to access the national wireless networks to launch its first wireless business, adding it is preparing to enter that business in the United States.
The Montreal-based telecom has been trying to negotiate access for months to launch its mobile virtual network operator business. The CRTC said it expected national and regional carriers to negotiate access by August 7 or else propose arbitration at the commission.
But Jette said during the company’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings call Thursday that even if the company…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell CEO Mirko Bibic said Thursday that the company could’ve driven more fibre through its footprint beyond its target plan for the year but slowed down because of regulatory uncertainty related to fibre and wholesale access decisions still in front of the CRTC.
“We got a head start in the first six months of this year on our fibre build and we’re well on track to hitting the targets that we had established for ourselves for 2023,” Bibic said during the company’s third-quarter earnings conference call Thursday morning.
“In fact, we had some wiggle room there given that we…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers is arguing that the practice of bulk internet billing deals with residential buildings, which it says has been promoted by the CRTC, does not hamper competition, and in fact provides benefits that push forward the policies promoted by the commission.
Fibre service provider Beanfield filed a Part 1 application in late September asking the CRTC to prohibit Rogers from signing those bulk service agreements because it allegedly limits competition. Beanfield’s reasoning is that the multi-year contracts Rogers and others sign with building developers to provide default internet service disincentivizes switching service providers…
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