IN WHAT APPEARS TO be a big blow to the federal government’s plans to entice outside investors into Canada in order to be a fourth national wireless carrier, American wireless company Verizon has apparently pulled the plug on buying Wind Mobile or Mobilicity, reports the Globe and Mail.
The report, citing anonymous sources, says Verizon has – for now – decided to set aside any attempted purchase of the two companies, both of which have been for sale for months, until after the January 2014 auction of 700 MHz spectrum.
The report says Verizon will now decide…
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CALGARY – The Alberta Flood Aid organization announced Wednesday evening that the Alberta Flood Aid benefit concert taking place at McMahon Stadium in Calgary on Thursday, August 15th will be broadcast and webcast live, commercial-free starting at 6 p.m. MT (8 p.m. ET) across Canada and around the world.
The star-studded 4 hour program, hosted by Brent Butt, can be seen live on the following outlets: * Omni Alberta Shaw Channels 4 (SD) and 214 (HD) (Calgary) * Omni Alberta Shaw Channels 11 (SD) and 214 (HD) (Edmonton) * Omni Alberta Telus Optik Channel 5 (SD) (Calgary and Edmonton) *…
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TORONTO – The National Congress of Italian Canadians says it wants the CRTC to hold a public hearing about the cuts made by Rogers to its OMNI Television's programming.
“We intervened in this process because the program changes announced by Rogers for its OMNI stations affect the 1.4 million Italian Canadians across Canada,” said Michael Tibollo, president of the Congress, said in a release. On May 30, Rogers Media announced the closure of its 18-month old all-Toronto news station CityNews Channel, as well as some news programming cancellations at OMNI, resulting in the loss of 62…
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BURNABY, B.C. – A telecom union which represents Telus and Shaw employees added its voice to the ongoing opposition to U.S. telecom Verizon's potential entry into the Canadian market, saying today that Canadians are being misled by the "mirage" that having a foreign carrier will mean increased competition and cheaper phone rates.
“Tempting voters with the lure of cheaper cell phone bills seems to be Mr. Harper’s plan, but it's a mirage. There is no guarantee of lower prices. It is a complete manipulation of the Canadian public,” said Lee Riggs, national president of the Telecommunications Workers…
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TORONTO – While acknowledging any changes to the 700 MHz wireless auction rules at this stage are “a long shot,” telecommunications and cable analyst Jeff Fan of Scotia Capital still believes that the chances of Verizon coming to the Canadian market are less than 50%.
Simply put, there doesn’t seem to be enough of a return on what would be about a $2.7 billion investment available to the big American cellco, were it to buy Wind Canada and purchase spectrum in the auction, as has been rumoured, plus other costs.
In a research note to investors on Monday, Fan provided an…
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TORONTO – Rogers announced Friday it has signed an agreement with Switzerland telecommunications company Swisscom AG to deliver bilateral 2600 MHz LTE roaming service to customers of both mobile service providers.
That means Rogers and Swisscom customers can access the LTE wireless internet network while roaming with a 2600 MHz device when they are travelling in either Canada or Switzerland. With the Swisscom launch, Rogers says it is the first Canadian carrier to bring LTE roaming to Europe.
“This launch is part of an ongoing commitment to bring the LTE experience to all of our…
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THURSDAY SAW THE continued condemnation of the federal government’s wireless policies by three of the country’s telecom executives as they reported their quarterly results.
Each of Quebecor CEO Robert Dépatie, BCE CEO George Cope and Telus CEO Darren Entwistle used their second quarter 2013 conference calls with financial analysts to take additional public shots at the federal government, whose 700 MHz auction rules coupled with altered AWS spectrum transfer conditions seem poised to give American cellco Verizon an easy, cheap way into the Canadian market. That assumes reports that the American company hopes to purchase Wind Canada are true and…
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TORONTO – For as long as there has been cable television, the subscription has been tied not to the people paying the bills, but to the home, the physical place those people lived.
That’s changing rapidly.
Subscription TV customers are increasingly demanding they be able to take their content with them wherever they want, for viewing whenever they want, either streamed or pulled in on demand. Until very recently this was nearly impossible, but according to David Purdy, Rogers Communications senior vice-president of content, his customers will start seeing a lot more content available for multi-screen on demand viewing in –…
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WHILE THE LOBBYING intensifies here as everyone awaits word on whether Verizon will venture north in advance of the 700 MHz spectrum auction, the American cellco is doing lobbying of its own, Stateside, as the industry there prepares for a spectrum auction in the 600 MHz band.
A research report which is part of the U.S. wireless industry’s lobbying efforts actually casts doubt on our own government’s assertion it is bringing more competition to the Canadian wireless market with restrictive auction rules.
Scotia Capital analyst Jeff Fan noted in a report to clients what could be…
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DARTMOUTH, NS – Radio broadcaster Newfoundland Capital Corp. almost tripled its net profit to almost $6 million in the second quarter over the previous three months, driven by what the company calls “organic” increases in revenue.
Revenue for the second quarter was $35.8 million, an increase of $1.5 million or 4% higher than last year. Year-to-date revenue of $64.9 million was $3.1 million or 5% higher than 2012.
EBITDA was at $10.3 million, which was $1.1 million or 12% higher compared to the same period in 2012. Year-to-date EBITDA of $15.5 million was $1.6 million or…
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