MONTREAL – Calling Bell Canada anti-competitive, the Coalition of Quebec Internet Service Providers said it’s “deeply concerned” with Bell Canada’s decision to try and keep high tariffs on “naked DSL” wholesale service.
In April 2005, the Coalition had submitted comments to the CRTC in regards to Bell Canada Tariff Notice 6862, asking that rates charged by Bell Canada to wholesalers for naked DSL (which refers to DSL service without the local phone line) “should allow them to remain a viable alternative to Bell Canada’s Sympatico while remaining reasonably profitable,” says the group.
"Bell Canada failed to address the main…
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TORONTO – Don’t expect Bell Canada Enterprises to let up on the CRTC any time soon.
Still stinging from the Commission’s May 12th VOIP decision, which maintains traditional regs on telcos’ voice over IP offerings while cablecos and others get a head start, BCE CEO Michael Sabia made plain today in his keynote address at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto that the company will keep pressuring government for wholesale change.
The situation is dire, he said, as Canada loses ground in the information communications technology (ICT) space to forward-thinking countries like Ireland and Korea. “By making a conscious…
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TORONTO – While he didn’t name names, one of the newest players in the telecom space in Canada appear to be having problems dealing with a certain western MSO.
At a Monday session during the Canadian Telecom Summit entitled VOIP Pioneers – Early Results, Matt Stein, vice-president of new technology and services with VOIP provider Primus Canada, expressed his frustration with customer issues that are peculiar to the west.
“The vast majority of our quality issues are from Alberta and British Columbia,” he said. “An overwhelming amount comes from those provinces and while I won’t name the company, it…
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MONTREAL – A province-wide news network is next for Corus Radio now that the purchase of the former Telemedia group of radio stations from Astral Media has been completed.
Corus Québec president Pierre Arcand announced today that the deal was official, making Corus Québec the largest talk radio broadcaster in Quebec. In this transaction, Corus Québec acquired seven AM stations and one FM station: CKAC Montreal, CHRC Quebec City, CJRC Gatineau, CKRS Saguenay, CHLN Trois-Rivières, CHLT Sherbrooke, CKTS Sherbrooke, and CFOM-FM Lévis. In return, Corus Québec will transfer the following five FM stations to Astral Media: CJOI-FM Rimouski, CIKI-FM…
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WINNIPEG – While his announcement that Shaw Communications’ VOIP launch in Winnipeg is imminent got some headlines after a speech last week, company CEO Jim Shaw used the forum to pound away at one of his favorite topics: transforming government policy.
After saying in the prepared text of his speech to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce that he expected Shaw to launch voice over Internet protocol telephony in Winnipeg, “in the next few weeks,” he went on to outline his vision of a lighter regulatory regime for the telecom and TV industry.
Broadcast, telecom, it doesn’t matter, all areas…
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WE ALL HAVE A WISH-list, don’t we? Things we think and sometimes say about what we’d change if a genie popped from a bottle.
While a genie grants but three wishes, I have many, many more than that. Greedy, I guess, but here goes. I wish:
* I had telephone call display on my TV screen. That’s a nifty option Sasktel and MTS offer on their DSL TV service. It’s something I’d certainly pay for.
* Telcos and cablecos would quit going after each other at the Commission so often and concentrate on their marketing and engineering. Each side…
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MONTREAL – A new report authored for Videotron released today says that voice over Internet protocol telephony offers a unique window of opportunity for real competition in the Canadian voice marketplace.
Videotron, not surprisingly, calls the CRTC’s May 12th decision on the regulation of VOIP-delivered telephony the right one.
“In its decision, the CRTC recognized the potential of VoIP technology to finally bring meaningful entry into the local telephone market, eight years after this market was formally opened to competition. At the same time, the CRTC purposefully refrained from a premature deregulation of VoIP services offered by the former…
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TORONTO – Look for some day two fireworks at the 2005 Canadian Telecom Summit.
The 11 a.m. session on May 31st, day two of what looks to be a great three days, is entitled “The Regulatory Blockbuster”, which most will identify as last week’s VOIP ruling from the CRTC. The session’s panelists are scheduled to be Lawson Hunter, executive vice-president, BCE Inc.; Janet Yale, EVP corporate affairs, Telus; Jean Brazeau, senior v-p regulatory, Sprint Canada; Ken Englehart, v-p regulatory, Rogers Communications; Chris Peirce, senior v-p regulatory, MTS-Allstream; and Michael Hennessy, president, Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association.
Given the hundreds of…
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TORONTO – Bell Canada Enterprises shareholders are risking their investment, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union told those attending the company’s annual general meeting in Toronto today.
By not settling with striking telephone installation and repair workers employed by Bell Subco (Entourage), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bell Canada, service levels at Bell have fallen well below regulated levels imposed by the CRTC, says CEP Canada.
"That means," said CEP Ontario administrative vice-president Bob Huget, "that Bell Canada is potentially subject to millions of dollars in penalties for not living up to its service commitments. That money will come…
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MONTREAL – When it comes to unbundled DSL, Bell Canada must eliminate the surcharges foisted upon independent ISPs if Internet competition is to survive, a group of Quebec ISPs told the CRTC today.
Calling themselves the Coalition of Quebec Internet Service Providers, the group says it needs a compromise on a recent tariff notice Bell has filed with the Commission, “that will spare smaller ISPs from being subjected to further anti-competitive practices regarding naked DSL (unbundled local loops), a high speed DSL access without a phone line.”
“Bell Canada must waive their extra surcharges for reselling naked DSL to the…
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