By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri said Wednesday the company is weighing its options, including possibly appealing a decision by the CRTC to pick Quebecor’s rate for access to the national carrier’s wireless network.
“We’re reviewing it,” Staffieri said about the decision. “As you would expect, we’re considering next steps, including potential appeals.”
The regulator said in its decision that while both offers for access met the policy objectives, it was Quebecor’s price that provided the regional player with an opportunity to market more data and therefore more plans.
Rogers said in its original pricing pitch that…
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Regulator argued Rogers’s investment capacity won’t be harmed
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC has selected Quebecor’s price to access Rogers’s wireless network for the purposes of building out its mobile virtual network operator business, the regulator announced Monday afternoon.
The two parties were granted a final offer arbitration hearing in May after they couldn’t hammer out a deal on their own. The process involves the two sides presenting their own price offer for access and the regulator choosing one.
The CRTC ruled that despite its finding that both offers would have satisfied the policy objectives, it was Quebecor’s offer that…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers told the CRTC that it must act expeditiously on its request to access Bell and Telus poles because the new policy direction from Cabinet requires it.
Rogers said as much in a reply submission last week to Bell and Telus, who told the CRTC to deny Rogers’s request last Wednesday asking for interim access to attach wireless equipment on their poles.
Telus said in its submission that the expedited request is “unsubstantiated” and that Rogers allegedly failed to “demonstrate any need for the Commission to exercise its discretion to implement an expedited process…
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Bell alleges it has approached Rogers about terms and didn’t hear back
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers is accusing Bell and Telus of delaying its requests to attach wireless equipment on their poles and is asking the CRTC to make an interim order granting those requests on an expedited basis.
Rogers said in a Part 1 application filed earlier this month and published Wednesday that Telus had invited it to apply for attachment permits last year, but “abruptly changed its position” on the basis that the CRTC said it would be reviewing the wireless attachment framework in a decision on wireline…
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STOUFFVILLE – The federal government and Ontario have announced Wednesday that Rogers will get $54 million to connect 83 underserved communities in the province.
The project is expected to provide high-speed internet access to over 20,000 homes in these communities.
The communities are: Acton, Alliston, Alton, Angus, Anten Mills, Ballinafad, Ballycroy, Barrie, Baxter, Baywood Park, Beeton, Belfountain, Bolton, Bond Head, Borden, Brown Hill, Caledon East, Caledon Village, Camilla, Campbells Cross, Cedar Mills, Cedar Valley, Cheltenham, Claremont, Coldwater, Colgan, Connor, Cookstown, Craighurst, Cundles, Elba, Elmvale, Erin, Everett, Everton, Fergus Hill Estate, Ferndale, Forest Home, Garafraxa Woods, Glencairn, Goodwood, Hillsburgh, Hillsdale, Horseshoe Valley,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers and Quebecor’s Groupe TVA have jointly filed a request asking the Federal Court to order people behind IP addresses allegedly illegally streaming live Major League Baseball games to stop and pay damages, according to court documents filed last week.
The companies, which own the exclusive Canadian broadcasting rights to the Toronto Blue Jays games, say they don’t know the people behind the operation of the addresses.
A “significant number of Canadian consumers” are turning to “unauthorized, user-friendly” websites to get access to infringing live television content, according to the complaint, including highly popular live sports. Consumers…
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Rogers announced Wednesday that its 5G wireless service is available in nine rural eastern Ontario communities previously underserved.
The cable company has completed the building of nine new wireless sites and upgraded 37 existing sites to provide.
The end result is 5G service to the following areas: Ontario County Highway 2 from Belleville to Shannonville; Southern areas of Sandbanks Provincial Park; Healey Falls to Campbellford South in Northumberland County; Archer’s Road to County Road 2 in Northumberland County; Bridgenorth in Peterborough County; Camp Kawartha in Peterborough County; Glasgow Station to ON-17 in Renfrew County; Demorestville in Prince Edward County; and Highway…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers has told the CRTC that it estimates it can take a year for it to provide third party access to its fibre-to-the-home network on newer technologies, according to a tariff letter dated last week.
When the CRTC launched its review of the wholesale internet framework in March, it said it would be expediting its proceeding on mandating third party access to the last mile fibre facilities of the incumbents under the current aggregated regime to speed up the process of driving more competition and lowering prices for higher internet speeds. The aggregated…
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Rogers announced Thursday it has completed eight 5G tower builds to provide connectivity along highway 652 in rural Ontario.
The primarily wind- and solar-powered towers will provide connectivity along a 180-kilomtre stretch of the highway between Cochrane and Agnico Eagle’s Detour Lake Mine, “making travel along the highway corridor safer for residents, business travellers, and Agnico Eagle employees,” Rogers said in a press release, noting that it partnered with Agnico Eagle Mines on the builds.
Rogers also simultaneously announced the build of the first wireless tower on the land of the Taykwa Tagamou Nation.
“We are investing to expand our world-class networks…
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By Connie Thiessen
Without access to funding, Corus Entertainment says its Global television stations across the country will be left “in a precarious and unduly disadvantaged position” as Rogers Communications moves to redirect $13 million in local expression funding to its CityNews stations.
In a letter to the CRTC, dated May 10 and posted to the commission website this week, Corus requests confirmation of its eligibility to participate in the Independent Local News Fund (ILNF), funded by licensed broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs), which are required to contribute 0.3% of gross revenues from the previous broadcast year.
Corus – which is effectively controlled by the Shaw Family Living Trust – says given Rogers’s recent acquisition…
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