Will aid 2018 mobile wireless rollout in the province
WOODSTOCK, N.B. and BRANDON, Man. – There were a fair number of eyebrows raised across the Canadian telecom industry when Xplornet Communications was announced as the third player brought in to satisfy Competition Bureau worries over the Bell Canada purchase of MTS.
The company has long been a successful satellite and fixed wireless broadband supplier, but has never offered mobile wireless – or even indicated publicly a desire to move into that market.
In its initial deal announced in 2016, Bell only announced a spin-off of customers and retail locations to Telus to…
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VANCOUVER – Telus has signed a multi-year reseller agreement with Universal-mCloud Corp. targeting the building heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) sector.
mCloud's AssetCare solution monitors the performance of HVAC units in commercial buildings using big data, deep analytics, machine learning, real-time collaboration and communications, 3D Augmented Reality and best practice maintenance support.
The agreement will see Telus deliver AssetCare to Canadian buildings with critical HVAC requirements on a subscription basis.
“The offering combines the leading capabilities of Telus IoT connectivity with the deep domain asset expertise of mCloud in a connected cloud solution with 24/7 vigilance that improves the health…
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GATINEAU – It looks as though a portion of a CRTC decision that flew under the radar for many people has wrecked what was an excellent promotional outlet for Canadian specialty services and charities.
In decision CRTC 2015-86, part of the Let’s Talk TV process, the Commission surprised the industry by tightening the rules surrounding how the two minutes of local advertising time made available each hour by U.S. channels such as CNN, A&E, Golf Channel and TLC could be used.
Dubbed “local avail” time, American cablecos and other pay TV carriers have turned the sales of…
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TORONTO – Freedom Mobile today announced the launch of what it’s calling “Big Gig”, a brand new plan giving customers 10GB of data for $50/month.
The new plan gives both new and existing Freedom Mobile customers access to more data for less with no penalties for data overages, “and is unlike anything currently being offered to Canadians,” says the company’s release. The Big Gig plans are available beginning Thursday, October 19. As Rogers Communications, Bell Canada and Telus are all about to report their third quarter results over the next two weeks, we bet there will be questions on how…
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GATINEAU – CRTC commisioner Christopher MacDonald’s persistent questioning on day one of the hearing into license renewals for several BDUs roughly translated to: “What’s taking so long with the set top box viewership data?”
Quebecor, Rogers, Shaw and Eastlink, all members of the Set Top box working group (check), each had very similar answers to MacDonald’s line of questions. Essentially the answers boiled down to: “What we’re doing is hard, pioneering, and with an uncertain business model, so yes, it’s a slow process.”
The group first met more than two years ago.
During the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV process,…
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OTTAWA – Bell Canada and Rogers Communications showed off some different philosophies when it came to the federal government’s NAFTA negotiations when they appeared recently in front of a recent meeting of the Standing Committee on International Trade.
Rogers Cable vice-president, regulatory, Pam Dinsmore said in her opening remarks on September 20th that her company is concerned the trade talks will wander too far from its prior mandate and into copyright, which includes such issues as retransmitting U.S. over-the-air TV signals, Canada’s notice-and-notice regime for pirated online content, and our Copyright Modernization Act’s provisions for personal use and its…
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OTTAWA – Telus has won a seven-year, $176 million contract from the federal government to upgrade its communications services to include Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone, instant messaging, and desktop videoconferencing.
Thursday’s announcement by Shared Services Canada (SSC) says the Feds will replace over 80,000 legacy landlines with VoIP in a move that will help shave the costs of supporting legacy infrastructure and improve reliability. SSC added that it already has more than 100,000 VoIP lines in use.
“Upgrading our communication services will equip employees with the modern tools they need to enhance productivity to deliver the programs and services…
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CALGARY – Telus has restored service to customers in southeastern Alberta after power outages caused by a winter storm disrupted some wireless and home services in the region.
The telco said late Tuesday that its crews managed to resolve the various network issues once power was restored and road access to its infrastructure were cleared and safe.
www.telus.com
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VANCOUVER – Telus customers now have access to YouTube’s HD and 4K videos on their home’s biggest screen after the app was added to Optik TV 4K set-top boxes.
Telus said Monday that customers may easily access YouTube via channel 322 or through the Apps Launchpad on multiple televisions in the home. Key features include playback of content in 4K, predictive search, ability to sign-in via smartphone to access YouTube subscriptions and playlists and smartphone casting capabilities.
“The way Canadians consume content is changing”, said Telus’ VP of products, services, and content Blair Miller, in the news release. “Between traditional television, on…
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MONTREAL – After getting into wireless last year with the purchase of Wind (now Freedom) Mobile, many expect Shaw to soon start offering wireline/wireless bundles in the west just as Telus, its biggest competitor, already offers.
But the telco isn’t worried, Stephen Lewis, Telus’ senior vice-president and treasurer, told a CIBC investor conference on Wednesday. “We’ve seen this coming for a number of quarters and we are very confident in the preparation we’ve done for when they do bring the Shaw wireless brand to market,” he said.
He cited the “robustness” of Telus’ Internet and OptikTV offering and its continuing installation of…
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