By Ahmad Hathout
Bell wants the CRTC to defer to the Federal Court of Appeal to determine whether the regulator has jurisdiction over small cell attachments on telco-owned or controlled structures – or, in the alternative, separate that question from the rest of its proceeding on the matter.
The telco filed a Part 1 application Tuesday challenging the CRTC’s preliminary view on which it launched a proceeding earlier this month that it has concurrent jurisdiction with Innovation Canada (ISED) over the wireless attachments crucial for 5G technology. Bell has always argued that ISED, which manages spectrum auctions required…
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By Ahmad Hathout
A senior official from the Competition Bureau told members of Parliament on Monday that the watchdog is pleased with a proposed amendment to the Competition Tribunal Act that would shield it from cost awards except in limited circumstances, after it was forced to pay $12.9 million after challenging Rogers’s proposed acquisition of Shaw.
A proposed amendment in Bill C-59, which is one of two pieces of legislation to overhaul Canada’s competition rules, would limit the scope by which the Competition Tribunal can force the law enforcement agency to compensate private parties in the event it…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor executives said Thursday that they’ve been okay with forgoing revenue in a strategy to capture customers, which includes lower prices and competitive international roaming packages on the road toward bundled home internet with its newly acquired Freedom brand.
Freedom last year introduced a $50 “unlimited” talk and text plan with 40 GB of LTE data that can be used across Canada and the United States. It later launched a $65 global roaming plan that covers 73 destinations.
Hugues Simard, Quebecor chief financial officer, acknowledged the loss of revenue there but said the…
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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
