By Ahmad Hathout
Cogeco is warning the CRTC that an application by TekSavvy requesting that the cableco be forced to maintain its coax facilities or else provide aggregated last mile fibre access so it can maintain connectivity to its customers at locations in Burlington and Windsor is offside.
TekSavvy filed the Part 1 application last month warning that its customers at those locations will lose access if Cogeco continues its migration away from older coax technology and toward fibre, alleging that the only means for the wholesaler to get fibre access from a cable company is through the disaggregated regime…
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Hamilton-based TV network CHCH-TV announced last week it is the new Canadian home of the Fox network’s long-standing Animation Domination programming series, which started Sunday, Feb. 18.
Running from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET, the current Animation Domination lineup features new episodes of The Simpsons at 8 p.m., the continuation of season one of Krapopolis at 8:30 p.m., new episodes from season four of The Great North at 9 p.m., followed by all-new series Grimsburg starring Jon Hamm as the voice of detective Marvin Flute at 9:30 p.m.
Up until recently, Rogers Sports and Media’s Citytv was the home of Fox’s Animation…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telus’s proposal to ride on its competitors’ internet networks outside of its home territory would be destructive to facilities-based competition and would create an existential crisis for regional wholesalers, two prominent cable companies told the CRTC on Thursday.
Representatives from Telus said Wednesday that the Vancouver-based telecom should be able to wholesale internet capacity from competitor networks to drive diversity of choice and competition, or the regime would be “useless.” The telco also pushed back against claims that it is a national incumbent, instead saying that its preferred status would be a regional player that’s a new…
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Bell says market has ‘never been more competitive’
By Ahmad Hathout
Telus said Wednesday that it should be allowed to use the wholesale internet regime outside of its operating territory, but noted that an unfettered framework without limits will create a disincentive to invest in networks.
Telus took issue Wednesday with being labelled a national “incumbent” because it mainly operates in the west and has few facilities east of its home court, including some in Quebec.
The telco argued that it be given access to the wholesale regime in areas outside of its operating territory because that would boost competition. In contrast, it…
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By Ahmad Hathout
A consortium of copyright holders wants the Federal Court of Appeal to take a second look at a decision by the Copyright Board of Canada that lowered the rate broadcasters pay those holders for the retransmission of distant television signals, after the court sent the original decision back for reconsideration because of the way the rate was calculated.
The copyright board had made the original decision on the rate for the retransmission of those television signals in August 2019, which the consortium challenged in part at the appeal court because it believed the rate was too low. The…
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The CRTC last week said in a letter to several Canadian wireless ISPs (WISPs) that the commission’s joint study with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) tracking fixed wireless internet performance must be completed by the end of March and no extensions are possible.
The commission has previously asked the WISPs to participate in the study — the third phase of its Measuring Broadband Canada (MBC) project — which aims to better understand how Canadians subscribing to fixed wireless internet services with the federal objective speeds of 50 Mbps download and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Independent internet service provider CIK Telecom filed a Part 1 application with the CRTC earlier this month requesting that it reduce the interim rates for aggregated last mile fibre access and to clarify that the large telecoms cannot access the regime.
The telecom claims that the rates set by the regulator for interim access to Bell and Telus facilities going to the premises in Ontario and Quebec are still higher than what those telcos charge in the market, meaning third parties cannot be competitive.
It’s an argument that has been made by other telecoms, including those under Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC accepted late last month a request by Quebecor for the regulator to determine a rate for its access to Telus’s wireless network.
The carriers had tried to come to a commercial agreement and a commission-staff-assisted mediation on the rate for access through the mobile virtual network operator framework but could not come to amicable terms.
The regulator will now choose which rate – Quebecor’s or Telus’s – is most appropriate for that access, which will allow the Montreal-based telecom to further expand into new territory.
Telus had opposed going to final offer arbitration (FOA) because the parties were…
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By Ahmad Hathout
After receiving multiple applications over three years, the CRTC on Monday opened a proceeding on the regulation of small cell wireless equipment on telco support structures, as competitors accelerate their 5G deployments.
The regulator wants to hear from interested parties about whether it has jurisdiction over wireless facilities on those telco structures, whether the current telco support structure tariffs encompass those wireless facilities, and whether there should be a requirement for attaching telecoms to get a permit to hook up those facilities to those structures.
The commission said in the notice Monday that it holds the preliminary view that…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri said Thursday that the telecom’s completion of the first Canadian network slicing trial on its standalone 5G network will be an important component of its fixed wireless strategy.
Done in conjunction with Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, the trial showed that Rogers will be able to proactively direct and prioritize traffic on multiple lanes over the 5G wireless network. Rogers said the network will be able to determine whether the applications need lower latency, more speed or more capacity – say, for situations where a high-concentration of…
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