TORONTO – The new wireless entrants continue to get creative with their choice of authorized dealers.
After competitors Wind Mobile set up shop in select Blockbuster locations, and Public Mobile partnered with Gateway Newstands in Toronto, Mobilicity has announced that its products will be available at the 7-Eleven convenience store chain.
"Like 7-Eleven, Mobilicity caters to customers looking for value and convenience," said VP of sales, Doug Perry, in the announcement. "We take the complexities out of wireless so that everything from buying a phone to using that phone is convenient for our customers. Being able to buy Mobilicity’s unlimited wireless,…
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SHERIDAN SCOTT KNOWS she’s going to have to improvise somewhat when she opens her panel session at the International Institute of Communications Canadian chapter conference on November 22.
Her panel is called “taking stock of national digital strategies” and is scheduled to happen about two hours after Industry Minister Tony Clement is scheduled to speak. He is expected to give a progress report on where he and his ministry are in crafting Canada’s national digital strategy – a process the minister kicked off in May (Some are also expecting an update on the federal governments thinking on…
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OTTAWA – Mobile payments are going to be a rather tough sell in Canada, a conference in Ottawa this week heard. Not only are merchants reluctant to support and potentially pay for yet another payment channel, but technology and regulatory challenges could slow the broad adoption of mobile payments.
Speaking at the 2010 Mobile Money Forum, Christie Christelis, president of Technology Strategies International, explained that one of the major barriers to mobile payment uptake is due to the various forms they can take. Will they predominantly be a mobile web application or will radio frequency identification (RFID) play a…
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OTTAWA – Ruth Thorkelson, senior vice-president of public affairs at the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), described merchants’ mood towards mobile payments as “neutral to frosty” because they don’t yet see the value. Plus, merchants aren’t likely to adopt mobile payments the way they have for debit and credit card transactions because of security concerns.
“There is a reason why we are the second highest debit users in the world: it was a 100% rock solid guarantee by every player in that payment chain that your transaction was secure. There’s almost no risk for the consumer. That’s why we…
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A GRASSROOTS INITIATIVE designed to stop incumbent ISPs like Bell, Rogers and Shaw from implementing usage-based billing seems to be quietly gaining momentum.
Led by the consumer group OpenMedia.ca, the campaign launched a petition late last week which calls usage-based billing “a blow to consumer choice, to access, and to free expression” and “devastating not only for the user experience, but for all innovation and entrepreneurship online”.
Using an image of a parking meter whose red ‘expired’ tag reads “Too Much Internet”, the petition had over a thousand names in less than 24 hours. This prompted the OpenMedia.ca network to kick off an…
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OTTAWA – The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology fast-tracked proposed anti-spam legislation last week with very little debate. Bill C-28, which proposes a number of new provisions on how to deal with unsolicited commercial email, is essential the same as the previously debated Bill C-27.
Industry Canada introduced two minor changes that govern how the new law will interact with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Bill C-28 (Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act, or FISA) will take precedence over PIPDEA with respect to any consent conflicts and the new bill includes more precise…
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MARKHAM, ON – After receiving funding from Industry Canada’s Connecting Rural Canadians program over the weekend, Barrett Xplore said Monday that it will focus its efforts on the 3903 households in Grey, Bruce, Huron, and Perth Counties of Ontario.
These households represent approximately 40% of the Ontario households awarded in this round of funding.
"This award speaks to the strength of our business model," said CEO John Maduri, in a statement. "We are committed to executing on a solid plan for growth in Ontario with an approach that will involve the latest 4G technologies and which will ensure full coverage…
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BRACEBRIDGE, Ont. – It’s taken a while to dole out the millions of dollars the federal government set aside to fund broadband expansion to rural areas in Canada.
That has led some telecom industry insiders to tell Cartt.ca Industry Canada, which is in charge of the Broadband Canada fund, is having difficulty finding enough places which remain unserved by Canadian broadband providers upon which to spend the money.
However, after Saturday’s announcement of the third wave of funding, $152 million of the $225 million available has been spoken for and Minister Tony Clement told Cartt.ca in an interview Saturday the…
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BRACEBRIDGE, Ont. – One day after the CRTC wrapped up its hearing into the potential for more obligations, money and higher speeds for rural broadband (among other items), Industry Canada announced 21 new projects to be funded through the Broadband Canada: Connecting Rural Canadians program.
These 21 latest projects will cost $29.1 million and soon connect 30,184 households in four provinces and one territory to broadband Internet networks, announced Industry Minister Tony Clement, who spoke at the Muskoka Bean Cafe in Bracebridge on Saturday morning.
This announcement brings total spending so far from the $225 million Broadband Canada fund to $152…
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TORONTO – If Canada is going to deliver broadband nationwide – connecting a growing plethora of products – we need to move forward immediately on the next wireless spectrum auction, Rogers Communications CEO Nadir Mohamed said on Wednesday.
In a speech at the Economic Club of Toronto and later speaking to reporters, Mohamed implored the federal government to move the auction of the 700 MHz block of spectrum especially with greater alacrity. He also asked Industry Canada to make sure the auction is without the set-aside rules favouring newcomers which was used in the last spectrum sell-off in 2008 that…
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