By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A lawyer for Shaw Communications argued before the Competition Tribunal today that the competition commissioner “exaggerated” Freedom’s success during testimony, saying Shaw’s wireless subsidiary was over the last five years hobbled by market competition and federal government pricing promises.
The thesis of Kent Thomson’s argument today was that Shaw could not and cannot compete in today’s market, hence why it must combine with Rogers. Thomson noted that Telus, Shaw’s west coast rival, has greatly outspent the Calgary-based company by $7 billion over the last handful of years.
In pushing against suggestions that Shaw and Freedom have successfully…
Continue Reading
WHITEHORSE and YELLOWKNIFE — Bell subsidiary Northwestel announced today it has marked the completion of its 2022 fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) projects with community celebrations in Burwash Landing and Haines Junction, Yukon — two of 17 communities in Yukon and Northwest Territories (NWT) that received FTTH service this year through Northwestel’s Every Community Project.
“Over 80% of Yukon and NWT homes now have access to unlimited high-speed Internet that meets or exceeds the CRTC’s universal service objective of 50/10 Mbps unlimited service,” reads a press release. “The majority have access to the North’s fastest home Internet, up to…
Continue Reading
Adds Competition Act is outdated
By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Investment company Globalive Capital said yesterday that its offer to purchase Freedom Mobile from a combined Rogers-Shaw entity is still open, as it blasted the prospect of Quebecor’s Videotron acquiring Shaw’s wireless company at a discount.
“Globalive’s bid to purchase Freedom Mobile at a $900 million premium over Videotron remains open, and is a reminder that Canada has choices,” said the statement, which came on the day that the Competition Tribunal wrapped up its hearing on the evidence in Rogers’s pursuit of buying Shaw Communications. Globalive sent a letter to Innovation Canada, the competition commissioner, and…
Continue Reading
Wireless issues top the list with largest share of complaints
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A watchdog that fields telecommunications complaints said in a report released today that Canadian complaints about their services have dropped 25% compared to the same period last year, with wireless taking the top spot for issues and with some trending issues that one advocate said are “disturbing.”
All telecommunications services recorded by the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services reported declines in complaints for the 2021-2022 year compared to the previous 2020-2021 period. The CCTS said it resolved 88% of complaints, often within 30 days.
Wireless topped issues…
Continue Reading
CALGARY — Shaw Communications today released its financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year that ended August 31, 2022, reporting a 1.5% year-over-year (y-o-y) decline in quarterly revenue to $1.36 billion and a 1.1% y-o-y decrease in full-year revenue to $5.45 billion.
Shaw’s adjusted EBITDA increased by 1.6% to $624 million in Q4 2022 and by 1.4% to $2.53 billion in fiscal 2022, when compared to the same periods of fiscal 2021.
Funds flow from operations declined 5.3% to $487 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 and fell 11.4% to $1.99 billion…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA — The Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC) announced today the election of three new members to its board of directors — Melissa McAvoy, Shane O’Neill and Sandra Hines.
All three were elected to two-year terms by CRFC members at the organization’s annual general meeting held on Nov. 22.
McAvoy is chief financial officer at Pacific Tubulars Ltd., a position she has held since 2019, overseeing the accounting, business support, financial planning and analysis, treasury, investor relations, internal audit and tax functions within the company, a press release says. She was previously chief financial…
Continue Reading
By Connie Thiessen
Corus Entertainment has announced that Daniel Eves, SVP, Networks will be stepping down next month.
Eves has been with Corus since 2016, starting as senior vice president of specialty networks, overseeing the network’s cable portfolio. He’d been in his current role since 2019, helping launch Corus’ STACKTV video streaming package. He had previously served as vice president of content, specialty brands and digital, for Shaw Communications and prior to that, vice president of strategic programming, specialty, at Canwest.
“There are few executives who have programmed as many different networks as Daniel – from scripted to lifestyle, from factual to kids,…
Continue Reading
By Ken Kelley
The president of Bell subsidiary Northwestel said Tuesday that the company is aiming to increase its fiber in the north over the next 12 months, which would improve access to at least the minimum speed objective to an increasing percentage of households in the region.
On the second day of the Canadian Telecom Summit, Northwestel President Curtis Shaw noted that as recently as 2016, not one northern household met the CRTC’s universal service objective of 50 Mbps download with unlimited data. Today, he said more than 22,000 northern homes — over 80% of households — not only have…
Continue Reading
Company believes they will capture those customers with their own offering
OTTAWA — The Competition Tribunal heard evidence today that while Quebecor subsidiary Videotron had the opportunity to purchase Shaw Mobile along with Freedom Mobile, they turned it down because they believe they will be able to capture those customers on their own.
Jean-François Lescadres, Videotron’s vice-president of finances answered questions today before the tribunal, which is currently hearing evidence on an application made by the Commissioner of Competition to block the proposed merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications.
Because of concerns about the impact of the deal…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA — A lawyer for Rogers Communications today pushed back on the testimony of Dr. Nathan Miller, a professor at Georgetown University who compiled a report for the Commissioner of Competition supporting his opposition of the merger of Rogers and Shaw Communications and the proposed remedy that would see Quebecor subsidiary Videotron acquire Shaw’s Freedom Mobile.
Miller yesterday referred to the remedy as “inadequate” and claimed the divestiture would mean less incentive for the new owner to invest in Freedom. As he reiterated today, he is “skeptical” a divested Freedom would be profitable.
When questioned by Rogers’ lawyer Crawford Smith,…
Continue Reading
