GATINEAU – The CRTC last week turned down Aliant Telecom’s request for relief from the telecom win-back rules and policies against wireline promotions.
The eastern telco said that the market in Nova Scotia is plenty competitive, what with the surging cableco EastLink, which provides local telephony in most regions, and that the win-back rules (which prevent an incumbent from contacting a lost customer for an entire year) and promotional restrictions must be lifted.
The CRTC said no, saying that any determination on matters like this will take place during the hearings coming up next week (and the…
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THIS IS A BIG JOB. No wonder Rogers Communications Group’s president and COO Nadir Mohamed doesn’t want to talk about succession. He’s got lots on his plate to worry about now, rather than what his next job might be.
Besides, last week’s National Post Business article beat that story to death (and then some) last week.
What we wanted to know is where the company’s priorities lay. What’s job one for him rightnow? How is he going to bring together two disparate groups (cable and wireless, together a $5 billion business), two completely different technological platforms, into a cohesive,…
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WHILE WE CAN’T SAY for sure that Compton Communications will be the smallest North American video on demand provider when it launches this fall, we figure it’s pretty unlikely that many other 5,000-customer cable companies in Canada or the U.S. are planning on offering it that soon.
It’s a very expensive technology, fraught with difficult to solve issues, especially for a small operator. Think Paramount’s EVP of programming will have Compton’s VOD launch on his priority list, for example?
Compton Cable (which serves the Port Perry, Ont. region, about an hour’s drive northeast of Toronto, on Lake Scugog) has…
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WOLFVILLE, N.S. – EastLink announced recently it is spending $19 million in brining local telephone competition to the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia.
Co-CEO Dan McKeen made the announcement earlier this month along with Wolfville mayor Bob Stead and mayors and town officials from Berwick, Kentville, New Minas and Windsor, McKeen said the expansion of telephone service into Valley communities will provide businesses and customers with local telephone savings.
“Wolfville and areas of New Minas will be the first to enjoy choice,” he said. Residents and businesses there can already subscribe to EastLink’s telephone service.
EastLink crews and contractors…
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OTTAWA – All the regional telcos used to work together to lobby the government like this under the old Stentor Alliance – an working group that was disbanded years ago when they all decided to compete with one another.
Today, the remaining former Stentor members (with one notable exception) held a joint press conference to make official their appeal to Federal Cabinet over the CRTC’s voice over Internet protocol decision.
The decision, as reported on numerous occasions by www.cartt.ca, says that incumbent telcos have to abide by existing telecom regulations in the way of win-back rules, tariff applications, and…
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HALIFAX – EastLink announced today it will be official communications provider and offer exclusive event coverage as part of a sponsorship deal with the Atlantic Film Festival, September 15-24 in the Nova Scotia city.
EastLink will support the festival through its high speed Internet service, local telephone and cable services. It’s also a first in that the partnership will see EastLink Television – with the support of its employees and volunteers – provide exclusive programming and live coverage of the event. This will include interviews with major stars, directors and festival organizers; live coverage of red-carpet Galas, including the…
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SAINT JOHN – Eastern telco Aliant is offering its customers a chance to buy a personal computer through the company.
Its new PC purchase program is a unique offer that will allow more Atlantic Canadians to get online. The program combines Aliant’s high speed Internet with a new home computer system, beginning at $54.95 a month (based on a three-year contract).
The company did not disclose which brand of computer it would be selling.
"Our research tells us that approximately 37% of Atlantic Canadians don’t have a computer or online access at home – this value-packed program will give…
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HALIFAX – A day after eastern telco Aliant announced IP-delivered digital TV, MSO EastLink announced today it is introducing a 10 Megabit per second (Mbps) Internet service to all of its bundle customers.
EastLink is the first Maritime provider to launch the 10 Mbps Internet speed across all its service areas, says the release. The company was also the first to launch local telephone over a cable network in Canada and one of the first in North America.
"Our new service is twice as fast as our highly popular five…
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HALIFAX – Eastern telco Aliant officially launched its digital television service, Aliant TV, in Halifax today.
The IP-delivered television service boasts digital picture and sound and features over 150 television and over 70 music channels. The company had been testing the service with about 50 customers for months prior to today’s announcement.
The lowest-price package of 75 channels is $29 a month for the first year and $39 thereafter, and only for Aliant High Speed value package customers.
"Aliant is pleased to offer our 100 per cent digital television service to our Aliant High Speed Value Package customers. A great…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable today made official its launch of voice over Internet telephony in many of its major service areas.
Over the last year, Cogeco Cable has successfully tested its new digital telephone service in the Trois-Rivières area in Québec and in the Burlington/Oakville Ontario corridor.
These conclusive trials, as well as the market studies conducted at the same time, have helped to better pinpoint the services and functions that customers want, says the company.
In 2001, Cogeco abandoned testing it was doing in the telephony space after spending about $25 million, saying it would wait for the…
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