OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadians’ increasing use of Internet and mobile services helped to drive up telecommunications revenues 3.2% to $50.3 billion in 2017, slightly faster than the five-year average annual growth rate of 2.9%, the CRTC said Thursday.
In the telecom portion of its 2018 Communications Monitoring Report (CMR), the Commission said that over half (58.2%) of the total revenue share was earned by the country’s large incumbent TSPs, while 34.0% was generated by cable-based carriers, which it defines as the former cable monopolies that currently also provide telecommunications services. Resellers earned 3.6%, other service providers generated 3.2%, and small…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The CRTC has set new standards for text-based message relay services to help improve the service for hearing or speech impaired Canadians.
Message relay services (MRS) enable Canadians with a hearing or a speech disability to make and receive telephone calls via text with the assistance of a relay operator. The CRTC has long required that home phone providers offer MRS to customers 24 hours per day, seven days per week, first through teletypewriter (TTY) relay service and then through IP relay services, too.
The Commission said Friday that mobile wireless service providers (WSPs) must begin offering…
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NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. and CALGARY – TransLink and Shaw Communications announced Wednesday the two organizations will team up to deliver free Wi-Fi for transit customers across Metro Vancouver starting in 2020.
“We have half-a-million people ride our system every day, and when we ask them what they’d like to see on transit, Wi-Fi is one of the most frequent requests,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond in the joint press release. “We’re proud to be the first transit authority in Canada to offer this free Wi-Fi service and we’re doing it at no cost to our customers or taxpayers.”
Starting in…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has sided with Frontier Networks in its dispute with Eastlink over reselling its high-speed access (HSA) services.
In April, Frontier requested expedited interim relief and final relief regarding the refusal of Bragg Communications Inc. (carrying on business as Eastlink), to allow it to continue to resell HSA service to its two reseller customers. Interim relief was granted by the CRTC in May.
On Tuesday, the Commission made Frontier’s interim relief final after finding that its interpretation of Eastlink’s Third-Party Internet Access General Tariff is correct. It also directed Eastlink to file revised Tariff pages within 30 …
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TORONTO – TSN and RDS have extended their broadcast partnership with mixed martial arts organization UFC to include more content plus digital rights across a number of corporate platforms.
Under the terms of the agreement, TSN and RDS are the Canadian home for 22 UFC Fight Night main cards and late preliminaries, as well as preliminary fights ahead of UFC’s 12 pay-per-view events. TSN and RDS will also broadcast Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, focused on finding the next generation of UFC talent.
The Bell Media-owned sports networks will also distribute UFC content beyond linear broadcasts, including across social channels and…
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CALGARY – Shaw’s Freedom Mobile has kicked off a new contest that asks Canadians to share how they use their data for a chance to win prizes totaling $10,000.
From December 6 through December 15, Canadians can enter the '10 Days of Giveaways' contest by following Freedom Mobile’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, and participating in the daily challenges posted to each social media platform.
The carrier also said that for every dollar given away, its parent company Shaw will donate an equivalent amount to a registered charity of the winner’s choice.
The $10,000 being awarded throughout the…
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OTTAWA – The rapid clip at which new technology is entering and transforming the world is creating both opportunities and challenges for Canadian companies driving the innovation
At the macro level, major “technology disrupters” are changing the way we live and work, according to Andre Leduc, vice-president of government relations and policy at the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) speaking this week at the third annual summit of the Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN) in Ottawa on Tuesday during a panel discussion on “business in a hyper-connected world.”
Those disrupters include:
cloud computing and the remote workforce;
the user…
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CALGARY – Shaw said Thursday that it is giving the gift of speed this holiday season by doubling the speeds of its top internet plans for all new and existing residential customers in Western Canada.
All existing residential customers with Shaw’s Internet 300 and Internet 150 plans will be automatically upgraded in the coming weeks to 600 and 300 Mbps download speeds, respectively, at no additional cost. Shaw added that existing customers may get their speed upgrade sooner by power-cycling their modem beginning Monday, December 3.
New customers may sign up for Internet 300 and Internet 150 plans starting aat $55…
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Telus, Shaw, say no licence should be granted, and especially not to Bell or Rogers
GATINEAU – On Wednesday, phase II and III of the hearing into a mandatory carriage licence for a national, news oriented multilingual and multi-ethnic television service was the opportunity for the applicants and then outside intervenors to tell commissioners why they believe certain applications are not special enough to warrant a license under section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act.
Four of the eight applicants chose not to make any presentations Wednesday (perhaps keeping their powder dry for Thursday’s final public reply day) but each of Rogers…
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Just part of negotiations, though
TORONTO – Within its most recent bills to some of its cable TV customers, Rogers Communications noted that as of January 1, 2019, their roster of channels will be a little lighter.
“From time to time, we adjust our channel lineups to reflect the changing viewership trends of our customers. As of January 1, 2019, Stingray Juicebox, Stingray Retro, Stingray Loud and Stingray Vibe, will no longer be in your TV package,” reads the note at the bottom of the bills.
All four music video channels are ones which Stingray purchased from Bell…
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