Freedom has been using MVNO regime in the province for time being
Quebecor announced Monday its president and CEO, Pierre Karl Peladeau, recently met with Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew to discuss a series of upcoming initiatives in the province, including the rollout of its own wireless network in the province next year.
Peladeau, who is the owner of the Montreal Alouettes, was in Winnipeg for the Grey Cup final, which saw the Saskatchewan Roughriders defeat the Alouettes 25-17 to win the cup.
In addition to the planned construction of Freedom Mobile’s Manitoba wireless network, expected…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor and Bell are wrangling on the issue of when exactly permits are processed for the purposes of determining who is responsible for corrective work on support structures that must carry more attachments.
Quebecor filed a Part 1 application, made public on Monday, asking the CRTC to clarify the status of attaching permit applications that had yet to be fully approved by Bell when the CRTC in January ordered the telcos to make the necessary corrective work on structures at their own expense to prepare for new equipment.
Specifically, the issue is when those outstanding applications…
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Quebecor’s TVA Group announced Wednesday it is eliminating 87 positions in its broadcasting segment as its financial situation continues to deteriorate.
The cuts affect primarily unionized jobs and include permanent and temporary positions in Montreal and at local stations in Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke, Saguenay and Rimouski, TVA Group said in a press release.
Despite its restructuring and workforce rationalization strategies in recent years, TVA Group has posted cumulative net losses of more than $93 million since January 2022, including a $17 million loss for the first nine months of 2025, due primarily to a…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The head of Quebecor on Thursday excoriated the federal government’s decision to up CBC/Radio-Canada’s annual funding while not forcing it out of commercial advertising sales.
The Liberals allocated an additional $150 million to the public broadcaster’s annual appropriation, which was a pre-election commitment from Prime Minister Mark Carney, but did not push it out of those ad sales for which private television broadcasters compete.
“Regrettably, this new government has missed an opportunity to support an industry facing ever-growing challenges and job losses at an alarming rate,” Pierre Karl Peladeau, president and CEO of Quebecor, said during…
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Quebecor’s Videotron announced Wednesday it is continuing the rollout of its Helix technology in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, making available its internet and TV services to more than 20,000 additional households in Roberval, Alma, Saint-Bruno, Hérbertville, Hérbertville-Station, Chambord and Saint-Nazaire.
“Videotron is very pleased to welcome residents from several municipalities in Saguenay–Lac-St-Jean to the Helix family,” said Quebecor President and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau in a Videotron press release. “This expansion of our Internet and television services furthers our mission of fostering healthy, vigorous competition that directly benefits consumers.”
These new Helix-powered services are…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal will hear a SaskTel challenge that alleges the CRTC’s decision to mandate access its bundled fibre facilities was based on a cabinet direction that conflicts with the Telecommunications Act.
The court approved the telco’s leave to appeal application on Friday, just over a year after it was filed in September 2024.
The gist of the argument is that the CRTC allegedly preordained a decision based on what it was told by the federal government, which, through section 10 of the 2023 cabinet direction, ordered it to adopt a specific policy of…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Cable companies will have to tough out the extended implementation time of the next-generation 911 networks after the CRTC rejected Monday a review-and-vary application from Rogers and Quebecor that said an extension was undue because they have to pay for two different emergency networks simultaneously until the old one is phased out.
Rogers and Quebecor filed the application in April, arguing that the CRTC’s extension by two years to fully replace the old system is unjust because no one in the proceeding asked for an extension that long and it would cost cablecos millions of…
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Being one of the major telecoms to receive funding from Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology Inc. (SWIFT) to build broadband networks in southwestern Ontario, Bell is being asked by the CRTC to respond to questions relating to a Part 1 application from consulting firm Broadlytics that requested the CRTC clarify that SWIFT-funded builds are subject to the commission’s aggregated wholesale access framework for fibre facilities.
The CRTC made its information request to Bell via a Nov. 3 letter, after the telecom giant did not intervene in the commission’s proceeding on…
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The CRTC said in a letter last Friday it is temporarily suspending the Nov. 4 implementation deadline for its new telecom service outage reporting requirements as it considers an Oct. 7 review-and-vary application jointly filed by major telecoms Rogers, Bell, Telus, Eastlink, Cogeco, Quebecor and SaskTel.
The group has requested changes be made to the new outage reporting requirements to address operational challenges and to reduce the administrative burden on them, while also asking the CRTC to extend the implementation deadline.
The CRTC is granting an extension,…
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Cogeco considering appeal options
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said an agreement to get Quebecor’s internet station QUB Radio on the traditional FM dial run by Leclerc Communication did not require commission approval because the owner still had and has control of the station.
Cogeco and Bell, two major players in the Montreal radio market, filed a complaint to the commission arguing that because the agreement last summer sees QUB Radio programming take over CJPX-FM (99.5 FM) during primetime Monday through Friday, it required a change of control application to the CRTC. Had that process been followed, they further argue, the CRTC…
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