WINNIPEG – An independent proxy advisory research firm is recommending that MTS shareholders vote in favour of BCE’s proposed $3.9 billion acquisition of the regional player.
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) offered the recommendation in a report released Tuesday. The special meeting of MTS shareholders will take place June 23 at the Fort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg, and the MTS Board of Directors has unanimously recommended that shareholders vote to approve the deal.
“A vote FOR is warranted based on a review of the terms of the transaction, in particular, the implied premium and the reasonable strategic rationale”, ISS said in the report. “Shareholders have the…
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TORONTO and VANCOUVER – Telus Health and electronic medical record (EMR) provider QHR Technologies are teaming up to improve communications between healthcare providers across Canada.
Together, the companies intend to create a national, secure, standards-based, and open communication solution that will help the more than 23,000 physicians who use their electronic medical record solutions while caring for their patients. The solution will allow physicians across the country to efficiently and securely exchange patient information, and facilitate the dialogue healthcare providers need to have when diagnosing and designing care plans for their patients.
Telus Health and QHR added that they plan to…
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Sees no way to add video to Unlimited offer
TORONTO – Despite having spent $2 billion so far on spectrum, plus a network build, then an upgrade to LTE all between 2010 and now, Vidéotron sees more spending on the horizon as 5G approaches. So today its CEO called on the federal government to maintain “spectral balance” when formulating the rules around the next auction of low frequency spectrum in the 600 MHz range.
In a keynote speech to the Canadian Telecom Summit on Wednesday morning, Manon Brouillette noted the sheer pace of technological change in our industry, remembering she spoke…
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Commission should also call Quebec government on the carpet
TORONTO – The CRTC should bring back informal closed door meetings with the industry to improve the regulator's knowledge, cool down temperatures at formal hearings and allow some things to be said that are avoided in open hearings, said Mirko Bibic, Bell Canada’s chief legal and regulatory officer.
He made the suggestion Tuesday during the annual regulatory blockbuster panel at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto, a session where provocative and entertaining arguments are often made.
“The (hearing) process has become ‘overly judicialized’,” Bibic (pictured, right, with PIAC's John Lawford) said. “I think…
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TORONTO – There’s no shortage of speeches, books, news articles, research papers and executive presentations on the value of improving customer experience to the bottom line.
But the message still hasn't sunk through to some executives, a customer experience panel at the annual Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto heard on Monday.
”Customer experience is still one of those things people pay lip service to,” said Aaron Nielsen (pictured, centre with Stacey Sandison at left and Arleen King at right), president of ThinkCX Technologies, a Vancouver company whose analytics platform helps predict customer behaviour. “There's not a carrier in North America that…
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TORONTO – TV service providers offering cost and channel choices through skinny basic TV programming packages receive higher marks in customer satisfaction, according to new data from J.D. Power.
The Canadian Television Provider Customer Satisfaction Study measures overall satisfaction with television service providers based on six factors (in order of importance): performance and reliability; cost of service; programming; communication; billing; and customer service. The Canadian Internet Service Provider Customer Satisfaction Study is based on five factors (in order of importance): performance and reliability; cost of service; communication; billing; and customer service. Both studies were released Thursday.
Videotron ranked highest in…
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GATINEAU – The basic service objective (BSO) hearing changed mid-stream when CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais made the unprecedented move of delivering a statement declaring broadband “vital” to Canadians. After that, a National Broadband Strategy (NBS) – what should it look like, how do we get there and the role for the Commission – became a huge part of the discussions.
In his April 18 address to the hearing, he asked parties to think about these and other issues related to an NBS and present potential policies.
When Rogers Communications appeared before the commission in April, it raised the concept of a…
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GATNIEAU – Many broadband Internet providers say the CRTC must refrain from adopting new funding mechanisms for the deployment of high-speed networks to under-served and unserved areas of the country and let the market play it out.
In final submissions to the basic service objective (BSO) proceeding, providers are nearly unanimous in arguing that the current approach of market forces and targeted government funding is working. They say 96% of Canadians already have access to a minimum 5/1 Mbps (downstream/upstream) service and that figure will jump to 98% once the final round of Connecting Canadians funding is spent.
For Bell Canada,…
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VANCOUVER and HONG KONG – Telus has closed the sale of the 35% stake of Telus International to Baring Private Equity Asia, the company said Wednesday.
The $600 million deal, first announced on May 5, values Telus International at $1.2 billion. Launched in 2005, the Telus subsidiary provides customer service, IT, and business process services to the telecommunications, utilities, high tech, gaming, finance, retail, e-commerce, travel and logistics, and health care sectors.
"Telus International is now poised, with the backing and support of Telus and Baring Asia, to continue its rapid growth in the years ahead," said Josh Blair, Telus' chief…
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OTTAWA – Bell is third big wireless provider to reach an agreement with the Competition Bureau to credit or refund its customers who were charged for premium text messages that they had been led to believe were free.
The Bureau said Friday that Bell will issue rebates of up to $11.82 million to select current and former wireless customers after it concluded that the company made, or permitted to be made, false or misleading representations in advertisements for premium text messages, including trivia questions and ringtones, in pop-up ads, web pages and on social media.
The rebates will be issued to certain…
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