OTTAWA – According to a Reuters report, the federal government has decided to delay its decision on whether or not Huawei technology can be used by Canadian wireless providers until after the October federal election.
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The report quoted anonymous sources and cited political reasons for the potential delay. Originally, the federal government said the decision would come prior to the election.
When it comes to the Canadian wireless carriers, the decision will certainly affect Telus, Bell and SaskTel, who are waiting on the federal government’s decision before determining who their primary 5G technology…
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Regional provider will buy out contracts, too
HALIFAX – Regional carrier Eastlink today announced a new way for wireless customers to upgrade their smartphones with new program called easyUp, which will allow customers to upgrade their cell phone every 12 months if they want.
“EasyUp is unlike anything else in our markets. It is designed for consumers who want to stay on trend with the very latest devices providing greater flexibility and a quicker, more seamless path for consumers to upgrade their phone after just one year,” said Deborah Shaffner, CEO, in the press release.
Customers can sign up for easyUp when…
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POINT ROBERTS, Wash. – A report in the Delta Optimist this week notes that Eastlink has decided to stop serving customers in the small town of Point Roberts, Washington.
Point Roberts the southern tip of a peninsula, just over the border from Delta, B.C., where Eastlink owns the local cable company, formerly known as Delta Cable. The only way out of Point Roberts is back into Canada, or by boat into the Strait of Georgia.
Delta Cable’s former owners, the Thomas family, long ago built cable into the U.S. town (pop. 1,300), but Eastlink has told its…
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Slowed speeds after 10 GB might be against the rules
GATINEAU – Who would have thought a routine process of monitoring Internet pricing to make sure Internet Traffic Management Practices (ITMPs) don’t violate consumer rights would bump up against the much ballyhooed new $75 wireless data pricing plans?
The CRTC has long been concerned about some differential pricing practices that could be viewed as unfair, so it decided two years ago to “closely monitor the retail prices and data caps for both wireless and fixed-line Internet services, which will enable it to assess the degree to which…
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THE LAUNCH LAST week of Rogers Communications’ new $75/month 10 GB Infinite unlimited wireless data plan has forced the entire Canadian wireless industry to respond.
While Bell and Telus quickly offered what more or less amounts to a matching offer the day after Rogers made its announcement, Telus has since offered additional, new $75 plans and regional carriers Videotron and Eastlink have now matched the pricing.
Only Rogers, however, has said this new pricing is long-term, while the others have set expiry dates on their offers, or have said they are for a limited time, but no…
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SUNSHINE COAST, BC – Eastlink’s Coast Community TV is celebrating 40 years showcasing the best of the Sunshine Coast.
The volunteer driven channel got its start by students and teachers at Elphinstone Secondary School who hosted a Community Television Forum in June, 1979 to determine the community support for a volunteer run community television station.
"We were actually an after school group; we called ourselves ESRP, Elphinstone Student Research Productions,” said filmmaker Velcrow Ripper, a student of the original television production class, in a statement. “Our mentor and teacher, Marta MacKown, came up with this idea of creating a broadcasting…
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Tosses “incoherent” barb back at the industry
TORONTO – ISED Minister Navdeep Bains was the closer at the 2019 Canadian Telecom Summit on Wednesday and his comments made on stage – as well as after – should leave wireless industry leaders and observers more certain than ever that a major regulatory shift, especially when it comes to the long held policy bedrock known as “facilities-based competition,” is going to happen.
For three days, the major carriers did their level best to lay out a case against mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs, or wireless resellers) as well as the reasons why it’s…
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TORONTO – There may have been over a dozen topics on the hit list for this year's regulatory blockbuster session at this year’s Canadian Telecom Summit, but the six panelists kept coming back to one: MVNOs, yea or nay.
Moderator Greg O'Brien, editor and publisher of Cartt.ca, set the tone, commenting, "This panel is often fun, always a little prickly, which is part of the fun
“The industry is being transformed from all sides," he went on. "It's being changed from within, from without, and, crucially, from Ottawa."
Key among the events include the broadcast and telecom legislative review panel, a proposed…
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MVNOs won't work in Canada
TORONTO – Shaw Communications’ Paul McAleese co-founded and ran a successful MVNO in the United States for a dozen years before coming back to Canada to head up Freedom Mobile.
While he’s still a satisfied investor in i-wireless, which runs the mobile offering of the Kroger chain of grocery stores, he said comparing that company and the U.S. wireless market in general to Canada’s is a mug’s game. First, the American market is just so much bigger, where MVNOs can carve out a living with low margins there thanks to American market scale in a way…
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TORONTO –Innovation, Science and Economic Development minister Navdeep Bains is expected to reveal the proposed structure of the 3500 MHz spectrum auction on Wednesday and, tapping into his inner Raptor, Scotiabank telecom analyst Jeff Fan said in a report this week he expects Bains to “deliver its version of ‘The Klaw’.”
Using Toronto Raptors’ star Kawhi Leonard’s nickname as a fun hook, Fan set out what he believes will happen to the 3500 MHz spectrum currently co-owned by Rogers Communications and Bell Canada. Like Leonard stripping an opponent of the basketball, ISED will be stripping a lot of that spectrum…
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