OTTAWA-GATINEAU – In a decision that will may have more immediate impact on the telecom industry than last week’s voice over IP deregulation announcement by the Minister of Industry, the CRTC today approved local telephone rate ranges for incumbent telcos.
What is means is that ILECs (Bell Canada, Telus, SaskTel, MTS, Bell Aliant and the like) will now be able to submit to the Commission – confidentially – a low and high range of rates for certain services and as long as their pricing stays within that range, will not have to file for tariff approvals prior to altering…
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CALGARY – Provincial telco SaskTel will finally face some local phone competition as Shaw Communications has launched its Digital Phone service in Saskatoon while Regina’s cable co-operative Access Communications has made its intentions public for Regina and area.
"For the first time in 98 years, Saskatoon residents have the opportunity to select their local telephone service provider," said Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications, in a press release. "We are delighted to offer this choice to Saskatoon residents and expand our growing footprint across Western Canada by extending our Digital Phone service to our first major market in Saskatchewan."…
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VANCOUVER – Bell Mobility has launched a lawsuit against Telus over the latter’s recent ad campaign, saying it’s wireless plans are every bit as flexible as Telus’.
Telus launched an ad campaign this month touting its Flexible Share Plans", where more than one family member can share their wireless minutes.
Bell’s problem is the Telus line found in the ads: "only from Telus." Bell’s statement of claim decries its rival’s "exclusivity claim" as false and misleading.
"The Exclusivity Claim is calculated to give the impression, and does give the impression, that only Telus Mobility offers wireless communications services rate…
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IF CANADA’S INCUMBENT TELEPHONE companies want total deregulation quickly, they’re going to have to do it for (and to) themselves, in the marketplace.
Yesterday Industry Minister Maxime Bernier told the Economic Club of Toronto, with numerous telecom executives in the audience, that the federal government will force the CRTC to deregulate "access independent" VOIP services, no matter which company offers them or where.
The voice services offered by Primus and Vonage are prime examples. The consumer buys a special box, perhaps downloads some software and "poof", they have VOIP service in their homes –and perhaps portably, too.
The Commission’s Continue Reading
HALIFAX – Almost a year after his death at 72 of cancer, The Canadian Red Cross presented its 2006 Humanitarian Award posthumously to former Canadian cable executive Charlie Keating.
According to a story in the Halifax Daily News last week, 600 people gathered at the World Trade and Convention Centre to remember Keating and his philanthropic endeavours. Keating was the founder of Access Cable in Dartmouth before selling to Shaw Communications in 1999. He died on November 22, 2005.
"Among his biggest contributions were $5 million to his alma mater and $2 million to the QEII Health Sciences Centre,"…
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VICTORIA – Shaw Communications will be Dockside Green’s preferred telecommunications provider, the new community has announced.
Dockside Green, located within Victoria, B.C., is a mixed residential, office, retail and industrial space and a partnership between Vancity and Windmill Developments. It says it is "North America’s first community to target LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Platinum-certification."
"We anticipate that Dockside Green will be a community where people will live, work, and play and therefore it was important for us to find a supplier who could provide us with the best and most reliable technology possible," said Joe Van…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications announced Wednesday the addition of Sony Pictures’ line-up of movies to its video on demand service.
Shaw VOD customers will now be able to get titles such as RV, Ultraviolet and The Benchwarmers. New titles will be added over the next couple of months including Click, Monster House, Little Man, The Da Vinci Code, and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
www.shaw.ca
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TORONTO – Saying it makes the company the fastest wireless carrier in Canada, Rogers Wireless today launched high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) technology – its next generation voice and data network.
Available for now throughout Ontario’s "Golden Horseshoe", the debut of HSDPA places the company among the first operators in the world to deploy this latest evolution of GSM, the dominant global standard for mobile wireless communications with over two billion users worldwide, says the company.
HSDPA is a 3.5G protocol for mobile data transmission that, says the release, "significantly improves data transfer rates, enabling network users to download…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications said today it now offers local phone service to 23 regions throughout British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba.
Today it expanded its voice over IP offering to Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Red Deer, Alberta. Since its launch in 2005, Shaw had over 212,000 customers at the end of August, 2006.
Also today, the company debuted Shaw High-Speed Nitro Internet, "the fastest Internet service available in Canada," says the press release, which boasts a download speed of 25 Mbps and an upload speed of 1 Mbps.
Nitro will be available for ordering in the Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg,…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications said today it has increased the download speed of its High-Speed Xtreme-I Internet service by over 40% from 7 Mbps to 10 Mbps AND launched it in Canmore, Alberta
"Shaw’s High-Speed Xtreme-I service is the fastest Internet service available in Canmore, and is one of the fastest Internet services available in Canada," said Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications, in a release.
www.shaw.ca
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