EDMONTON – Alberta drone tech startup AirMarket and Telus today announced a new strategic alliance.
The two companies signed a letter of intent which will see them work together will aim to accelerate development and deployment of unmanned traffic management services for the global drone market, says the press release. Both want to deliver a telecom control framework which can safely integrate drones into Canadian airspace.
“As the use of drones continues to grow in popularity and more applications are developed for their use, it is crucial that UTM (unmanned traffic management) rapidly evolves to address new, complex air traffic situations. While…
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Shaw CEO also warns regulators not to change things now
CALGARY – After showing strong wireless subscriber additions of more than 266,000 customers in fiscal 2019 and bringing in $1 billion in annual wireless revenue for the first time, Shaw Communications executives didn’t hold back their opinions during the year-end conference call with financial analysts.
CEO Brad Shaw, said the company spent the fiscal year (ended August 31) focused on adding broadband and wireless customers, expanding its wireless network in the west by rolling out its 700 MHz spectrum – all the while managing a large…
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VANCOUVER – Rogers Media’s podcaster Pacific Content announced today it has hired Jonas Woost as its director of business development.
Woost (right) will look to grow Pacific Content's roster of clients and podcasts, which already include Facebook, Dell Technologies, Red Hat, Mozilla, Charles Schwab, Audible, McAfee, and the New York Times T Brand Studio. Pacific Content produces original podcasts for and with brands.
Woost joins Pacific Content from Telus, where he was the executive producer of the Storyhive project. Prior to that, he was executive producer at CBC Music, the public broadcaster's digital music service. He…
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There’s pain now, but “simplicity dividend” will pay off for Rogers, CEO promises
TORONTO – This summer, Rogers Communications was the first to take the leap into lower wireless prices and modern device financing plans, each with the goal of making things easier and cheaper for both the company and its customers.
The new plans, starting at $75/month for unlimited data (albeit slowed after 10GB) sent the wireless market (and the Regulator) into a bit of a tizzy in the summer as all of the…
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GATINEAU – The Telecommunications Act allows the CRTC to order “telecommunications facilities to be provided, constructed, installed, altered, moved, operated, used, repaired or maintained on any property.”
Furthermore, “No Canadian carrier or distribution undertaking shall construct a transmission line on, over, under or along a highway or other public place without the consent of the municipality or other public authority having jurisdiction over the highway or other public place.”
In that context, the Commission has had to resolve conflicts that arose over the years between some municipalities and carriers. The general rule is a municipality is compensated for its costs incurred…
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Competition Bureau has its worries, too
GATINEAU – In the summer Rogers Wireless introduced 36-month device financing plans into the Canadian wireless marketplace.
The service providers which introduced these new plans (Telus quickly followed suit, and then Bell and Ice Wireless had begun or where about to launch three-year device plans) were hailed by some as increasing smartphone affordability and generally being pro-consumer. Others hailed in the opposite direction.
On August 2nd, as we reported, the CRTC sent a letter to providers to cease that practice and then on August 30th, Continue Reading
GATINEAU – As part of the unrelenting effort by Canada and other jurisdictions to put an end to fraud and scam calls, last December, the CRTC launched a proceeding that would see the Implementation of universal network-level blocking of calls with blatantly illegitimate caller identification.
The deadline for telcos to have that in place, if they don’t already, is December 19th.
This summer, however, Bell suggested going even further and, as Cartt.ca reported, applied for Commission approval for a pilot project which would use artificial intelligence to build on universal network blocking tools to stop certain verified fraudulent and…
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VANCOUVER – Telus announced today that its investment arm Telus Ventures, along with BASF Venture Capital are among lead investors in a series B investment round for British startup Hummingbird Technologies.
Hummingbird is a startup which has become a leader advanced crop analytics, says the press release. Other main investors include Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC) and the British investment firm Downing Ventures.
Founded in 2016, Hummingbird developed a technology platform to evaluate the condition of agricultural fields and its “artificial intelligence, deep learning and imagery analytics solution uses proprietary algorithms driven by aerial images captured from satellites,…
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VANCOUVER – With its latest Telus Wise happiness workshop announced Wednesday, Telus is hoping to equip teens in grades 9 through 12 with the better skills and practices for ensuring mental resilience and well-being in our digital world.
Tips offered in the workshop include taking occasional digital breaks, being aware of and limiting social comparisons that can get in the way of our happiness and practicing the Joy of Missing Out (JOMO) as opposed to the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). The workshop has been announced support of World Mental Health Day, on October 10.
The happiness workshop was developed…
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OTTAWA – A collective of Canadian startups will try to attract global attention next week as they exhibit new, innovative applications at Mobile World Congress 2019 Los Angeles.
The four companies were selected to participate in the L-Spark Secure IoT Accelerator Program earlier this year and are now ready to demonstrate their work. Applications created by the four Canadian companies were built on a new hardware and software platform that follows global IoT security guidelines recently developed by the GSMA, reads the L-Spark press release.
“Telus is committed to supporting industry initiatives that address ever-evolving cybersecurity threats by leveraging ‘secure…
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