By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Executives from the largest telecoms said Wednesday that they are seeing more bundled services as the current and future competitive play in a post Rogers-Shaw merger market.
Doug French, Telus executive vice president and chief financial officer told TD Securities telecom analyst Vince Valentini that the Vancouver-based telecom’s strategy of driving more fibre in its footprint has enhanced the quality of its bundling strategy – the practice of reducing prices by selling more than one service, such as mobile wireless and internet.
French said that the company hasn’t seen a change in Rogers’s networks in western Canada…
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OTTAWA – The head of the Competition Bureau said Tuesday that the watchdog’s opposition to Rogers’s acquisition of Shaw was the correct move, citing high prices Canadians pay compared to international peers.
“While it didn’t go our way, I fully stand by our decision to challenge that merger,” Competition commissioner Matthew Boswell said on the second day of the International Institute of Communications conference in Ottawa.
“We put forward a responsible, evidence-based case. That is our job. We carefully scrutinized all the evidence, knowing the differing incentives of all parties,” he added.
“We fought the right fight for the right reasons and on the right principles.”
The commission’s fight…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC said in a letter late last month that it has accepted a request by Quebecor and Rogers to hear the telecoms’ dispute over the price of access to Rogers’s wireless facilities.
The regulator received the request from the companies on April 6, which outlined that the parties could not resolve their dispute. They requested an expedited process.
As part of its price exploration, the CRTC is asking for all MVNO and off-tariff agreements to which both parties have agreed. Quebecor, on behalf of Videotron and Freedom, is being asked how much volume it is expecting…
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By Ahmad Hathout
CALGARY — Dean Shaikh is Rogers’s senior vice president of regulatory affairs, moving over from Shaw after it was bought by the cable giant.
Shaikh was most recently vice president of regulatory affairs of Shaw, where he spent 17 years.
Shaikh was, before that, counsel on regulatory law for the now-defunct Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association. The lawyer was also a senior competition law officer at the Competition Bureau around the turn of the century.
Rogers has been shoring up its team as it continues the integration of Shaw into the company. Ted Woodhead, who was Rogers’s chief regulatory and government…
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TORONTO – Rogers said Thursday that it is reducing the price of data on certain 5G plans.
The largest cable company in the country said that its $85 per month 5G plan will now include double the data from 25 to 50 GB, effectively reducing the price of the price per gigabyte by 50 per cent.
Customers who buy Rogers wireline services can also now get the company’s starter 5G plan for 35 per cent cheaper than its previous 5G entry plan. The company said it can now offer bundled services in nearly 70 per cent of Canadian households following its…
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By Connie Thiessen
Rogers Sports and Media has made changes to its radio and television management structure that see Amber LeBlanc promoted to a national programming role, expanded duties for OMNI and CityNews Director Amar Sodhi, and CityNews Vancouver Director Charmaine de Silva part ways with the company.
The changes come as Dave Budge, vice president of news and information, retires after a decade with Rogers Sports and Media and five in broadcast news. Prior to his retirement last month, both radio and television news reported to Budge.
The company has now reorganized its TV and radio news operations separately with a…
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By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri said Wednesday that the company is partnering with SpaceX to use Starlink satellites to provide connectivity to cell phones on the ground.
The satellite-to-mobile technology will provide text, voice and data compatibility to connect remote parts of the country not reached by the company’s terrestrial networks.
“As the country’s biggest investor in 5G spectrum with Canada’s largest 5G network, Rogers is proud to work with SpaceX to expand wireless coverage across all of Canada, from coast to coast, to keep Canadians connected and safe,” Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri said in a press release. “In the future, these…
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By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri said Wednesday that the company’s side agreements with Videotron that are part of its deal to acquire Shaw are “not much different” than existing ones it has in place for other competitors.
The cable giant committed to providing favourable wholesale internet access and roaming deals to the Montreal-based company, which acquired Shaw’s Freedom in the deal, to appease regulators and allay fears that the combination would diminish competition.
But over the last several months, questions were raised by competitors as to the nature of the deals and whether they would significantly advantage Videotron…
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TORONTO – Rogers announced Thursday that former Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains will be the chief corporate affairs officer after the company closed its acquisition of Shaw earlier this month.
Bains will lead public policy and environmental, social and governance efforts for the company, “with a focus on Canada’s digital economy, access for low-income families and action on climate change,” according to a press release.
The former minister, who retired from politics in 2021, was recently vice chair of global investment banking at CIBC.
The shakeup of the company will also see Ted Woodhead, chief regulatory and government affairs officer,…
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TORONTO – Rogers said Monday that it is bringing Shaw’s foreign outsourced customer service jobs back to Canada.
The company said this involves “hundreds” of jobs, which will now be based in British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba. It said it has already started the transition and expects to be completed by the third quarter this year.
The company said it made a commitment in 2020 to have a fully Canadian-based customer service team. That year, it transitioned 150 Rogers customer service jobs from overseas, completing its own repatriation.
“As a proud Canadian company, we’re committed to investing in Canada,”…
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