Freedom Mobile announced Tuesday it is expanding its selection of wireless rate plans in Manitoba to include larger data buckets at affordable prices.
Freedom said it has added three new 60 GB rate plans along with new Roam Beyond features on existing in-market plans in the province. Manitoba customers can now choose Freedom’s $39/mo. (with Digital Discount) 60 GB plan, which includes a one-time 5 GB Roam Beyond data allotment that can be used while travelling in more than 100 destinations worldwide. The other new 60 GB plans, priced at $49 and $59 per month (after Digital…
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Freedom Mobile announced Tuesday 5G+ access is now available across all Freedom monthly mobile phone plans, regardless of price, for customers using a compatible phone within Freedom’s 5G+ network coverage area.
Current Freedom customers on a 5G plan will automatically receive 5G+ access as part of their existing plan at no additional cost, Freedom said in a press release.
Freedom also said it is enhancing international roaming capabilities for customers by expanding its Roam Beyond offering. The Quebecor-owned wireless provider is now including one-time Roam Beyond Data Passes, which allow customers to use their plan features in more…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor’s plea that the start date be retroactive for its access to Bell’s wireless network on mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) rates flies in the face of the CRTC’s requirement that an agreement for that access first be signed, Bell is arguing to the regulator.
The CRTC ruled this past summer that Quebecor must sign a separate network access agreement on top of a commission-established tariff agreement to access Bell’s network on MVNO rates. Quebecor alleged in a review-and-vary application challenging that decision last month that the regulator failed to consider that Freedom Mobile and…
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Telecom said Canadian wireless on track for “coming quarters”
By Ahmad Hathout
Cogeco executives said Tuesday the telecom will bump up the price of at least some of its internet services in Canada in March.
President and CEO Frederic Perron said during a fiscal first quarter conference call the increase would be similar to past ones, but didn’t elaborate beyond that.
The comments came in response to a question about competitors looking into increasing their prices and therefore their average-revenue-per-user (ARPU) metrics. Quebecor, for example, announced in November that it would be increasing the price of its internet plans in…
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Videotron’s discount wireless brand Fizz announced Tuesday it has added new subscription areas in northeastern Ontario, including in Petawawa, Pembroke, Laurentian Valley, Renfrew, Deep River, Whitewater Region and Bonnechere Valley.
In addition, Fizz has expanded its service in areas east of the Greater Toronto Area, including in Cobourg, Port Hope and the townships of Hamilton, Cramahe and Alnwick/Haldimand, all located in Northumberland County.
In total, Fizz’s latest expansion covers over 160,000 more Ontario residents, according to a press release. The full list of new service areas as of Tuesday is available on the Fizz website. Fizz is a…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor is asking the CRTC to vary a decision related to its subsidiaries’ access to Bell’s mobile wireless network and to get the telco to reimburse it for amounts paid in excess of the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) tariff established by the CRTC.
For about a year now, the company’s telecom subsidiaries, Videotron and Freedom Mobile, have been paying Bell regular roaming rates to operate as MVNOs in certain areas as Quebecor grows its business as a fourth player. Quebecor says these rates are “considerably higher” than the MVNO rates proposed by Bell and picked by the…
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Incumbents say market is evolving and no regulatory action is needed
By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor’s Freedom Mobile on Thursday launched a national campaign urging Canadians to sign a petition voicing displeasure at what the telecom is calling “expensive daily roaming fees that cost Canadian travellers millions of dollars annually.”
Freedom is targeting the international roaming fees in Canadian plans, which it says are among the highest in the world. “We demand an end to these unfair and inflexible roaming fees, and we call on the incumbent carriers to take it upon themselves to implement fair and affordable roaming options for their customers….
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Competitors claim similar treatment by Rogers
By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers has responded to an allegation of undue preference with respect to a distant interconnection point it wants a small telecom to use for wholesale internet, saying it is up to the network builder, per its tariff, to determine where that traffic handoff will happen and that the CRTC has approved and affirmed the meet-me point in question.
Fibernetics filed a Part 1 last month alleging that Rogers is giving itself an undue preference by forcing the Cambridge, Ont.-based telecom to hook up to an interconnection office half a kilometre…
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Quebecor’s Freedom Mobile said Monday it has in recent months upgraded its wireless network by activating nearly 180 5G sites in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
The upgrades increase the telecom’s footprint by over a million people, with some being able to take advantage of 5G+ technology as a result of the upgrades, the telecom said.
The upgrades are in the Greater Toronto Area, which will see more extensive 5G+ coverage, and outlying communities such as Bradford West Gwillimbury, Newmarket, and Stouffville. Additional Ontario communities include Barrie, Brantford, Cambridge, Guelph Hamilton, Kitchener, London, Niagara Falls, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Waterloo, and Windsor.
In…
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Quebecor’s Videotron said Tuesday it is adding 28 more international destinations to its Canada-International phone plan, bumping its coverage to 100 locations.
The $60 plan now includes the following additional countries: Burkino Faso, Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guyana, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, and New Zealand.
Videotron also bumped up the amount of data on the plan from 25 GB to 45 GB, while keeping the same price.
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