TORONTO – With subscriber additions at Wind Mobile, Public Mobile and Mobilicity well below what many had hoped, is the model failing?
That’s what Canaccord Genuity telecom analyst Dvai Ghose asked on Monday in a research note to clients. Noting the departure of Mobilicity CEO Dave Dobbin is the second new entrant CEO to leave over the past six months, Ghose wrote what many have been saying for some time now: This isn’t how is was supposed to be.
“Independent new entrant subscriber growth has been weak — WIND only added 41k net subscribers in Q3/11, down from 45k…
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OTTAWA – Industry Minister Christian Paradis has been added to the slate of speakers at the International Institute of Communications (IIC) Canada 2011 conference.
Minister Paradis will provide a keynote address at the event, and join other luminaries such as Heritage Minister James Moore, CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, and CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein.
In addition, on the heels of the CRTC's recent decision on usage based billing, Bryan Tramont, managing partner at Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer LLP and former chief of staff for the Federal Communications Commission, and John Lawford, Counsel for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, will engage…
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THE REACTION TO THE CRTC’s decision to quash usage-based Internet billing in favour of a couple of other options (complete with set rates) has been all over the map, with several hailing it as a win for consumers while others predict broadband rates will only rise because of it. Then again, there are also some in the middle taking a wait and see approach.
Dennis Beland, senior director regulatory affairs, Quebecor:
“The decision is a victory for artificial competition. We’ve always been defenders of facilities-based competition and if you take a step back and look at the…
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MONTREAL – Current restrictions on foreign investment are hindering growth, innovation, and competition in the Canadian telecommunications industry, said Allstream president Dean Prevost.
Prevost made the comments on Thursday during a speech at the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.
"For your business, the network is oxygen: critical for survival… but that network – in Canada – is in danger of being starved of oxygen unless there are changes in the investment climate – and, specifically, the rules for who can invest in our industry," he said. "Right now, with the rules and policies as they are, the newer and more…
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LAST YEAR AT THIS time, Kevin Crull was into week three of his transition from long-time telecom executive to the leader of the largest Canadian broadcasting company.
Now president of Bell Media, the company which owns the CTV and CTV2 conventional TV networks, 29 specialty channels including market leader TSN, 33 radio stations and the Sympatico.ca portal, Crull came over from Bell Canada’s telco side, having run Bell Residential Services for five years. For a decade prior to that he was a senior executive with AT&T and US West.
One of his final projects at Bell Canada was writing the business…
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WHILE WE’VE YET TO hear back from the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Bell Canada or Telus – and Industry Canada hasn’t yet responded to our request for a better answer to our original question, Canada’s two largest cable companies have responded to our plea that our country come up with a plan to get broadband Internet access to low-income families.
As we reported, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission along with many cable companies and other contributors, have devised a program to offer broadband connectivity to low-income families for…
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OTTAWA – Industry Minister Christian Paradis announced an $80 million investment over three years to help accelerate the adoption of information and communications technologies by small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).
The initiative, known as the Digital Technology Adoption Pilot program, is designed to support and increase the adoption of digital technologies in SMEs in all sectors of the economy; raise awareness of the productivity benefits and importance of these technologies, and; improve understanding of the link between digital technologies and productivity by gathering data from participating firms.
“The Government of Canada is investing in the people and ideas that drive the…
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READERS MIGHT HAVE sensed with my column Thursday that I am taking the issue of getting broadband to low-income families very seriously. I called the fact that we have nothing in Canada to help the poor get broadband in their homes embarrassing, especially when compared to the ambitious and comprehensive Connect 2 Compete program that was launched in the United States this week by the Federal Communications Commission, numerous cable companies and other firms.
Then, reporter Peter Nowak reports today that Canada is the ONLY country in the G8 with no assistance…
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HALIFAX – EastLink will use MPEG-4 video compression technology in all of its broadcast and on-demand HD services to offer improved video quality and increased network capacity to its customers.
The move comes after the Halifax-based MSO conducted successful trials in test markets across Canada using Motorola’s MPEG-4 services.
“With the adoption of MPEG4 technology, we are capable of delivering the highest quality video our customers have come to expect while continuing to lead the industry in HD, 3D, and OnDemand content availability”, said EastLink president and COO Deborah Shaffner, in the announcement. “Our customers will also enjoy significantly increased…
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OTTAWA – Industry Canada should open up the TV white spaces spectrum in the broadcast band below 698 MHz on an unlicensed-basis, many companies are telling the department in its consultation on the as-yet used spectrum.
Earlier this summer, the department kicked off a consultation seeking input on the best ways to make the spectrum available. Cartt.ca reported on SMSE-012-11 in September. Companies tell Industry Canada that making white space spectrum licence-exempt will benefit consumers because of its ability to increase communications options.
Shaw Communications, which recently abandoned plans to deploy a mobile…
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