Pension fund La Caisse (formerly CDPQ) announced Wednesday it has invested $1.76 billion to acquire a 24-per-cent stake in Mumbai-based Altius Telecom Infrastructure Trust, which owns and operates more than 258,000 telecom towers and sites across India.
With the transaction now complete, global investment firm Brookfield remains Altius’s largest investor, alongside La Caisse and existing shareholders who are affiliates of Singapore’s GIC and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), a La Caisse press release said.
Brookfield and BCI’s investment in Indian telecom tower assets dates back to 2020, when they purchased a 100-per-cent…
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The CRTC last week in a letter asked several independent service providers for information regarding their retail internet subscriber numbers as the commission continues to monitor market conditions to ensure its wholesale high-speed access (HSA) framework achieves its policy objectives.
The commission directed its request for information to IT2IS Inc. (doing business as Bravo Telecom), Carry Telecom Inc., CIK Telecom Inc., Cipherkey Exchange Corp., Execulink Telecom Inc., Fibernetics Corporation, Frontier Networks Inc., Purple Cow Internet Inc., TekSavvy Solutions Inc. and Vianet Inc. Several other independent ISPs were included on the letter’s distribution list, and the CRTC said…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The extent of spectrum sharing between Bell and Telus increased from 45 per cent to 90 per cent of each company’s total spectrum licence holdings following four new approvals this past fall to subordinate spectrum to each other, the department handling the airwaves confirmed to us.
Cartt obtained a backgrounder document on the state of spectrum sharing between the country’s largest telcos, which dates back to 2008. In it, Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), which encourages such sharing, notes that since 2013, the department has approved about 20 separate joint requests from Bell and Telus to share…
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Rogers announced Wednesday it has expanded its 5G+ wireless network to Salisbury, New Brunswick, to help meet the area’s growing needs and ensure reliable access to emergency services.
“We know how important it is for New Brunswickers to stay connected and we’re investing to enhance our wireless network in Salisbury,” Mark Kennedy, Rogers’s chief technology officer, said in a press release. “This new 5G+ service will strengthen connectivity for local residents and businesses in the community.”
“We welcome investments that expand reliable connectivity in Salisbury and appreciate the work undertaken by Rogers to ensure that our residents can…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Internet service provider Uplink is asking the CRTC to stop Frontier from continuing to disconnect its customers over a pay dispute until it can migrate them to a new provider.
While it disputes the amount, Aylmer, Ontario-based Uplink acknowledges in its Part 1 application, made public Friday, that it does owe some amount of money to its Etobicoke-based wholesale internet provider Frontier, which supplies capacity leased from Rogers and Eastlink. Uplink says it is “prepared to discuss a reasonable interim payment arrangement while the migrations are completed,” including by direction from the CRTC.
In the meantime, Uplink is asking…
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The Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN) and Rogers announced Thursday the completion of the EORN Cell Gap Project.
The $300-million public-private partnership aimed to bring 5G services across eastern Ontario. Rogers, which was selected as the telecom through a competitive bidding process, built 346 new wireless sites and upgraded 311 existing sites with 5G equipment.
The project targeted 99 per cent voice call coverage, 95 per cent standard definition coverage, and 85 per cent high-definition coverage “in the demand areas where people live, work and travel on major roadways across the municipalities…
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Commissioner says CRTC could have suggested further solution for leftover customers
By Ahmad Hathout
Ztar Mobile Canada, a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), has been denied an application to access Rogers’s system to port over its customers’ phone numbers to another network.
For 20 years, Ztar has operated brands including Good2Go Mobile, SpeakOut Wireless, and Ztar Mobile, reselling services through Rogers’s 3G network. But in late 2024, Rogers informed Ztar that it would not be renewing their resale agreement, claiming the reseller had millions of dollars in outstanding amounts it owed and the cable giant, in any case, was looking to decommission…
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FRPC and PIAC request for oral hearing also denied
The CRTC last week denied a request from Telus asking for the regulator to separate its inquiry into whether new fees introduced by the largest telecoms are offside of the Wireless Code.
Telus had requested that the regulator first establish whether a violation has occurred and then determine whether an administrative monetary penalty (AMP) is required and what that should be. At issue are Bell’s new $40 device handling fee, Telus’s $15 charge for SIM cards, and Rogers’s $40 device…
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Rogers announced Friday that it has turned on its satellite-to-mobile service Rogers Satellite for free to all Rogers wireless customers in British Columbia as wildfires continue to spread across the province.
Rogers Satellite provides connectivity to most modern smartphones where traditional cell coverage is not available. It can keep wireless customers connected if a cell tower is down because of wildfire damage or a power outage, and in areas not reached by towers such as remote highways, Rogers said in a press release.
Rogers is opening up the service province-wide in B.C. (south of…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Friday launched a show-cause proceeding requiring Bell to show why its practice of selling locked devices isn’t a violation of the Wireless Code.
In the meantime, the regulator is suspending section F.1 of the Wireless Code, which explicitly states that carriers must sell devices in an unlocked state. As a result, carriers will be allowed to sell locked devices provided they automatically unlock them within two business days after purchase.
“Service providers must also make reasonable efforts to inform customers about how long devices will be locked for, what receiving a locked device…
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