By Ahmad Hathout
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. has fired Thursday the first challenge to the CRTC’s decision to force it to open its last-mile fibre facilities to its major competitors, alleging the regulator relied in its decision on a cabinet direction that was already beyond the jurisdiction of the Governor in Council.
“The CRTC, by adhering to the cabinet direction, conducted a lengthy consultative exercise, with input from a broad spectrum of industry participants and interested parties, including SaskTel, in service of making a determination that was, in effect, already made,” the Crown corporation says in its memorandum to the Federal…
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Peladeau lambasts “contradictory” decision
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said Thursday that Quebecor must come to an agreement on separate terms with Bell unrelated to the commission-approved tariff in order to access the telco’s national wireless network.
After the commission picked Bell’s access rate in final offer arbitration with the regional carrier last fall, Quebecor filed a complaint to the CRTC alleging Bell is attempting to delay its access to the large network by making it agree to terms that were outside of those already approved by the commission – and that there was an expected access date of…
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The CRTC is committing more than $17 million through its Broadband Fund to Bell Canada, TBayTel, Telus Communications and Sogetel Mobilité to build new cell towers and improve mobile wireless service along eight major roads, the telecom regulator announced Wednesday.
The four telecommunications service providers submitted their funding applications in response to the CRTC’s third call for applications to the Broadband Fund.
Bell has been approved for up to $1.05 million in funding to build a cell tower to serve approximately 15 kilometres of Route 330 near the community of Gander Bay South in Newfoundland and…
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The Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) has upheld a lower court ruling in 2022 that found Videotron’s illico set top box platform did not violate patented technology claimed by U.S.-based Rovi, now known as Adeia Guides.
The FCA said in its August 6 decision that Rovi’s appeal was dismissed as “the Federal Court did not make a reviewable error in its obviousness analysis concerning the 870 Patent and the 344 Patent” — two of four patents at the centre of Rovi’s original patent infringement claims against Videotron involving interactive television program guide technology.
In its…
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Competitors are left wondering about rates and implications of five-year access immunity
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Tuesday ordered the largest telephone companies to provide wholesale access to their existing last-mile fibre networks across the country by February 13, 2025, but is shielding from the regime any new builds for five years.
The order is an expansion of the temporary regime ordered in November 2023 that forced Bell and Telus to provide competitors bundled access to their middle- and last-mile fibre networks in Ontario and Quebec, which has been in force since May 7. The CRTC will keep the existing rates…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell CEO Mirko Bibic said Thursday that 41 per cent of the company’s new internet subscribers in the second quarter also purchased a wireless plan, which is a testament, he said, to the attraction of the telecom’s fibre product.
Compared to last year’s second quarter, the company also saw an 18-per-cent increase in households bundling wireless and internet bundles where the company has fibre.
“We’re seeing very good bundling success, and that’s adding to the lifetime value of customers,” Bibic said. “Fibre continues to be the growth engine of Bell on the wireline side, and frankly, if you look…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Videotron’s Freedom Mobile announced Thursday all monthly plans will now include access to its 5G network and roaming in the United States and Mexico – including new low-cost options starting at $5 per month after a digital discount is applied.
With the $5 monthly digital discount applied across all plans, Freedom subscribers can now start at a mere $5 per month to get access to the next-generation network and roaming in the U.S. and Mexico with 100 MB of data, two hours of talk and unlimited texting. At $20, they can get 3 GB of data with two…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers is not done buying premium programming after its blockbuster purchase of the rights to content from Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal, the company’s chief financial officer said Wednesday, with a strategy of cutting out the middleman and going direct-to-studio seizing a chunk of its programming costs for quarters to come.
“We are looking to source leading programming that the customers watch, making that available and making that available at lower margins by cutting out the middleman company and going direct,” Rogers’s Glenn Brandt said during the company’s second-quarter earnings conference call.
“We will continue efforts and opportunities in…
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Pre-Olympic coverage includes Canadian women’s first soccer match Thursday
CBC is inviting Canadians to mark the official start of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Friday, July 26 with live coverage of the opening ceremony on CBC, CBC Gem, CBC News Network, partner networks TSN and Sportsnet, CBC’s dedicated Paris 2024 website and the CBC Paris 2024 app for iOS and Android devices.
Beginning at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, a pre-ceremony show hosted by Paris Prime Live’s Scott Russell and CBC News chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault will build…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court has granted a fresh website-blocking order that will force broadcasters to block websites streaming different sports league matches for next season.
The July 9 order draws on previous site-blocking precedent but deviates in that it is being applied to multiple sports in a single order. It also applies a permanent ban on the defendants from broadcasting the unlicensed content, though the reason for the site-blocking order in the first place is because said defendants, who can operate from abroad, have historically not stopped the activity.
As such, the order captures all live pre- and regular season…
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