The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) released Thursday its 2024 mid-year report, which shows a 43 per cent increase in the number of complaints from telecom and TV customers in Canada between Aug. 1, 2023 and Jan. 31, 2024, compared to figures in the CCTS’s mid-year report a year ago.
For the six-month period, the CCTS accepted 10,663 customer complaints, compared to 7,451 complaints at last year’s midpoint, the new report says. Of the complaints received during the report’s timeframe, 9,272 were concluded, having raised 19,879 issues.
Wireless service issues remain the leading…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell will argue before the Federal Court of Appeal that the CRTC was not right to rely on the government’s policy direction to order telcos to provide interim access to their bundled transport and last mile fibre facilities because it is inherently contradicted by the Telecommunications Act.
Section 10 of the 2023 policy direction to the CRTC requires the commission to mandate the provision of an aggregated wholesale high-speed access service. At the same time, section 8 of the Telecommunications Act provides the government with the ability to order the regulator to make decisions of “general application on…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Cogeco is still working toward securing a deal with the national carriers to launch its mobile virtual network operator business on their networks, the telecom’s senior vice president and chief financial officer said Friday.
“Where we are right now is we’re still in negotiations…at the same time building what is required to launch as well,” Patrice Ouimet said during the company’s fiscal second-quarter conference call with analysts. “I would say the situation is not that different from what I said last quarter. That being said, we are making progress.”
Ouimet said he couldn’t go any deeper because these are…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is asking for comments by Friday on a request by a consortium of internet service providers urging the regulator to rule on the eligibility of the big three telecoms to lease bundled access to middle and last mile fibre facilities both under the interim, and any future permanent, mandated regime.
The consortium – which is made up of Bell, Cogeco, Eastlink, TekSavvy, and the indie rep the Competitive Network Operators of Canada – filed a request dated March 28 to the CRTC asking for a final ruling before May 7 on whether Bell, Rogers, Telus and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers wants the CRTC to limit the time telcos reserve space to attach wireless equipment on their own poles, according to a submission to the regulator.
The ask comes in response to a consultation launched by the commission inquiring, among other items, about whether it has jurisdiction over wireless attachments on telco-owned or controlled structures. The CRTC holds the preliminary view that it has concurrent jurisdiction over those structures with the department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), which has domain over towers and siting.
Beside recommending that the CRTC confirm that jurisdiction – which…
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As people gathered in large groups Monday for the total solar eclipse visible in parts of southern Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, the country’s major wireless carriers ensured eclipse seekers and locals stayed connected and able to share the experience with family and friends as wireless network traffic spiked in some areas.
Rogers says it saw record-breaking amounts of traffic in communities along the eclipse’s path of totality. In Niagara Falls, which had one of the biggest influxes of eclipse watchers, Rogers saw network traffic increase by six times during the time of totality. In Kingston, network usage increased by…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has ordered Cogeco on Monday to ensure TekSavvy can continue to access its facilities at two Ontario locations the cable provider said it would need to migrate to fibre by May 1.
Cogeco’s transition to fibre facilities would lock TekSavvy and its customers out of locations in Burlington and Windsor – where it uses the Montreal company’s older coax facilities – in part because the commission does not allow mandated access to cablecos’ bundled middle and last mile fibre infrastructure, the Chatham-based company argued in an application in January. TekSavvy also alleged Cogeco…
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CBC/Radio-Canada announced Thursday that it will provide Inuit TV with the rights to air CBC News: Igalaaq to broaden the reach of its broadcast and preserve and promote Inuit languages.
The public broadcaster expects the rights will “increase access and reach of CBC’s Inuktitut-language supper-hour news broadcast to new audiences,” it said in a release.
The program will air on Inuit TV, the Nunvaut government’s educational broadcaster focused on Inuit culture and language, starting April 3, 2024 at 1 pm EST and repeat at 5:30 pm from Tuesday to Saturday.
The program normally runs live each weekday at 6 pm EST from…
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Telus flanker brand Koodo has this week expanded its new internet service in more provinces.
Koodo internet is now available in Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador after launching in the fall following a successful pilot run in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.
A Telus spokesperson said in a statement that Telus is working with network providers across these provinces to bring this expanded service.
Internet services include a $65 per month package with speeds of 75 Mbps download and 30 Mbps upload; a $100 per month package with speeds of 500 Mbps download and 30 Mbps upload; and 1…
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Groups representing deaf and blind Canadians that took part in the CRTC’s two-and-a-half-year review of video relay service (VRS) are accusing the country’s large telecom players of turning the cost claim process for the proceeding into a barrier to Canadians with disabilities.
On Jan. 14, the Canadian National Society of the Deaf-Blind (CNSDB), Deaf-Blind Planning Committee (DBPC) and Deaf Wireless Canada Consultative Committee (DWCC) submitted applications for reimbursement of costs associated with their participation in the CRTC’s 2021-102 proceeding, which was launched in March 2021 and closed in October 2023. The CNSDB and DBPC conducted…
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