By Ahmad Hathout
The Competition Bureau is suing Rogers at the Competition Tribunal for allegedly misleading customers by marketing its mobile wireless data as “unlimited” when speeds are throttled after the data cap has been exceeded.
“Rogers has made, and continues to make, representations to the public that convey the materially false or misleading general impression that Rogers Infinite Unlimited Plans offer unlimited and infinite data, allowing consumers to use as much data as they want, free from data limits,” the bureau claims in its tribunal application, filed Monday. “In fact, Rogers is providing plans whose high-speed data is limited to…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The House committee on Industry is calling on the CRTC to launch a “full review of the matter of price certainty and the issue of surprise fees increasing during fixed term contracts” and to take regulatory action on it, according to a report that was delivered to the House floor last week.
The report also urges Industry Minister Francois Philippe-Champagne to “use his available powers in the interim to correct these unfair practices,” expresses “disappointment in Rogers Communications Inc. for not proactively disclosing the true costs of their products and services to consumers,” and “notes the detrimental impact…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri on Monday defended a $7-per month price hike on the company’s TV set top boxes in front of House’s committee on industry, saying it’s the result of increased investments the company makes to improve software and functionality to the device it considers a premium product.
The cable giant’s head also said the majority of customers are not impacted by the hike on the Ignite boxes first revealed by a CBC/Radio-Canada investigation – stemming from consumer complaints that promises of fixed-rate contracts were allegedly broken – and that customers who were affected,…
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Northwestel on Tuesday announced the completion of the Canada North Fibre Loop (CNFL), a 3,857-kilometre fibre loop in the Yukon and Northwest Territories funded by territorial and federal government programs as well as Northwestel’s own significant investments, the Northern telecom provider said in a press release.
The CNFL is comprised of three major routes (please see illustration):
Northwestel’s 1,930-kilometre fibre network running through the two western territorial capitals, Whitehorse and Yellowknife
The Government of Northwest Territories’ 1,149-kilometre Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link from Fort Simpson to Inuvik
The Government of Yukon’s 778-kilometre Dempster Fibre Line, the most recently…
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Competitors claim similar treatment by Rogers
By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers has responded to an allegation of undue preference with respect to a distant interconnection point it wants a small telecom to use for wholesale internet, saying it is up to the network builder, per its tariff, to determine where that traffic handoff will happen and that the CRTC has approved and affirmed the meet-me point in question.
Fibernetics filed a Part 1 last month alleging that Rogers is giving itself an undue preference by forcing the Cambridge, Ont.-based telecom to hook up to an interconnection office half a kilometre…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers filed a confidential application in May requesting the CRTC lift a standstill and allow it to remove several undisclosed Corus specialty channels primarily related to children’s programming from its television rotation due to underperformance, according to court documents on which Cartt can now report.
The documents in the Ontario Superior Court show that the CRTC had previously ordered a standstill in September 2023, indicating a carriage dispute between the two, and then reaffirmed it on May 30 and August 5, 2024. That means Rogers must continue carrying the channels until either the issue is resolved by the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers said Thursday it has entered into an agreement to sell to a “leading global financial investor” a minority equity stake in a newly formed subsidiary that will include parts of its wireless traffic transport network from one region of the country.
The minority stakeholder will get paid periodic distributions based on the net income made by that subsidiary. Wholesale fees to use the network will maintain it, while consumer use of the network, which Rogers CFO Glenn Brandt said is in the range of 40 to 50 per cent growth per year, will ensure distribution stability.
The investment,…
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Northwestel announced Wednesday the launch of high-speed internet in the communities of Tsiigehtchic and Fort McPherson in Northwest Territories.
That means residents of those communities, who will also be able to sign up for Northwestel’s TV Plus service, will be able to subscribe to internet download speeds of up to 700 Mbps while businesses have the option of speeds up to 550 Mbps, with plans to bring that up to 750 Mbps.
This is a significant upgrade to the previous maximum of 15 Mbps, which was delivered via old DSL technology.
The service is being delivered via the Dempster Fibre Line (DFL),…
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By Ahmad Hathout
A television network that focuses on Canadian 2SLGBTQIA+ communities wants the CRTC to broaden its distribution on basic television, or at least set a base wholesale fee for negotiations with distributors.
When the CRTC came to renew the licence for OUTtv in 2022, it granted the service in the English-language market must-offer status – requiring broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) to carry the channel but leaving it to the subscriber to pay for the service – instead of must-carry status with a guaranteed wholesale fee that is available to all subscribers of the BDU. That status will remain until…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Internet service provider Fibernetics is accusing Rogers of undue preference by allegedly refusing to allow the independent telecom to use a third party transport service at the same building it already uses Rogers facilities to haul leased internet traffic back to its own office.
For years, the Cambridge, Ont.-based telecom said it has been leasing, via the third party internet access (TPIA) regime, capacity from Shaw, which was gobbled up by Rogers last year. In that configuration, the telecom hauls the internet traffic using Rogers’s ethernet transport mile to its own Calgary office.
But in a Part 1 application…
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