GATINEAU – A number of Canada’s Internet service providers are telling the CRTC that Bell Canada’s appeal for more restricted access to disaggregated wholesale fibre Internet access services is self-serving and in fact would lead to less competition in the market.
Bell is asking the Commission to review and vary certain provisions related to disaggregated broadband service (DBS) in Telecom Regulatory Policy 2015-326. The company has also filed an appeal of the decision to cabinet, as Cartt.ca first reported in October.
In its R&V, Bell argues that the Commission needs to add three conditions for granting access…
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OTTAWA – While Canadians complained less about their wireless services last year, the number of Internet-related grievances jumped by 52%, the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) said Wednesday in its annual report.
The report, Making The Tough Calls, showed that the CCTS received 9,988 customer complaints in 2014-15, down 12% from 11,340 in 2013-14, and maintained an 87% resolution rate. Wireless services complaints once again topped the list with 52.9% of all complaints, followed by 26.1% for Internet, 18.2% for local telephone service and 2.8% for long distance.
“For the second year in a row, complaints declined somewhat”,…
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QUEBEC CITY – Rogers Communications has extended its mobile wireless service agreement with the Government of Quebec for up to 10 years under a new agreement with the Centre de services partagés du Quebec (CSPQ).
The company said Wednesday that it will continue to provide the provincial government with wireless technologies, including voice and data services as well as the connectivity for Internet of Things (IoT) solutions at the provincial and municipal levels.
"Employees are looking for flexible ways to work, and we are eager to collaborate with the Government of Quebec to implement wireless solutions to meet this need," said…
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HALIFAX – Rogers Communications has bought Halifax-based Internetworking Atlantic Inc. (IAI) in a move that it says provides it with greater local expertise in cloud computing, data centre services, fibre networking and professional services.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. As part of the transaction, Rogers will acquire IAI’s Tier III data centre in downtown Halifax, its fibre infrastructure across Atlantic Canada, and its employees.
"The additional local expertise that our new employees bring to our team in Atlantic Canada will continue to drive regional growth," said Ken Marshall, Rogers’ VP EBU Sales for the Atlantic Region, in…
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TORONTO – Disney Junior and Disney XD will arrive in over eight million households this week through distribution partners across English Canada.
Corus Entertainment said Tuesday that the channels are available now through Bell Fibe TV, Bell Satellite TV, Bell FibreOp TV, MTS, Rogers, Shaw, Shaw Direct, Telus and various CCSA members. Cogeco Cable Canada and Eastlink will offer the channels starting Wednesday, and SaskTel customers will have access to the new services in the coming weeks.
Disney Junior, which is aimed at kids aged 2-7, launches with the network premiere of The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar (pictured) on…
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TORONTO – Hollywood Suite tis gearing up for a national free preview of its four HDTV movie channels, from December 8 through to January 12.
The independent broadcaster said that the freeview is an opportunity for Canadian TV viewers to enjoy uncut and commercial-free movies on its newly rebranded channels devoted to the movies that shaped the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s.
“We’re excited to share Hollywood Suite with all Canadians this holiday season,” said president David Kines, in the news release. “We know this is one gift everyone will love."
The freeview includes access to Hollywood Suite On Demand, where available. Participating…
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TORONTO — Canadians still love their TV, love their cable packages, but they’re hungry for change, for flexibility, for a lower price, delegates of CTAM Canada’s packed Broadcaster Forum held last week in Toronto were told.
The TV industry folks in attendance were no doubt relieved to hear TV subscription value packs will continue to be relevant in a pick-and-pay world, especially as everyone gears up for the mandated introduction of skinny basic and pick-and-pay in 2016.
In fact, according to a recent study conducted by Charlton Strategic Research for CTAM, the majority of Canadian TV subscribers (57%) still…
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OTTAWA – The price of delivering Detroit to Vancouver, or Halifax to Hamilton, or any other distant TV signal to a market outside its territory will come under the microscope for the next two weeks at the Copyright Board of Canada.
Beginning Tuesday morning, the Broadcast Distribution Undertakings (BDUs) and the Retransmission Collectives will be facing off at a Copyright Board hearing over the value of distant television signals. The Collectives (who are the U.S. and Canadian TV stations, sports leagues, music collectives and such) tell the Board the number of distant TV signals available to Canadian TV subscribers has…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – Rogers Media shelled out $200,000 as part of a settlement over alleged violations to Canada's anti-spam legislation, plus agreed to improve its internal spam compliance program, the CRTC said Friday.
The Commission investigated Rogers Media for allegedly sending commercial emails containing an unsubscribe mechanism that did not function properly or which could not be readily performed by the recipient between July 2014 and July 2015. In addition, the electronic address used to unsubscribe was not valid for the required minimum of 60 days following the sent message, and the company failed to honour some requests to unsubscribe from receiving…
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TORONTO – Rogers has officially launched Fido’s first ever home Internet offering in parts of Ontario, as Cartt.ca reported early Thursday.
With pricing of $50 per month for 300 GB or unlimited for $65 per month, the service is both direct and strong new competition for the likes of independent ISPs VMedia, Beanfield and Teksavvy, who also serve urbanites with cheap high speed Internet. That pricing is only available to existing Fido Mobile postpaid customers. Non-Fido customers, or non-eligible Fido customers, can sign on for 300 GB for $70 per month or unlimited for $85 per month.
All plans include download speeds…
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