GATINEAU – The CRTC said today that telecommunications service providers will have to adhere to a regime that will set a minimum standard for blocking botnet traffic, which it said constitutes a “significant issue for cyber security, both in terms of volume and severity of harm.”
Botnets are networks of malware-infected devices that are controlled from a central location and used to do things like steal data and/or send an overwhelming number of communications to a server, which causes it to fail (denial-of-service attack). The increasing number of internet-connected devices coming to market, a lot largely with flimsy security measures, are…
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By Ahmad Hathout
BROOKS, Alta. – Proponents of a new partly city-owned fibre network currently in development in the town of Brooks, Alberta are viewing the partnership with the town as a future path forward for other Canadian towns they say are neglected by larger providers.
Michael Weening, president and chief operating officer of U.S.-based cloud and software company Calix, which is providing systems for the build, visited his hometown and met with Brooks mayor John Petrie last week to talk about the $21-million BrooksNet project, which will utilize buried fibre cable and provide gigabit-speed…
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Tribunal releases scheduling order putting hearing in November
COMMISSIONER OF COMPETITION Matthew Boswell is pushing back against claims Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications have made about the competitive impact of their proposed merger and the proposed divestiture of Freedom Mobile, arguing that selling Freedom is not enough to outweigh the negative effects he claims the deal will have on competition.
In replies to Rogers’ and Shaw’s responses to the commissioner’s application to the Competition Tribunal seeking to have the proposed merger blocked, which were made public by the tribunal today, the Commissioner of Competition reiterated that he does not…
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Initial deployment in Nanaimo to be followed by launches in major urban centres
TORONTO — Rogers Communications announced today it has started to deploy its 5G 3500 MHz spectrum on its wireless network.
The first location went live this morning in Nanaimo, B.C., according to a press release.
Rogers says it will continue its deployment across Canada, including in the major urban centres of Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver, as well as multiple rural areas.
“More regions will follow as they are released according to the ISED timetable,” the release reads.
Rogers acquired the most 3500 MHz spectrum licences of all other…
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MONTREAL — Bell Canada says it’s rolling out the next evolution of 5G, announcing today the network readiness of 5G+ as the company prepares to deploy 3500 MHz wireless spectrum it secured during the federal government’s spectrum auction last year.
Bell’s 3500 MHz spectrum adds “high-capacity airwaves critical to the evolution of Bell 5G on its network,” according to a press release. “Bell is now poised to deploy 3500 MHz wireless spectrum and unleash the next phase of 5G advancement.”
Offering “unprecedented mobile data speeds” and optimized for demanding apps and services, “5G+ is the fastest mobile technology yet in Canada….
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THOSE WHO ARE CLOSELY following the approval process of the proposed merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications will know the outside date for closing the transaction was extended from March 15, 2022, to June 13, 2022, and was extended again last month to July 31, 2022.
So, we are already looking in the rear-view mirror at one (soon to be two) outside closing dates.
What is going on? A lot.
Competition Tribunal
Last month, the Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell filed an application to the Competition Tribunal seeking to block the merger. He also filed an application seeking…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Canada’s big broadcasters secured a temporary website blocking order from the Federal Court against the unlicensed live streaming of National Hockey League games – the first of its kind – as one Canadian team remains in the playoffs.
The late May order builds on a previous precedent, in which the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal ruled and upheld, respectively, that broadcasters can submit a list of copyright infringing websites they wish to block from Canadian viewing on the Internet (the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal). That determination stemmed from a…
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OTTAWA – Last week, the CRTC posted a part one application from several service providers who came together to ask the Commission to review the wholesale roaming tariff rates of the country’s national wireless carriers (Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications and Telus Communications), calling them “manifestly unjust and unreasonable”.
“This application deals with the flagrant overcharging for wholesale roaming – an essential service that stands as one of the central pillars of the Commission’s policy framework for ensuring sustainable competition in the provision of mobile wireless services in Canada,” reads the application, which was filed by regional competitors Bragg Communications Inc….
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Bell was not consulted on Globalive/Telus network sharing agreement, CFO said
By Ken Kelley
TORONTO – Executives from each of Canada’s major telecoms, along with their counterparts from some of the country’s smaller players, gathered in Toronto on Wednesday for the first in-person edition of the TD Securities Telecom and Media Conference since the Covid pandemic began.
BCE executive vice-president and chief financial officer Glen LeBlanc kicked off the day’s proceedings, with discussion around the company’s recent financial performance as well as the implications of the sale of Shaw’s wireless assets, Freedom Mobile, in order to settle anti-competitive concerns brought on…
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Huawei, ZTE say decision not based in reality
By Ahmad Hathout
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S announcement last week to ban the use of equipment from Chinese suppliers Huawei and ZTE in the country’s 4G and 5G networks due to national security risks will make it more difficult for smaller providers to compete against larger players and will cause more problems with equipment orders amid a supply chain crisis, according to the head of one telecom.
Samer Bishay, the CEO of Iristel subsidiary Ice Wireless, which operates primarily in the territories and has an equipment deal with Huawei, told Cartt.ca that while the announcement…
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