The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), wrote the CRTC last week to express “serious concerns regarding the actions” of Bell, Telus, and Rogers with regards to their recently released low-cost plans.
On July 14, Bell, Telus and Rogers each released new low-cost and occasional-use plans, as directed by the CRTC in Telecommunications Regulatory Policy CRTC 2021-130. PIAC, in its letter to the CRTC, noted the policy indicated “the Commission expected that the incumbents provide at least one low-cost plan on their premium brands.”
Despite this, PIAC did not find any such plan on the any of the companies’ premium brand…
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MONTREAL — Third-party internet access (TPIA) provider oxio announced today it has raised $25 million in Series A funding, bringing its total funding to $40 million.
Xavier Niel, founder of France-based telecom company Free, is the lead investor for Montreal-based oxio’s first significant venture capital financing, with additional investors including Investissement Québec, Desjardins Capital, Desjardins Entreprise, WndrCo and Dispatch Ventures.
“We have a very different way of looking at telecommunications; we see a separation between physical networks and digital providers, much like what cloud-computing has done with servers,” says Marc-André Campagna, oxio co-founder and CEO, in a press release.
“We foresee a future…
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Telus fastest mobile operator during the quarter
SEATTLE — Shaw Communications and Rogers Communications were the fastest fixed broadband providers in Canada in the second quarter of 2021, according to Seattle-based broadband and mobile network testing company Ookla, which released its Q2 2021 Canada Market Report today.
Using Speedtest Intelligence data from the second quarter, Ookla gave Shaw and Rogers speed scores of 181.66 and 179.95, respectively, for their fixed broadband network performance. Ookla’s speed score incorporates measurements of each provider’s download and upload speeds to rank network speed performance, with 90% of the final score being attributed to download…
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Rogers, Telus and Bell have all put out new low-cost and occasional-use wireless plans in compliance with a CRTC directive to do so by today.
The directive was part of the outcome of the CRTC’s recent review of mobile wireless services and required each of the three national companies to provide customers with three new low-cost mobile plan options.
The Commission mandate says the carriers must include unlimited Canada-wide calling, unlimited text messaging, and a minimum of 3 GB of data. Fido (owned by Rogers), Koodo (owned by Telus) and Virgin (owned by Bell), are all…
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MONTREAL — Rogers Communications announced today it has expanded its 5G network to reach 14 new communities in Quebec, bringing the total number of towns and cities in the province that currently have access to Rogers 5G to more than 80.
The 14 communities where Rogers has recently expanded its 5G network are Beauharnois, Beloeil, Blainville, Châteauguay, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, La Prairie, L’île-Perrot, Pointe-Claire, Repentigny, Rosemère, Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Saint-Charles-Borromée, Saint-Lazare and Vaudreuil-Dorion.
The 5G expansion is part of Rogers’s investments over the last 18 months to enhance wireless network connectivity in more than 162 communities throughout the province, according to a Rogers press…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Canada’s large internet service providers (ISPs) are testing the court system’s appetite for further precedent-setting decisions on piracy, requesting the court force blocks on live streaming hockey content with changing IP addresses.
In May, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld an order by a lower court forcing ISPs to block the websites of alleged copyright infringer GoldTV, which used an IPTV service to allegedly sell unlicensed content for a monthly fee. The ISPs initially asked the court in July 2019 to rule against GoldTV by temporarily banning the service from operating until a decision to permanently ban…
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Rogers Communications announced today that Spotify is now available on Ignite TV and Ignite SmartStream.
This gives Rogers Ignite customers “access to more than 70 million tracks and over 2.6 million podcast titles,” according to a Rogers press release.
This content can be accessed by saying “Spotify” into the Ignite voice remote.
“Customers can get started with Spotify Free or subscribe to Spotify Premium for an enhanced listening experience, including ad-free music listening.”
For more, click here.
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TORONTO – Stamina Group Inc. and BAI Communications today announced they are partnering to bring syndicated content from publications including View the Vibe and WanderEater magazine to BAI’s public Wi-Fi network, TCONNECT, which is available in all Toronto Transit Commission subway stations.
“Incorporating the Stamina Group’s content into the Wi-Fi login experience delivers the added value commuters expect and encourages them to dwell and interact with targeted brand messaging,” reads a press release.
Commuters will have access to a variety of content including lifestyle news, entertainment and sports.
“Stamina Group’s content is engaging, relevant and provides insightful articles that are curated for…
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By Amanda Oye
LARGE INTERNET SERVICE providers have been the recipients of the vast amount of funding from the Universal Broadband Fund that had been allocated as of June 30th, 2021.
Jay Thomson, CEO of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA), compiled publicly available data, which shows Videotron, Cogeco, Bell, Telus and Rogers have been the major winners of UBF funding (see chart below).
The data takes into account two sets of funding. The first is funding from the UBF’s Rapid Response stream and the second is from the Canada-Quebec Operation High-Speed project, which received half of its $826.3-million funding from…
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CityWest, meanwhile, seeks to be its own last-mile provider
By Ahmad Hathout
Shaw Communications wants to, in some capacity, get involved in British Columbia’s $45.4-million Connected Coast fibre project, according to a briefing note obtained by Cartt.ca.
The company has asked the project’s main proponents, Prince Rupert’s CityWest and the Strathcona Regional District, to “partner to accelerate the delivery of service and/or as a key wholesale customer,” according to the note, written ahead of a February 3, 2021 meeting between company officials and B.C.’s Ministry of Citizens’ Services, which manages broadband in the province.
CityWest and Strathcona had chosen Baylink Networks as the prime…
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