By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A six-month period of complaints collected by the watchdog Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services between August and January has revealed consumer complaints increased 12 per cent, with wireless being the most-complained about sector and Rogers taking the top spot for the first time following its major network outage last summer.
The Tuesday report tallied 13,962 issues with wireless leading the way with nearly 55 per cent of all issues at 7,616, down 0.9 per cent from the previous six-month period. Internet issues were second with 3,663, down 15.1 per cent; television issues were next with…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Investment firm Globalive is asking the CRTC to review the rates charged by the incumbents for wholesale domestic roaming and to investigate Rogers’s proposed favourable pricing to Videotron as a condition of buying Shaw.
The Toronto firm, which was once gunning for Freedom Mobile before it was sold to Videotron, said in its Part 1 application Friday that significant time has elapsed since the commission last reviewed the wireless roaming rates and that current rates are muting the impact of small and medium-sized wireless competitors.
It noted that the market has significantly changed since the CRTC said…
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TORONTO and MONTREAL — Rogers and Videotron announced Monday that they have closed their respective purchases of Shaw and Freedom, after the innovation minister blessed the mega-merger on Friday.
The parties agreed to a deadline of April 7 to close following the go-ahead decision by Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne on Friday that put commitments from the companies into legally-binding contracts for a period of 10 years. Those commitments include billions of dollars in investments from Rogers and Videotron providing lower prices compared to the large players outside of Quebec.
“This is a momentous day for our customers, who…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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