OTTAWA – The CRTC denied TekSavvy’s application challenging the legality of specific arrangements entered into by Rogers and Bell that gave wholesale providers an internet rental rate better than that approved by the regulator.
The largest independent internet service provider filed undue preference challenges against an unpublicized rate deal Rogers is giving Videotron and a deal Bell is giving its own affiliate, the recently acquired EBOX, for access to their national internet networks.
After seeing those confidential terms, the CRTC ruled last Friday that the Rogers-Videotron discounts are “similar to those available under other existing off-tariff agreements.” The regulator noted that…
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VANCOUVER – Rogers Communications announced Thursday it is investing in industry-leading wildfire detection and prevention technology and will use its national network and technology partnerships to help fight climate change-related events in communities across Canada.
Rogers is currently testing satellite-connected IoT sensors, using SpaceX’s low-bandwidth Swarm service, to better predict wildfires in remote areas of British Columbia without wireless networks, explains a press release.
Rogers is also introducing Pano AI cameras on the Rogers 5G network that can detect smoke up to a 20-kilometre range, according to the release. The AI cameras will be located…
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Bell is currently going through “strategic review” on programming
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Bell has revealed that WildBrain’s heavily redacted application last month accusing it of giving an undue preference to Corus on children’s programming distribution also accuses the large BDU of breaking the CRTC’s standstill rule.
Bell alleges in the reply dated September 8 that WildBrain is claiming the standstill rule – which stipulates that the BDU must continue to distribute channels on the same terms and conditions even while in a dispute – has been invoked because the parties began negotiating potential terms for a new…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC rejected Monday an application by Quebecor to force the legacy telephone companies to refund amounts collected and impose a pay-per-use system as they work to fully implement the next-generation 911 network.
Quebecor said in the application filed in December that it’s not fair for providers like itself to simultaneously pay for both the existing 911 and future next-generation network – which will include the capacity to handle audiovisual information from distressed callers. It asked the CRTC to refund the fees paid toward the NG 911 network development – expected to fully replace the…
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Cogeco hopes for mobile wireless launch by this time next year
By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri said Tuesday that Freedom’s competitive mobile wireless offers ahead of the back-to-school season didn’t have a “material impact” on its market share in Ontario.
“They launched a few, I would say, price points didn’t have a material impact on the market, frankly,” Staffieri said during the BMO telecom conference.
“So one of the things we’ve gotten a lot better at is to let the competition do their thing, we’ll do our…
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MONTREAL – NBCUniversal’s all-reality TV subscription streaming service Hayu is now available to Videotron customers in Quebec through Videotron’s Helix platform, the companies announced Tuesday.
Videotron customers will be able to access more than 300 reality series directly through their Hayu subscription, with the streaming service accessible via Helix voice command on their Videotron remote, a press release says.
A Canadian subscription to Hayu costs $6.99 (plus taxes) per month.
Hayu’s extensive content library includes shows such as Love Island, Below Deck, Vanderpump Rules, and franchises such as The Real Housewives and Million Dollar Listing, plus exclusive content like Watch What…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications announced Monday the new Rogers red Mastercard offering customers cash back rewards and lower monthly payments on new phones.
“With the Rogers red credit card, customers can buy the latest phone with no mobile contract and 0% financing over 48 months on an Equal Payment Plan. This cuts monthly device payments by up to half, compared to 24-month financing at full price. Rogers is the only wireless provider that offers this affordability and flexibility,” reads a Rogers press release.
Starting Sept. 21, the new Rogers red Mastercard, which…
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By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced Monday that all carriers will need to provide service to their customers on Rogers’s wireless network in Toronto’s subway system by October 3.
All carriers will need to provide service within three weeks from Monday and will have to enter commercial agreements within the next 100 days – or December 20. Those stipulations, which will apply to Bell, Quebecor’s Freedom and Telus, are as of Monday conditions of those carriers owning spectrum, the technology powering wireless communications.
Government officials said on a technical briefing with media Monday that carriers will need to…
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By Ahmad Hathout
CALGARY – Calgary has issued a notice to the public Thursday indicating its interest in entering a contract with Rogers to include a cohort of residents in the cable company’s Connected for Success low-income services program.
The pilot agreement would involve providing the city’s Fair Entry-eligible households with access to price-reduced services from Rogers, including internet, TV or wireless, for one year with an option to extend into the long term.
The city’s Fair Entry program does an income and residency assessment for residents to assess their eligibility for fee-reduced programs, which currently include property tax,…
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Quebecor CEO asks, ‘Should we be surprised…?’
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Bell has sent a letter to the Federal Court of Appeal backing Rogers’s appeal of the CRTC’s decision to choose Quebecor’s price to access the cable company’s national wireless network.
“The proposed appeal raises crucial issues relating to the ‘just and reasonable’ standard pursuant to which the CRTC sets the rates for a wide range of regulated telecommunications services, including the facilities-based MVNO access service mandated by the CRTC in 2021,” Bell, which isn’t a party to the matter, said in a letter dated August 31.
“These issues include the ability…
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