OTTAWA – At the International Institute of Communications (IIC), 16th annual Canadian conference Wednesday morning, we quickly got into the heart of the matter with two panel discussions to tackle the Review of Canada’s Broadcasting and Telecommunications Acts.
Two bi-lingual panels of four people each got to have their kicks at the can for almost three hours to offer their points of view, perspectives on how the two Acts needs to change.
To structure the debate, the moderators (Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien and University du Québec à Montréal professor Catalina Briceño) suggested that participants outline what they would definitely…
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From Right Hand Man: How Phil Lind Guided the Genius of Ted Rogers
By Phil Lind with Robert Brehl
IN 2013, HALFWAY THROUGH its mandate, Stephen Harper’s government was looking tired and bereft of captivating political ideas for the next election. It was then that the Conservative PM wrapped himself in his “Captain Consumer” cape and launched an assault upon Canada’s big three wireless phone companies: Rogers, Bell, and Telus.
He and his government were going to lower monthly wireless bills for consumers by cracking the cartel. Harper painted us as Russian-style oligopolists who feared increased competition, which was unfair and…
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VANCOUVER and OTTAWA – Rogers said Wednesday that it has improved its wireless service in communities across Metro Vancouver as well as three neighbourhoods in Ottawa as part of its multi-year network plan to bring gigabit LTE and 5G to its customers.
The upgrades will impact Rogers and Fido customers in Maple Ridge near the Abernathy Connector and at Rupert Street and East 45th Avenue in Vancouver, as well as Manotick Main Street and O'Grady, McKeown and Coker, and Orleans Village.
The company added that the enhancements will also improve the wireless experience for its business customers in these areas.
www.rogers.com
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OTTAWA – While the main governmental expert panel reviewing the Telecom, Broadcasting and Radiocommunication Acts is only now getting under way, some of the most interesting conversations on the matter are happening now in front of the Senate (who knew?!).
While CRTC chairman Ian Scott appeared today (October 30) in front of the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications, to talk about the Regulator’s needs, last week Canadian Communications Systems Alliance CEO Jay Thomson told the senators about his members’ (115 independent carriers who serve more than 1,200 communities – lots rural – with broadband,…
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LONDON, UK – Canadian wireless carriers received high marks for its consumer mobile video experience, ranking ahead of all other countries in North and South America, including the U.S., says mobile analytics company OpenSignal.
As a follow up to last month's State of Mobile Video Report, OpenSignal is now drilling down into the specifics of various regions, starting first with the Americas. Canada and Bolivia lead the Americas in the video experience analysis, with scores of 59.9 and 55, respectively, on a 100 point scale, landing both countries firmly in the Good category of video experience scale. The U.S. fell into to the Fair…
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MONTREAL – Videotron has unveiled the name of its new IPTV platform based on Comcast’s Xfinity X1 platform, à la Rogers and Shaw.
Speaking at the Canadian Club of Montreal on Monday, outgoing Videotron president and CEO Manon Brouillette said that the platform will be called Helix and will hit the market in 2019.
Helix will deliver smarter and more powerful Wi-Fi, an enhanced TV experience thanks to IP technology and seamless integration of Web content platforms, as well as home automation services, she added.
"Helix is revolutionary. It is a fast-changing, adaptive ecosystem that is ready to compete with the international…
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The TV tax battle
By Phil Lind with Robert Brehl
FEW THINGS GET ME SEETHING like the Canadian television networks’ attempted fee-for-carriage cash grab, the so-called “TV tax.” After everything cable did to increase their TV licences’ value over the years, in 2006 the broadcasters ignited a six-year battle to get us to pay them for carrying their signals. It went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, and they came very close to winning.
Just writing this raises my hackles. Ken Engelhart and Jan Innes would joke that fee-for-carriage was my “Wullerton.” I had no idea what they meant…
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Cable technologists embrace DAA as a complement to DOCSIS 3.1, fibre deep and other technologies
ATLANTA – Believing their industry's hybrid fibre-coax (HFC) networks have plenty of life left in them, cablecos are pushing forward with distributed access architectures (DAA) designed to enable them to boost capacity for gigabit and other advanced services.
Speaking here at the annual SCTE Cable-Tec Expo show last week, top cable technologists from North America and Europe said they are turning to on DAA and new versions of the industry's DOCSIS broadband specs to meet the bandwidth demand with their existing networks. Rather than junk their…
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SMITHERS, B.C. – A new Rogers’ cell tower being installed along Highway 16 that promises to bring continuous network coverage from New Hazelton to Smithers, as well as to Witset First Nation for the first time.
The project was made possible by a one-time $1.2 million grant from the province, administered by the Northern Development Initiative Trust, to expand cellular services along Highway 16. Northern Development Initiative Trust chose Rogers for the project following an open-procurement process.
Construction of the cell tower began in late September and is expected to be completed in the coming months. After it is in service, every…
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GATINEAU – With the large Canadian telecom players reading the writing on the wall (where it appears the Commission is seriously considering some sort of new code of conduct for telecom sales practices) a few of the larger carriers last week set out some ideas for commissioners to consider while they deliberate.
Each company last week essentially told the CRTC during its hearing into telecom sales practices the same thing: “There’s no problem with us when it comes to selling wired or wireless products and services to Canadians.” If there is, added most of the intervenors, the problem stems mainly…
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