By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Telus is appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada a decision by a lower court that denied its application asking it to find the CRTC has jurisdiction over wireless access to municipal infrastructure.
In arguments filed to the high court Monday, Telus said the Federal Court of Appeal’s fixation with the dictionary definition of “transmission line” under section 43 of the Telecommunications Act to include only hard wires made it unappreciative of the fact that those wireless signals have to route back to hard lines that go back to the provider’s network.
“By focusing on the point…
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Rogers announced Wednesday that its 5G wireless service is available in nine rural eastern Ontario communities previously underserved.
The cable company has completed the building of nine new wireless sites and upgraded 37 existing sites to provide.
The end result is 5G service to the following areas: Ontario County Highway 2 from Belleville to Shannonville; Southern areas of Sandbanks Provincial Park; Healey Falls to Campbellford South in Northumberland County; Archer’s Road to County Road 2 in Northumberland County; Bridgenorth in Peterborough County; Camp Kawartha in Peterborough County; Glasgow Station to ON-17 in Renfrew County; Demorestville in Prince Edward County; and Highway…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The large telecommunications companies are telling the CRTC that it’s a bad idea to temporarily mandate access to last mile fibre under the current regime because there isn’t evidence of a need for it, it doesn’t take into consideration areas that still don’t have completed fibre infrastructure, and the process will preempt the review of the wholesale internet framework.
The CRTC said in March it is of the preliminary view that fibre-to-the-premises access under the aggregated regime should be mandated, and launched an expedited proceeding for interim access until it completes its review of the…
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By Connie Thiessen
Twenty-two Canadian broadcasters have come together to form Canadian Broadcasters for Sustainability, committed to working together to increase environmentally sustainable change.
Announced Sunday at Banff World Media Festival, the wide-ranging group of public and private broadcasters includes Accessible Media Inc., Asian Television Network, Bell Media, Blue Ant Media, CBC/Radio-Canada, Channel Zero, CHEK Media, Corus Entertainment, Hollywood Suite, Knowledge Network, New Tang Dynasty (Canada), Nunavut Independent Television Network (Uvagut TV), OUTtv, Pelmorex Corp., Remstar Media, Rogers Sports & Media, Super Channel, Télé-Québec, TFO, TV5, TVO and WildBrain.
The group is committing to embedding environmentally sustainable thinking in their commissioned productions…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers has told the CRTC that it estimates it can take a year for it to provide third party access to its fibre-to-the-home network on newer technologies, according to a tariff letter dated last week.
When the CRTC launched its review of the wholesale internet framework in March, it said it would be expediting its proceeding on mandating third party access to the last mile fibre facilities of the incumbents under the current aggregated regime to speed up the process of driving more competition and lowering prices for higher internet speeds. The aggregated…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is requesting information surrounding the status of negotiations for access to the incumbents’ wireless networks by regional service providers.
In a letter dated June 1, the CRTC said it wants Rogers, Bell, Telus, and SaskTel and the regional players to provide it with status updates on June 8, July 7, and August 7 about access to the incumbent networks by mobile virtual network operators run by the regional providers.
It is requesting that the incumbents provide a list of agreements that are currently in place, a list of regional providers that have made requests to begin negotiations…
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Rogers announced Thursday it has completed eight 5G tower builds to provide connectivity along highway 652 in rural Ontario.
The primarily wind- and solar-powered towers will provide connectivity along a 180-kilomtre stretch of the highway between Cochrane and Agnico Eagle’s Detour Lake Mine, “making travel along the highway corridor safer for residents, business travellers, and Agnico Eagle employees,” Rogers said in a press release, noting that it partnered with Agnico Eagle Mines on the builds.
Rogers also simultaneously announced the build of the first wireless tower on the land of the Taykwa Tagamou Nation.
“We are investing to expand our world-class networks…
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But Cogeco said it could still impact project cost and delivery in Ontario
By Ahmad Hathout
The replacement of utility poles preserved with pesticides using a toxic chemical called pentachlorophenol is unlikely to significantly impact broadband project rollouts, according to Innovation Canada and some telecoms, but concerns still linger.
Health Canada issued a notice in October 2022 cancelling the registration of products using the chemical, after reviews by the European Union, Switzerland, New Zealand and Japan found it posed health hazards. Health Canada’s special review found the chemical causes adverse effects on the environment and humans.
The notice ordered products using the chemical…
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By Connie Thiessen
Without access to funding, Corus Entertainment says its Global television stations across the country will be left “in a precarious and unduly disadvantaged position” as Rogers Communications moves to redirect $13 million in local expression funding to its CityNews stations.
In a letter to the CRTC, dated May 10 and posted to the commission website this week, Corus requests confirmation of its eligibility to participate in the Independent Local News Fund (ILNF), funded by licensed broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs), which are required to contribute 0.3% of gross revenues from the previous broadcast year.
Corus – which is effectively controlled by the Shaw Family Living Trust – says given Rogers’s recent acquisition…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Innovation Canada “repeatedly encouraged” the sale of Xplore Mobile’s spectrum licences in Manitoba to Quebecor, according to a company executive, after CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau sent a letter to the department urging it to push for a sale to subsidiary Videotron to maintain its four-player competition policy.
The department denied the July 14 joint request to transfer the five licences worth $30 million to Telus in September on the grounds that it would hinder the ability of “fourth” players to compete because of the high concentration of spectrum control by Telus, Rogers and…
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