TIMMINS, ON – The proposed sale of Ontera to Bell Aliant has been pushed back to October, prompting speculation that a review by the Competition Bureau could kill the deal entirely.
According to a report by the North Bay Nugget, politicians, municipal leaders and Ontario Northland Transportion Commission unions have filed complaints with the Bureau, raising concerns the Ontera sale will create a monopoly of telecommunication services in portions of Northeastern Ontario which in turn would impact the cost and level of service for customers. About half of the 125 jobs at Ontera would also be lost within the…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The federal government said that it will force the communication industry to abandon paper bill charges after the country’s biggest companies failed to commit to doing so at Thursday’s CRTC review into the practice.
Industry Minister James Moore said Friday that charging extra fees to customers who receive paper copies of their bills, a practice known as pay-to-pay billing, was “unfair”, and promised that the government would introduce legislation to end it in the telecommunications sector. He did not say when such legislation would be tabled.
"More and more Canadians are finding a new charge appearing on their monthly…
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SYDNEY, NS – Eastlink has expanded “Atlantic Canada’s largest 4G LTE network” to residents in the Greater Sydney area and Glace Bay.
To better serve its customers in this area, the company has also opened a wireless only retail location in the Mayflower Mall, which will showcase its range of wireless devices and competitive products.
"We are excited to bring people in the Sydney area the best possible wireless experience, including easy-to-understand and flexible plans, great value for money, and excellent customer service – all from a proudly local provider," said Eastlink Wireless president Matthew MacLellan, in the news release.
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OTTAWA – Eastlink parent Bragg Communications has shelved plans to acquire Ontario's Bruce Telecom after failing to receive approval from the Competition Bureau.
In an announcement Friday, the Bureau said that had Eastlink's acquisition of Bruce Telecom proceeded as proposed, “it would have likely resulted in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition in the towns of Port Elgin and Paisley”, where the two companies compete. As a result, the two parties “ultimately decided to abandon the proposed transaction”, reportedly valued at $24 million.
Both companies are facilities-based providers of telecommunications services, including wireline telephone, broadband Internet and television, within Bruce…
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JUST BECAUSE BELL Canada, Quebecor Media, Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications are all broadcasters, specialty service operators, TV distributors, phone companies and broadband providers doesn’t mean they think alike. They do, however, agree on this generation’s “Death Star”. We’re looking at you, Netflix.
In their submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review, the four big vertically integrated behemoths are on board together with certain things, such as maintaining simultaneous substitution (which is actually something virtually every industry submission we’ve read demands be kept), decreasing the amount of Canadian content which must be shown, while spending more money on fewer big…
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TORONTO – TSN will flip the switch on its three new national feeds on August 25, opening day of the U.S. Open, and take the opportunity to deliver expanded live coverage of the final tennis Grand Slam of the season.
TSN said Monday that its feeds, branded TSN1, TSN2, TSN3, TSN4, and TSN5, will initially be available to customers of Bell Fibe TV and Bell Satellite, Cogeco Cable, Eastlink, FibreOp TV (Bell Aliant), MTS, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct, Source Cable, and Telus Optik TV.
The additional feeds will allow the sports network to show more live game coverage,…
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HALIFAX – Eastlink Wireless customers can talk, surf and text in more places down east than ever before, thanks to a “unique network partner approach to supplement its own network coverage,” the company announced Thursday afternoon.
The Bragg family-owned cable and wireless company says that its customers now have the most coverage of any carrier in Atlantic Canada (see map, pictured).
“We’re unable to name the partner we have added and we have excellent coverage here in Atlantic Canada but there were places – whether it was a cottage or a golf course or so on where customers might have been…
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OTTAWA – With a healthy set-aside for operating newcomers (read: wireless companies which are serving Canadians and who aren’t Rogers, Bell or Telus), the federal government opened its public consultation on the AWS-3 auction it plans to hold in March of 2015 – one month prior to the long-planned 2500 MHz auction.
AWS-3 spectrum is in the 1755-1780 and 2155-2180 MHz bands and 30 of the 50 MHz on offer will be solely for the likes of Videotron, Wind, EastLink, and Mobilicity (or whomever is left standing in eight months…). In order to be eligible to bid on the set-aside,…
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GATINEAU – It will surprise no one that the cost of sports television are front and centre for so many of the submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review
Telus, for example, called the amount of cash being sent to various leagues and teams for the rights to live games “irrational” and has requested the CRTC address the soaring price of sports services and eliminate penetration-based rate cards in sports packaging.
Lined up on the side of Telus, are Shaw Communications, Cogeco and Canadian Cable Systems Alliance members, distributors who own no sports channels. While vertically integrated companies like Rogers and…
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TORONTO – Independent movie channel operator Hollywood Suite announced the launch of Hollywood Suite GO (HSGO) Tuesday, available on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android devices for subscribers through carrier partners Source Cable, Eastlink, Telus Optik TV, and Cogeco Cable.
Customers of each BDU can download the Hollywood Suite GO app immediately and take Hollywood Suite with them. Available at no additional cost for existing subscribers, HSGO gives movie lovers the freedom and the ability to enjoy their favourite movies in high definition with unlimited access whenever and wherever they want, says the company’s press release.
Optimized for Apple iOS and Android Devices,…
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