STOCKHOLM — Ericsson announced Thursday its dynamic spectrum sharing solution, allowing for both 4G and 5G to be deployed in the same band and on the same radio through a software upgrade, is now commercially available.
Ericsson Spectrum Sharing (ESS) dynamically allocates spectrum based on user demand on a 1 millisecond basis, the news release says. ESS makes more efficient use of spectrum, allowing communications service providers to quickly and cost-effectively launch 5G on existing bands on a nationwide scale, Ericsson says.
According to Ericsson’s news release, more than 80% of service providers currently testing ESS plan to deploy it…
Continue Reading
And, MVNOs won’t help
By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – The CRTC’s last mandate for the wireless industry – low-cost data-only plans which originally stood in lieu of a regulatory regime for mobile virtual network operators – have not been popular with customers, Rogers executives told the CRTC today.
“A substantially bigger package of data without voice and text is not as appealing” as less data with talk and text, David Watt, Rogers’ senior vice-president of regulatory affairs, said Wednesday in front of CRTC commissioners reviewing the wireless industry.
“I think we had thought low-cost data-only appeal to people who use a fair…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL — Canadian cloud and data centre services provider eStruxture has partnered with China Mobile International (CMI) to provide the Hong Kong-based company with its first data centre presence in Montreal, the companies announced Wednesday.
A wholly owned subsidiary of China Mobile, CMI offers international telecom services and solutions to enterprises, carriers and mobile users. CMI has a Canadian office in Markham, Ont.
Through the partnership, CMI will offer network access at eStruxture’s MTL-1 facility in Montreal. eStruxture customers can now enjoy high-speed connectivity to CMI’s extensive global infrastructure for mobile communications and cloud services, says the news release. CMI…
Continue Reading
Consumer groups say it’s worth risking network quality for MVNO access
GATINEAU – The only two telecoms which appeared in front of the CRTC on Tuesday during day six of the Commission’s wireless policy review took some time to urge the commissioners to look at the limitations of Cogeco’s hybrid mobile network operator model.
That model would allow MVNOs which already own and operate wired or wireless networks to lease network space from the big three national players – Bell, Rogers and Telus – in exchange for continuing to invest in their own infrastructure in their own operating territories.
Quebecor said it…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Chinese telecom tech manufacturer Huawei has hired an unsuccessful 2019 Liberal Party candidate to lobby the federal government on its behalf – the latest move in a strategy to hire former political party operatives to carry the message that it’s not a security threat to Canada.
Antoine Bujold, a government affairs advisor at Consilium in Boischatel, Quebec since 2014, was registered as a Huawei lobbyist on February 21 to “assist the client in its effort to meet with the Government to discuss Huawei Canada’s current and long-term investments and business objectives in Canada,” including issues from…
Continue Reading
CCSA says mandated access to 5G nets is a must for rural
GATINEAU – In advising the CRTC to mandate just one national MVNO to boost mobile wireless competition here, three former wireless and telecom executives said threats from the big national players about reduced investments and job cuts are not to be taken seriously.
“The market is so clearly dominated by the Big Three ,” Alek Krstajic, the former Freedom CEO and past executive at Bell and Rogers, told CRTC commissioners at the beginning of the second week of the Regulator’s review of the wireless industry.
“In fact,…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Canada’s largest third party internet access provider, TekSavvy, wants to add wireless to its mix as a mobile virtual network operator and its executives warned the CRTC on Friday not to fall for the pretend competition it says the Big Three provide in the Canadian wireless market.
The flanker brands of the Big Three (think Koodo, chatr and Lucky, for example) were created as a way to make it look like there are loads of wireless companies in the market when Rogers, Bell and Telus own 90% of the wireless subscribers in Canada, just under various brand names,…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A hearing that culminated in an unprecedented federal court order forcing internet service providers to block certain websites was unbalanced and will likely fall by the wayside as more intervenors weigh in at the appeal level, according to emails from a CRTC lawyer.
“What I would like to see is a re-do of the Federal Court motion,” William Abbott said in an email to an address that is redacted in newly unveiled communications obtained through access to information law. Abbott is a former Bell lawyer who took a legal counsel role at the CRTC in…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL — The ENCQOR 5G testbed initiative Thursday announced it has signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with six telecom service providers in Canada — Bell, Cogeco, Ecotel (Ambra Solutions), Rogers, Telus and Vidéotron.
ENCQOR stands for Evolution of Networked Services through a Corridor in Quebec and Ontario for Research and Innovation. The Canada-Quebec-Ontario partnership has a mandate to bring together small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and academia to contribute to the advancement of research, innovation and demonstration of applications through a pre-commercial 5G testbed. ENCQOR 5G has five Digital Innovation Hubs, located in both Quebec and Ontario, providing a 5G…
Continue Reading
TORONTO — Rogers Media revealed Friday its spring lineup of new and returning series for its FX, FXX and Citytv channels, with the season kicking off February 24.
New to FX and FX Now is limited series Mrs. America, starring Cate Blanchett as conservative firebrand Phyllis Schlafly who transports viewers to the frontlines of the fight over equal rights through the women who lived through it. Mrs. America premieres on FX on Wednesday, April 15 at 10 p.m.
Also new to FX this spring is the sci-fi thriller miniseries Devs, from Alex Garland (Ex Machina), which follows a young software engineer…
Continue Reading
