Search Results for: telus

Cable / Telecom News

Beanfield hires Xplore chief exec Rizwan Jamal as its new CEO

Independent telecom Beanfield, with facilities-based operations in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa, announced Tuesday it has appointed Rizwan Jamal as its CEO, effective immediately. Based in Toronto, Jamal was most recently president and CEO of rural telecom provider Xplore, a position to which he was appointed last September. Prior to Xplore, Jamal was president of residential and small business at Bell, where he worked for more than 11 years. He also previously worked at Telus for more than a decade in various roles including senior vice president of consumer marketing. In his new role… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Rogers Ignite TV customers getting ad-supported Disney+ for free

Rogers Communications and Disney Entertainment announced Tuesday the ad-supported version of Disney+ is now available to Rogers TV customers as part of their eligible Ignite TV package at no additional cost. “We want to deliver more value to our customers and create a more seamless viewing experience,” Bret Leech, president of residential services at Rogers, said in a press release. “By integrating Disney+, we’re adding even more value to our entertainment packages and making it easier than ever for customers to enjoy the shows and movies they love.” “Rogers is one of our most valued and long-standing Canadian… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

CRTC wants analysis of wholesale broadband transport options in Canada

By Ahmad Hathout The CRTC is seeking a contractor to analyze the wireline transport market, as it prepares to make a decision on an updated wholesale internet access framework. According to the procurement document, dated Thursday, the regulator is looking for a contractor to draft a definition of wholesale wireline high-speed transport services market, which should “allow for upcoming technological changes.” It is also seeking an analysis of the group of products that consumers would consider to be substitutes for the service and an assessment of the geographic area in which a customer purchases a service and “whether or not a customer… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Terrestar pushes for regulator and industry collaboration on Canadian direct-to-mobile satellite services

A day after Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) launched a consultation on a proposed new spectrum policy that would open up certain mobile spectrum bands for use by satellite service providers to expand wireless services in unserved areas of Canada, Montreal-based mobile satellite operator Terrestar Solutions is calling on the country’s regulators and industry stakeholders to support and collaborate on its rollout of a national direct-to-mobile satellite service network. As part of its proposed new policy, ISED is considering issuing supplemental mobile coverage by satellite (SMCS) licences to both Canadian and foreign satellite operators seeking… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Feds, Alberta and B.C. announce $190M in combined funding for high-speed internet projects

The federal government in partnership with the governments of Alberta and British Columbia last week announced more than $190 million in combined federal and provincial funding for projects to bring high-speed internet access to underserved households in rural and remote communities across Alberta and in the B.C. Interior. The governments of Canada and Alberta are providing more than $153 million in combined funding for 24 projects to deliver high-speed internet access to more than 14,400 households in 120 rural and remote communities across the province, including over 800 indigenous households, according to a  Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Corus CEO Doug Murphy retires

Corus Entertainment announced Monday the early retirement of its president and CEO, Doug Murphy, effective immediately. The media company’s board has appointed Corus executives Troy Reeb and John Gossling as co-chief executive officers. “These appointments are effective immediately and reflect the strength of Corus’ leadership bench and a forward focus on managing through a challenging environment,” reads a Corus press release announcing the changes. Murphy had been with Corus for 21 years, first joining the company in 2003 as executive vice president of business development and holding successively more senior positions until 2015 when he was promoted to president and CEO. “During his… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

ANALYSIS: Golly, it’s a Netflix tax

By Howard Law, author of Canada vs. California, and MediaPolicy.ca Last week the CRTC released its anticipated “Phase One” ruling on the implementation of the Online Streaming Act, Bill C-11. The headline was the $200 million price tag put on Canadian content contributions assessed by the commission on large foreign online audio and audio-visual streamers operating in Canada. Following the commission’s decision, many industry players and public policy commentators were quick to declare victory or disaster, something we can expect in a regulatory drama that never quits. This drama is chronicled in my book, Canada vs California: How… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

CTA, Quebec to intervene in Supreme Court municipal access hearing

By Ahmad Hathout The Supreme Court of Canada has approved late last month the applications of four organizations to submit interventions in its hearing on whether the CRTC has jurisdiction over wireless access to municipal infrastructure. The Canadian Telecommunications Association, the attorney general of Quebec, the Business Council of Canada, and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce will have the opportunity to submit arguments in the case that could hold significant consequences for the roll-out of 5G technology – or at least that’s what the large telecoms have argued. Telus is the telecom that won the appeal to the country’s… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Quebecor files complaint with Competition Bureau on Loblaw agreement with Bell, Rogers

Quebecor announced Wednesday it has filed a complaint with the Competition Bureau against a partnership agreement between Loblaw Companies Limited and wireless carriers Bell and Rogers, through their joint venture Glentel, that would give them exclusive selling rights at the grocery retailer’s The Mobile Shop locations. The agreement would shut Quebecor’s Freedom Mobile out of 180 Loblaw-owned grocery stores, the Montreal-based telecom says in a press release. “The agreement between Loblaw and Glentel cloaks yet another attempt by the dominant players in the telecommunications market to thwart competition,” Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and CEO of Quebecor, said in… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Large telecoms ask CRTC to reject raising telecom fee threshold

By Ahmad Hathout If the CRTC raises the revenue threshold for contributions to the regulator’s administration of telecom matters, it will effectively concentrate the burden on fewer providers, which is the opposite of what it has been trying to do with changes to broadcasting fees that an application to raise the threshold is partially relying upon, Bell argues. The Independent Telecommunications Providers Association filed a Part 1 application in late April calling for the increase in the revenue threshold from $10 million to $25 million to contribute to the CRTC’s administration of the telecom regime, with an annual… Continue Reading