By Ahmad Hathout
Telus CEO Darren Entwistle said in many words Thursday he expects the CRTC to reaffirm its decision to allow the three largest telecoms in the country to have access to the wholesale internet regime, and that some of the company’s decisions in the east will depend on it.
“We’re going to make the bold assumption,” Entwistle began during a fourth-quarter conference call with analysts, “that regulatory decisions pronounced by the CRTC after a comprehensive and rigorous and exhaustive process, where the diversity of voices was consulted in terms of all stakeholder constituency groups, where the documentation of the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers is accusing Bell of refusing to carry channels crafted out of new American rights it acquired in the summer.
The cable giant alleges its Discovery and Investigation Discovery (I.D.) channels are being subject to a double standard by the rival broadcaster: while Bell, the second-largest broadcaster, complains that Rogers wants to push its new USA Network and Oxygen True Crime channels down the dial, the former allegedly doesn’t even want to carry the channels that are intended to replace them.
“Granting Bell’s requested relief is unquestionably not in the public interest and would perpetuate asymmetrical treatment of Bell…
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Ericsson on Wednesday announced the launch of the Cradlepoint X20 5G router with network slicing capabilities, enabling service providers to offer differentiated fixed wireless access (FWA) connectivity services to small- and medium-sized businesses.
In addition to plug-and-play FWA 5G connectivity and network slicing, the Cradlepoint X20 features advanced security capabilities and cutting-edge routing, switching and Wi-Fi 7, ensuring “robust, easy-to-maintain connectivity essential for critical business operations,” says an Ericsson press release.
With the X20, enterprises can quickly deploy high-bandwidth 5G connectivity with reliability enabled by dual-SIM failover capabilities and an eight-hour battery backup, the release says. In…
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By Connie Thiessen
CBC News has released audience insights indicating that the looming U.S.-Canada trade war boosted views on its mobile app to a level not seen since 2022.
The viewer bump began Saturday, Feb. 1 when U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs on Canadian goods and energy, followed by the Canadian government response. Canadians continued to tune in through news of the late-breaking 30-day reprieve on Monday, Feb. 3.
CBC says 4.5 million Canadians tuned in to CBC News Network from Feb. 1-3, making it the most-watched English-language Canadian news network. According to Numeris TV data released by the public broadcaster, audiences spent more…
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By Connie Thiessen
Sid Seixeiro and Meredith Shaw have been released as the hosts of the Citytv’s Breakfast Television (BT).
BT personality Devo Brown shared the news with viewers Monday morning that the hosting duo were no longer with the show.
“They brought us plenty of great conversations, laughs, and unforgettable moments. We’re grateful for everything they shared with all of us,” Brown told viewers. “We wish them the very best in what comes next. We know change is never easy, but for over 35 years Breakfast Television has grown and evolved to bring you the best to start your day. So stay tuned, we have some exciting plans in…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Competition Bureau’s deceptive marketing practices lawsuit against Rogers unfairly singles out the cable company’s “unlimited” wireless plans, cherry-picks out-of-context material, and doesn’t square with the fact that the plans have followed CRTC rules since they launched in the summer of 2019, according to the company’s reply submission to the Competition Tribunal.
The competition watchdog late last year filed a suit alleging Rogers has for years been misleading Canadians with its ‘Infinite’ mobile wireless plans, which it claims gave customers the impression that they were getting unlimited high-speed data when the speed of the data…
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CNOC calls move “disappointing” but not surprising
By Ahmad Hathout
Bell CEO Mirko Bibic announced Thursday the telco is again cutting its fibre buildout target after the CRTC earlier this week refused to ban the largest internet service providers from using its last-mile fibre network in Ontario and Quebec.
Bibic said the company is now targeting less than 8.3 million homes for direct fibre by the end of this year.
“This decrease in our fibre buildout is a direct result of the CRTC’s refusal to ban Telus and other large carriers from reselling the FTTP network we’ve built,” Bibic said in a fourth-quarter…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers has filed an application requesting that the CRTC reverse its decision to expand the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) regime to internet of things (IoT) and enterprise services.
The market for those services, claims Rogers in its application to review-and-vary posted last week, “is likely one of the most competitive markets for telecommunications services in the country. Beyond Canada’s domestic national and regional , there are literally hundreds of service providers, including global wireless carriers, global and regional IoT/M2M aggregators of MVNOs, and global and regional IoT/M2M solutions providers in the Canadian market.”
The regulator affirmed…
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The regulator now moves to challenges against final wholesale decision
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said large provider access to the aggregated last-mile fibre facilities of mainly Bell but also Telus in Ontario and Quebec have proven to increase consumer choice and competition between internet service providers, rejecting a cabinet recommendation to impose a ban on Rogers, Bell and Telus (Big 3) from accessing those facilities.
The commission’s relatively short decision hinged largely on what it said was a lack of evidence that such access would hinder network investment as well as evidence showing that Telus is now…
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The CRTC said it will not alter the Feb. 13 implementation deadline for Telus, Bell and SaskTel to provide competitors with workable access to their fibre networks in a decision last week that rejected Telus’s October 2024 request for a four-month extension to the implementation date in British Columbia and Alberta.
In arguing for the extension, Telus had said its systems would not be fully automated by Feb. 13 and using manual order processing created the potential for processing errors, which could have adverse effects on wholesale customers and their end users.
The telecom regulator…
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