Indigenous charity Indspire and the Telus Friendly Future Foundation announced last week a four-year, $500,000 partnership to support indigenous post-secondary students through Indspire’s Building Brighter Futures bursaries and scholarships program and the Telus Student Bursary program.
With matching funding from the federal government, this partnership promises to deliver $1 million to empower indigenous youth, by offering up to 320 Telus Student Bursaries to First Nations, Inuit and Métis students who are enrolled in their first undergraduate diploma or degree program at recognized post-secondary institutions across Canada, a Telus press release said.
Award recipients…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The attorney general, on behalf of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), is asking the Federal Court of Appeal to intervene in SaskTel’s challenge to the CRTC’s fibre access mandate, arguing the outcome could impact the ability of the federal government to shape telecom policy and impair its cabinet direction power broadly.
Late last week, the AG filed a motion for leave to intervene in SaskTel’s challenge to the CRTC’s decision to force the legacy telcos to open their bundled fibre networks to competitors. SaskTel is arguing there is an inherent conflict between Continue Reading
Rogers/Shaw generated 34 per cent of all accepted complaints, says mid-year report
Consumer complaints about telecom and TV services have increased by 61 per cent, according to new data from the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS).
According to the latest CCTS Mid-Year Report, released early Wednesday morning, the CCTS accepted 19,157 complaints from wireless, internet, phone and TV customers between Aug. 1, 2025 and Jan. 31, 2026, compared to 11,909 complaints accepted during the same six-month period in the prior year.
Rogers/Shaw had the highest number of complaints…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Friday set the final wholesale access rates to the bundled fibre networks of the incumbent telcos, keeping them “similar” to the existing rates set in 2024 because of their success in inducing new offerings in the market.
“The final rates set in this order are similar to those interim rates, which dozens of competitors have successfully been using to bring new offers to market and attract tens of thousands of new customers,” the CRTC said Friday.
Indeed, the final rates are mostly only slightly changed. For access to Bell’s FTTP facilities, between 3 Mbps and 1.5…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Cabinet has declined to overturn petitions challenging the CRTC’s decision to allow the three largest telecommunications companies access to the wholesale internet framework, arguing the regulator has instituted investment protections and has an opportunity to solidify the balance between that and competition by setting final access rates.
“The Governor in Council considers that bringing down costs for Canadians is a key priority and that restricting larger telecommunications service providers from accessing mandated wholesale high-speed access services, as requested in the petitions, would reduce the level of competition and consumer options in the retail high-speed Internet services market,” said…
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Telus, along with its network infrastructure partners Fibre Connect and Ledcor, announced Monday its Telus PureFibre internet services will soon be available in the community of Calgary-Bonavista, located in south central Calgary.
The release indicates residents will be able to access theoretical speeds of up to 5 Gbps.
“Soon, people living in Calgary-Bonavista will have access to the same future-ready speeds, rock-solid reliability and life-changing benefits that TELUS’ world-leading networks are enabling across Canada,” reads a Telus press release.
The project includes more than 250 kilometres of fibre construction and would not be possible without the collaboration of the City of Calgary…
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Telecoms welcome report, but say more coordinated action is needed
By Ahmad Hathout
The Senate committee on transport and communications has heeded the recommendations of the telecommunications industry and is urging the federal government to amend the Criminal Code to impose harsher penalties for copper theft.
The report, titled Stolen Signal: The Costly Consequences of Copper Theft in Canada and released Tuesday, is also recommending the federal government create a task force on metal theft to promote information sharing among law enforcement agencies and encourage its provincial and territorial counterparts to regulate the sale of scrap metal, including by keeping a record…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) has been approved Monday for a three-cent increase in the price broadcasters must pay to carry the service, despite the CRTC suspending that application months earlier until after it implemented changes to the regulatory system.
Broadcasters will now pay 16 cents per subscriber, per month to carry the channel, which is required of them under the Broadcasting Act’s 9.1(1)(h) rule. The new rate, which is what the not-for-profit asked for, will take effect on September 1, which is the start of the new broadcasting year.
“The Commission is of the…
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Telus announced Monday the rollout of its new SmartEnergy for Good program, which is designed to help low-income households reduce energy use and lower their utility bills, while also contributing to Canada’s climate targets.
The first phase of the program has launched in Ontario, with additional provinces to be added later this year, Telus said in a press release.
Calling it a “first-of-its-kind initiative in Canada,” Telus said SmartEnergy for Good is open to qualifying low-income Ontario residents, including seniors, families and youth aging out of government care. Qualifying customers…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has rejected an application requesting that it say subsidized builds in southwestern Ontario must be open for bundled fibre access.
Ontario-based consulting firm Broadlytics had requested last summer that the regulator find that all builds subsidized by public dollars through the not-for-profit Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) project be made to comply with the regulator’s new wholesale internet framework, which currently requires that telcos – Bell, Telus and SaskTel – provide access to their combined middle and last-mile fibre networks.
But the CRTC on Friday said Bell, the only provider subject to the bundled…
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