GATINEAU – Having stopped its HSPA wireless network build earlier this year, Shaw Communications is nearing a decision on what to do, finally, on the wireless front.
“We’re in certain conversations, strategically, looking at options. We’re certainly looking at LTE 4G as where technology is going but we’re still in that process,” said company CEO Brad Shaw to reporters after his appearance in front of the CRTC’s vertical integration hearing.
“We’ll soon make an announcement, I think, over the next month.” The company put the brakes on its HSPA network build in February in order to reassess its wireless goals…
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PARIS – Canadians haven’t bought into the mobile Internet phenomenon like other countries’ citizens have according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) latest Communications Outlook report released Thursday.
Crediting the popularity of smart phones and tablet PCs for driving the growth of mobile broadband services, the report said that wireless broadband subscriptions in OECD countries exceeded half a billion by the end of 2010, noting an increase of more than 10% between June and December. The report is based on data from December, 2010.
The average penetration rate stood at 41.6%, meaning four in ten “inhabitants” in each country on…
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TORONTO – CBC and Rogers Sportsnet are teaming up to deliver all games from the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011 which starts this weekend, marking the first time every match will be broadcast live in Canada.
The partnership will see CBC air all matches involving Canada, including three of four quarterfinals, the semi-final, bronze and gold medal matches, all live. Rogers Sportsnet will air one quarterfinal match live, while also providing encore broadcasts of the quarterfinal, semi-final, bronze and gold medal matches. Additionally, in the early rounds, Rogers Sportsnet will provide live coverage of 18 matches not involving Canada.
Scott Russell will…
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GATINEAU – When Bell Canada and Telus each spoke to the issue of exclusive content on Tuesday morning during their turns at the CRTC’s hearing into vertical integration of media and distribution companies, we thought to ourselves: “this, we’ve heard before.”
Telus, the biggest carrier in the country without media assets, is worried the likes of Rogers, Bell, Shaw and Quebecor will make acquiring ancillary content for wireless, online, and any other devices that pop up, too difficult or expensive – or give themselves unfair head starts, much to the disadvantage of Telus and other companies like it.
Allowing the Canadian…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications is offering its small and medium-sized business customers a cloud based business phone system via a new partnership with RingCentral.
Rogers Hosted IP Voice provides customers the functionality of a business phone system without the high cost or complexity of a traditional on-premise hardware PBX, Wednesday’s announcement detailed. Additionally, it is designed to meet the business needs of the mobile and distributed workforce, with features and functionality that legacy hardware PBXs cannot provide.
"We understand that for small businesses, seamless connections with customers are crucial to maintaining a professional image," said John Boynton, Rogers’ EVP and chief marketing officer….
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VICTORIA – Cable television engineer Cor Maas passed away on June 7 at his home in Duncan BC after a battle with colorectal cancer. He was 68.
Maas, who had recently retired from Shaw Communications, also held roles at BCTel, Telesat, and Rogers Cablesystems before joining Shaw where he worked on Vancouver Island. He had a lifelong passion for ham radio and was an active supporter of any system using the airwaves.
Long-time colleague and friend Tony van Wouw, who began working with Maas in 1980 at Premier Communications, described him as “a dear friend” and a “walking, talking encyclopedia on…
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TORONTO – Rogers is launching a trade-in program for its Fido wireless customers that will allow them to trade-in their old phones to save on a new one.
Called FidoTRADE, the new program is open to new and existing prepaid and postpaid Fido customers starting July 11, 2011. By trading in their old device and battery, regardless of which carrier it is coming from in Canada, the U.S. or anywhere else in the world, customers can opt to receive a credit towards the cost of a new phone activation or renewal of their Fido service.
All devices collected through the…
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GATINEAU – We don’t only pay attention to the big companies and their primary talking points. Of course, we do end up telling their stories first, but there are always few other noteworthy hits during hearings such as this week’s CRTC proceeding on Vertical Integration.
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CRTC CHAIRMAN KONRAD von Finckenstein on Monday apologized for overstepping his bounds a little when he put the brakes on a line of questioning from new Commission vice-chair Tom Pentefountas. Rogers Communications EVP regulatory, Phil Lind had mentioned in the company’s opening statement how the CRTC should use this hearing to…
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THE ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC Co-operation and Development (OECD) biennial study on comparing wireless markets should be viewed for what it is: a limited analysis comparing four wireless plans in Canada with other OECD nations, says a new report from Nordicity.
The report, International Wireless Market Comparison, prepared for Telus, argues that OECD analyses are suspect because they only compare advertised prices. Instead, it says, a full understanding requires a look not only at price but other important factors.
“Cost should only be considered as part of an international wireless comparison – rather than the definitive factor,” states Nordicity,…
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GATINEAU – If the Canadian TV industry is to fend off the growing power of unregulated sources of video (yes, especially Netflix), exclusive deals on content must be allowed, Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau told the CRTC Monday afternoon.
He was appearing in front of the Commission on day one of its hearing into the regulatory framework on vertically integrated corporations (those big four companies which own big broadcast assets and big distribution companies: Bell, Rogers, Shaw and Quebecor).
While noting “vertical integration is the only viable tool to allow us to protect the Canadian broadcast system,” Péladeau also…
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