By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Canada’s largest telecoms are telling the Supreme Court of Canada a lower court fumbled a decision in favour of lower wholesale rates by attributing a line of reasoning that was allegedly never made by the CRTC, abrogating its responsibilities to review the correctness of the regulator’s decision.
That line of reasoning is based on how the CRTC structured its decision in the summer of 2019, when it ordered a lower rate at which smaller telecoms pay for and sell bandwidth from the larger telecoms. At issue in front of the Federal Court of Appeal was whether…
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CALGARY — Thanks to its Shaw Mobile bundling strategy, leveraging its Fibre+ Internet customer base, Shaw Communications reported record wireless subscriber growth with approximately 101,000 net additions in the first quarter of 2021, the company announced today.
The wireless net additions included a 31% year-over-year increase in postpaid net adds to 87,300, as well as 13,700 prepaid net additions in the quarter ended November 30, 2020. The company enjoyed continued growth in wireless service revenue of 9.7% year-over-year to $215 million over the comparable period in fiscal 2020.
Shaw’s wireless adjusted EBITDA totalled $75 million in the first quarter of 2021,…
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OTTAWA — With Navdeep Bains set to retire from politics by not running in the next federal election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a cabinet shuffle this morning that now sees Saint-Maurice—Champlain MP François-Philippe Champagne (above), currently foreign affairs minister, become the minister of Innovation, Science and Industry (which we’ve been stuck on calling ISED, the ministry’s former name. We’ll start calling it ISI after this).
The largely rural riding’s primary community is Shawinigan.
“In his new role, Minister Champagne will rely on his extensive business experience in the fields of energy, engineering, and innovation to assist our economic recovery from…
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KINGSTON — Radio industry veteran Bob Willette (above) has been hired as the new program director of Corus Radio Kingston’s 96.3 Big FM (CFMK-FM) and 104.3 Fresh Radio (CKWS-FM), Corus Entertainment announced today.
Willette was most recently program director of Bell Media’s 102.9 K-Lite FM in Hamilton and 105.7 EZ Rock in St. Catharines, Ont. Prior to that, he was an on-air host and music director at Durham Radio’s 94.9 The Rock in Oshawa, music director at 99.9 Virgin Radio in Toronto, and program director at Evanov Radio Group’s 103.9 Proud FM in Toronto.
He previously worked for Corus Entertainment during…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Late in 2019, in following up its universal service objective decision, the CRTC decided to study the barriers to building new facilities or to accessing or interconnecting with existing facilities in order to extend broadband networks more efficiently into underserved areas, including areas where, due to a lack of such networks, speeds don’t meet the service objectives.
Of course, in March 2020, the pandemic hit, and a vast number of Canadians went home to work, becoming completely dependent on their home’s high-speed Internet to continue work and school. Access to high-speed Internet rapidly became a political…
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TORONTO – A group representing Toronto’s Aboriginal support agencies today announced it has partnered with Freedom Mobile to support Indigenous youth, families and seniors, by giving them phones to help keep them connected.
Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council (TASSC) received 500 handsets from Freedom Mobile to distribute to individuals most in need in its community to help them get online to access important resources and stay connected to loved ones, says a press release.
“By donating these phones, Freedom Mobile is helping individuals and families from Toronto’s urban Indigenous community get access to educational resources, vital information about healthcare and government…
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Feds again being asked to compensate for transitions
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The federal government has historically not compensated companies that must relocate their services to different spectrum bands to make room for emerging technologies. But companies with a vested interest in the repurposing of the C-band spectrum for 5G technology are urging the a change to that position.
Over the air (OTA) broadcasters had to absorb the cost of moving off the 700 MHz band for broadband use years ago. Broadcasters were told more recently by Innovation Canada (ISED) that they wouldn’t be financially covered for the millions of dollars…
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OTTAWA — The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) today shared the news Charlotte Bell, a long-time broadcasting executive and former CAB chair, died on the weekend. She had been suffering from cancer for some time.
“Charlotte was a dear friend and valued colleague to many of us in the broadcasting sector, and all those who were fortunate to work with her are saddened to hear this news,” said Lenore Gibson, chair of the CAB board of directors, in a press statement. “Our thoughts go out to her family and friends at this time.”
Bell most recently was president and CEO of…
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CALGARY — Shaw Communications today launched the next generation of its Fibre+ WiFi Pod across its Western Canada footprint, promising to provide Shaw Fibre+ Internet customers more consistent Wi-Fi coverage by reducing dead spots in their home.
Shaw says the new Fibre+ WiFi Pod is faster than the original (although it didn’t quantify how much faster), and provides more range to create a whole-home mesh network that offers the average home seamless connectivity with a single Pod instead of three, says Shaw’s press release.
“Working with the Shaw Gateway modem, our new pod provides better in-home Wi-Fi coverage in those hard-to-reach…
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TORONTO — TSN today announced it will be providing coverage of the America’s Cup yacht racing series, beginning with the Prada America’s Cup World Series event in Auckland, New Zealand, which will stream on TSN.ca and the TSN app starting on Wednesday, December 16 at 9 p.m. ET.
Running from December 16 to 18, the America’s Cup World Series is the first stage of the oldest international sporting trophy, the America’s Cup. TSN’s yachting coverage also includes the Christmas Race, streaming Saturday, December 19 at 9 p.m. ET, and the Prada Cup Challenger Selection Series from January 14 to February…
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