OTTAWA – Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge announced Tuesday the appointment of former Videotron executive Stephanie Paquette to the seat of regional commissioner of Quebec for the CRTC.
The lawyer with nearly 30 years of experience in the media industry will begin a five-year term starting November 23 — in the middle of the first week of the commission’s three-week hearing on the implementation of the Online Streaming Act.
Paquette has been Videotron’s senior director of content and strategic partnerships for the past six years and director of that area for seven years before that. That means she was responsible for acquisition…
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OTTAWA – Canadian Heritage has on Tuesday finalized its policy direction to the CRTC on the implementation of the Online Streaming Act.
The final version doesn’t deviate on major goals from the proposal the department put out in June, specifically outlining that social media creators and certain single transactional media, such as video games, will not be regulated.
The CRTC, which already set a $10-million threshold for broadcasters to register basic information with the regulator, said it still would like social media and other media forms, including podcasts, to register so it can monitor their…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau said Thursday that the CRTC must ensure that the final last mile fibre access rates are set appropriately to bolster competition.
Since the CRTC’s decision Monday to allow wholesalers to force negotiations for access on the last bit of Bell’s and Telus’s fibre network to the home, the competitors have been concerned about the rate set for the temporary regime. Some say while it is an important step forward, those interim rates are still significantly higher than what the telcos sell their own services at.
“We are happy that the CRTC has announced its…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri said Thursday that the CRTC’s decision to force the large telephone companies to open access to their last mile fibre networks “levels the playing field” with cable carriers who service the bulk of wholesale-based subscribers.
“We’ve been required to wholesale under the regulatory regime high-speed internet for quite some time,” Staffieri said during a third quarter conference call. “So it’s good to see a level playing field.”
The majority of wholesale-based competitors were using the large cable companies’ hybrid fibre-coax networks, which accounts for 75 per cent of all wholesale-based subscriptions, the CRTC said.
The decision…
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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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