By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Regina member of Parliament Andrew Scheer has asked the federal government to provide more information about the rationale and cost behind a registry of companies set up by the CRTC that is intended for them to contribute to the enrichment of Canadian content.
The former Conservative Party leader has tabled two sets of inquiries in the House of Commons Monday, with one requesting specifics as to the overall rationale for setting up the registry and how the commission arrived at the $10 million annual revenue threshold to include companies for possible regulation.
Under that set of questions,…
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MONTREAL – Quebecor is patting itself on the back as Statistics Canada’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, released Tuesday, indicates cellular phone service prices have fallen considerably since this time last year.
In a press release distributed Tuesday afternoon, Quebecor claims “the decisive factor in the decline of Canadian wireless service prices shown this morning in Statistics Canada’s monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) report is increased competition from Videotron, Fizz and Freedom Mobile.”
Quebecor notes in its release the overall CPI rose 3.8 per cent on a year-over-year basis between September 2022…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC announced Monday it has renewed the broadcasting licence for SaskTel’s terrestrial on-demand service SaskTel Pay-Per-View until Aug. 31, 2028.
The licence for SaskTel’s pay-per-view service was due to expire Dec. 31, 2023, having been administratively renewed by the CRTC three times since August 2021, which is when the service’s licence was originally scheduled to expire.
The CRTC explained in its decision Monday, after SaskTel Pay-Per-View’s licence was renewed in 2014, the commission created the category of on-demand services by consolidating what were formerly known as pay-per-view and video-on-demand services.
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Bell is asking the Federal Court of Appeal to review whether the CRTC was allowed to automatically renew its broadcasting licences without notice or consultation.
The CRTC approved all of the broadcaster’s 66 television and specialty channel licences until August 2026 on an administrative renewal basis. But Bell still had an outstanding appeal in the form of Part 1 applications to the CRTC asking it to reduce the regulatory burdens on it because the financial climate for broadcasters has changed from when the licences were last renewed for a five-year term in 2017.
“There…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC has asked Bell and its subsidiary Northwestel to maintain services to Iristel until it can make a decision on an interconnection dispute that is threatening to terminate an agreement within 10 days.
Iristel filed an urgent Part 1 application earlier this month asking the regulator to force Bell to continue providing it interconnection services in northern Quebec after the telco sent a 30-day disconnection notice on September 21 because of unpaid dues.
Iristel said it stopped paying certain fees to Bell because it alleges the telco is violating the tariff the CRTC approved that stipulates…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Iristel wants the CRTC to get involved in a dispute related to a voice network interconnection agreement that Bell is allegedly threatening to cut off if the north service provider doesn’t pay its dues.
Iristel said in a Part 1 application filed Tuesday that Bell has allegedly violated access services rules by not fulfilling an arrangement in which it allegedly agreed to provide an interconnection point at Kuujjuaq in northern Quebec. Iristel said since 2015, it has reluctantly agreed to an interim agreement in which it would route traffic to Kuujjuaq point through a single exchange…
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OTTAWA – Following the British Columbia government’s Part 1 application filed last month requesting the CRTC mandate a testing environment for Canada’s next-generation 911 (NG911) networks, a group of representatives of Canadian public safety answering points (PSAPs) has filed its own Part 1 asking for a commission decision in support of a pre-production NG911 network and quality assurance program.
Signatories to the application — dated Sept. 22, filed with the CRTC on October 4 and posted on the CRTC’s website Tuesday — include representatives from Barrie Fire Dept., BC Emergency Health Services, City…
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Regulator credits Quebecor for lowering prices in market
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Quebecor will need to use the rate proposed by Bell for access to the telco’s national wireless network, the CRTC ruled Tuesday.
The regulator selected Bell’s price per gigabyte of data after the two parties could not on their own agree to commercial terms for access by Quebecor’s mobile virtual network operator business to Bell’s national wireless network.
“That rate best meets the evaluation criteria, and will promote competition, affordability, and continued investment by both companies in their networks,” the regulator said in a statement.
“With access to larger networks, regional…
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YELLOWKNIFE – Bell subsidiary Northwestel announced Wednesday it has launched fibre internet in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, making it the northernmost community in Canada to have fibre technology.
Northwestel customers in Tuktoyaktuk can now access high-speed, unlimited fibre internet with speeds up to 50 Mbps, up from 15 Mbps previously, says a press release.
“We’re very proud to bring in-community fibre to the first Arctic Ocean community,” Northwestel president Curtis Shaw said in the release. “Technology like this helps break down barriers to distance education, virtual health care and enables more participation in…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Representatives from the country’s largest independent internet service provider spoke directly with CRTC chair Vicky Eatrides in February about acquisitions that have swept the industry in recent months, according to documents obtained by Cartt.
Andy Kaplan-Myrth, TekSavvy’s vice president of regulatory and carrier affairs, sat down with the head of the regulator to talk about an “overview of market conditions for retail internet services,” including “observed pricing trends,” and a discussion “regarding the recent acquisitions in the market,” according to an outline of the morning meeting held on February 15 and obtained via access to information…
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