By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Two years and 16 days after Rogers and Shaw announced their intention to merge, Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne indirectly approved one of Canadian history’s largest corporate consolidations Friday by allowing for the transfer of Shaw’s Freedom wireless assets to Videotron – promised as the competitive fourth player in the telecom market.
The stipulations laid out by Champagne in a press conference on Friday are as follows: Videotron will commit to offering retail services that are “at least 20% cheaper” than from those of the major players outside its home territory, it cannot transfer Freedom spectrum licences…
Continue Reading
Bell said there was no consultation on the need for such requirements
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Some of the country’s major telecommunications companies are telling the CRTC that the interim notification requirements mandated by the regulator earlier this month for major network outages are unnecessary, citing an agreement signed last year by a dozen telecoms to notify relevant authorities in cases of such service disruptions.
The CRTC temporarily ordered the telecoms to notify the CRTC within two hours of a major network outage starting on March 8 until the regulator makes a decision on the permanency of such…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC has sent a letter to Rogers and Bell on Thursday asking them to lay out what off-tariff wholesale internet access agreements they have with competitors.
The request for information includes details of a proposed arrangement that would see Rogers give Videotron access to its broadband network at favourable wholesale rates to win over regulators in its pursuit of Shaw.
The request is part of the CRTC’s evaluation of an application filed by TekSavvy, which alleges that Rogers and Bell are engaging in agreements that are disadvantaging competitors who don’t get similar rates…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC ruled Thursday that Rogers gave itself and its own sports channels an unfair preference by refusal to carry for broadcasting Timeless’s OneSoccer.
Timeless first brought the complaint last summer that alleged Rogers refused to carry OneSoccer because it was concerned about competition with its own Sportsnet channels. Rogers said it refused to carry the channel because it allegedly had limited appeal to viewers. Telus, which has carried the channel since 2021, urged the commission to investigate the matter.
The regulator ruled Thursday that OneSoccer is a comparable service to the sports channels of…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A technical working group with members from the country’s major telecommunications companies have this month recommended a bevy of changes to enhance network reliability, including enhanced criminal penalties in cases of negligent damage to critical network infrastructure, subsidizing certain infrastructure in areas with little coverage, and expanding the CRTC’s authority over municipal infrastructure.
The 27-page report from the Canadian Telecommunications Network Resiliency Working Group, released this month, packs a list consisting of general recommendations for network resiliency and asks of the federal government.
“To strengthen efforts to improve the resiliency of Canada’s telecommunications networks, the…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – Doug French, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Telus, said Tuesday that the company is confident that it could weather increased wholesale-based competition in western Canada in light of a CRTC proceeding launched earlier this month that will look to lower the rates competitors pay for access to incumbent networks.
The CRTC announced it is embarking on establishing a new wholesale framework that it said would address higher broadband prices in the country. A hearing on the matter is likely to be held next year. Meanwhile, the regulator will release a…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – Just over a week before the transaction deadline, Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri said Tuesday that the company believes Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne has all the information he needs to make a decision on the company’s proposed purchase of Shaw.
Two weeks ago, Staffieri said at a Scotiabank event that the minister had been asking the company to provide additional information about the transaction and said the company has been actively providing material to the minister, who holds the final say in whether to allow the transfer of Shaw’s Freedom to Videotron required to…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Internet service provider TekSavvy is warning the CRTC that if it does not address unregulated wholesale access rates in the industry, “there may not be any independent wholesale competitors remaining.”
In January, the ISP filed a Part 1 application asking the CRTC to investigate the legality of the matter in light of Rogers’s proposed deal to provide Videotron access to its network at below CRTC regulated rates as a condition of its acquisition of Shaw. It also accused Bell of self-preferencing by providing its recently purchased affiliate Ebox with preferential rates for access…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC has extended by nearly a month the deadline for applications for money from the $750-million Broadband Fund.
A CRTC notice, released Monday, said the third round of applications – to connect underserved communities to high-speed internet – will now be due on May 16, pushing back the April 18 deadline.
“The Commission considers that extending the deadline for the submission of applications would provide potential applicants with sufficient time to effectively participate in the public hearing and submit applications in response to the third call for applications,” the CRTC said.
The decision…
Continue Reading
Mobile wireless prices declined 2.6 per cent on average compared to 2021: Wall study
By Ahmad Hathout
The country’s lowest-priced mobile wireless plans in 2022 came from mobile virtual network operators, flanker brands of the incumbents or regional providers, which contributed to a 2.6 per cent decrease in that segment’s pricing compared to 2021, according to a new Innovation Canada price study released Friday.
The new study, which is based on eight talk and data service baskets, found the average MVNO price for unlimited talk and 2-4 GB of data, 5-6 GB of data, and 7-9 GB of data “is consistently lower…
Continue Reading
