By Ahmad Hathout
Telus filed a trademark last week for a service that provides support for device repair, maintenance and protection.
According to the application, ExperTechno includes an array of services, including software “in the nature of a search engine for locating support, repair and maintenance services.”
Other services include protection plan coverage for repair, replacement or reimbursement of devices; technical support services, including tune-up and repair of consumer electronic devices and telecommunications network hardware; in-home installation, set-up and repair services for consumer electronics, smart home devices and appliances, computers, tablets and telecommunications networking hardware; and technical support in the nature of…
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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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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri told members of the House of Commons industry committee Monday that the wireless price increases it announced in January affect only a small percentage of legacy customers and that millions of customers switched providers and plans last year against a backdrop of increasingly lower prices.
Members of the committee called a meeting with the heads of the country’s three largest telecoms to address concerns about wireless prices after Rogers announced that month that it would hike prices for certain off-contract customers by an average of $5 and by as much as $9.
Staffieri…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Concerned about further delay in the process, the CRTC on Tuesday denied Bell’s application asking it to defer to the courts the question of whether it has jurisdiction over small cell attachment on telco structures or hold a separate proceeding on just that question.
The regulator launched a proceeding on the wireless attachment issue last month, holding the preliminary view that it has simultaneous jurisdiction over those structures with spectrum auction authority Innovation Canada (ISED). It also laid out some other related issues to be determined during the consultation period.
Bell has argued that these attachments on poles it…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telecommunications carriers will face significant delays and barriers in deploying 5G technology if the CRTC is determined not to have jurisdiction over municipal structures on which small cells are attached, Rogers told the Supreme Court of Canada this month.
The nation’s highest court granted an application by Telus in December to hear its arguments challenging the Federal Court of Appeal’s determination that Parliament did not intend for “transmission line” to include wireless technology under the Telecommunications Act. The appeal stemmed from an April 2021 CRTC decision neglecting to regulate that space because the regulator said it…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell CEO Mirko Bibic said Tuesday that the telco is anticipating that the CRTC will mandate access to incumbents’ fibre facilities, and the outstanding questions about that access will determine what types of difficult business decisions it will have to make.
Bibic was speaking at Scotiabank’s TMT conference when he was asked about regulatory assumptions the telco makes that affect how it approaches business decisions.
In response, Bibic targeted the regulator’s November decision to temporarily provide competitors access to the bundled middle and last mile fibre facilities of Bell and Telus in Ontario and Quebec until it concludes its…
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The governments of Canada and British Columbia announced Monday more than $37 million in combined funding for 14 projects to bring high-speed internet access to more than 50 communities across B.C.
As a result of the projects, more than 7,500 households will have access to high-speed internet, including 1,320 Indigenous homes, according to a press release. One project will also provide mobile service to an underserved roadway through Nisga’a Nation lands.
The recipients of the funding are the Nisga’a Lisims Government, Telus, Ktunaxa Nation (FlexiNET), CityWest, and Kaslo infoNet Society.
The communities that…
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Bell says it ‘competes in fair manner and follows all regulations’
By Ahmad Hathout
Videotron has filed two complaints to the Competition Bureau Tuesday alleging Bell is using anticompetitive pricing tactics to push competitors out of markets in which it is the dominant provider, according to the applications seen by Cartt.
In the first complaint already raised to the CRTC in March last year, the regional competitor alleges Bell is forcing Videotron’s Fibrenoire subsidiary, which provides fibre services to businesses, to take up long-term contracts to use its traffic transport fibre network or face higher monthly costs in areas…
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Telus announced Wednesday it has been selected by music video network Vevo to become its national direct ad sales representative, enabling Vevo to bring its enhanced advertising opportunities to Canadian agencies and brands.
Leveraging Telus’s extensive network reach, the collaboration will enable Vevo to offer advertisers a vast library of premium music video content on major connected TV (CTV) platforms and streaming services, including YouTube, Apple TV, Samsung TV Plus, Vizio, Google TV and Roku, a press release says.
“Our direct ad sales partnership with Vevo marks an exciting entry into Canada’s advertising…
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The Canadian telecommunications sector experienced a 3.5-per-cent increase in total revenues in 2022, similar to the 3.4-per-cent growth achieved in 2021 and a clear progression from the sector’s revenue decline in the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic year, according to the CRTC’s Communications Market Report (CMR) for calendar year 2022, released Tuesday.
Telecom revenues totalled $57.2 billion in 2022, primarily driven by the almost $1.7-billion increase in mobile revenues, which represents a 5.7-per-cent increase over 2021, according to the report. Mobile service revenues grew to $30.9 billion in 2022 from $29.2 billion in 2021. This was mostly due…
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