TORONTO – “Why can’t we be friends?” Wind Mobile CEO Alek Krstajic asked delegates to the Canadian Telecom Summit in a luncheon keynote on Tuesday.
The 1975 song by War actually played him off the stage at the end of his speech, but the theme hung in the air: Why can’t the industry accept what’s coming from Ottawa and just compete for the affections of Canadians on a level playing field that the Conservative government helped build?
Krstajic has been through the wars. Many of them, really. He spent years working for Rogers Cable before moving to Bell Canada and then…
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TORONTO — This year’s regulatory blockbuster panel at the Canadian Telecom Summit on Tuesday turned into a bit of a public hearing on wholesale telecom rates as the Big Three carriers’ pricing structures came under fire from TekSavvy and Wind Mobile.
Calling wholesale network access rates “crazy”, Bram Abramson, TekSavvy’s chief legal and regulatory officer, said wholesale prices can vary among telecom providers by as much as 700%. With the current pricing schemes of the large, vertically integrated incumbents, TekSavvy is unable to offer higher-speed services to its customers because it couldn’t be price competitive, Abramson said.
“TekSavvy is not the…
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TORONTO—Despite all the industry hype surrounding Big Data, service providers can easily fail with analytics initiatives if they focus too much on just the data itself.
That was one of a number of key takeaway points from data analytics experts at the Canadian Telecom Summit here Monday. Speaking on a packed morning panel, the six industry experts advised telecom and cable providers to put their business values and customer needs first, not the tracking, collection and analysis of all the data flowing through their networks. Otherwise, the experts warned, the data analytics projects will likely either fall short of expectations…
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OTTAWA and TIVERTON, ON – Ontario nuclear generating facility Bruce Power has asked the CRTC to order wireless service providers to carry and deliver emergency public alerts to all Canadians with mobile phones by September 30, 2015.
In a letter dated May 29 and addressed to CRTC secretary general John Traversy, Bruce Power noted that the Commission’s mandatory distribution of emergency alert messages in 2014 only applied to broadcasters, as it waits on the outcomes of voluntary activities like the CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee’s work on developing a Wireless Public Alerting System (WPAS) using cell broadcast technology on LTE networks.
“This work…
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VANCOUVER – More than 16,000 Telus employees, retirees and their friends and family are giving back with their hearts and hands and doing #actsofgood at more than 1,000 charitable and community activities during Telus Days of Giving from May 16 to June 14.
Most activities took place on Saturday, with volunteers coming together to serve breakfast to the homeless, build tactile books for blind children, and escort disabled adults to a community waterfront event. Social art rallies were held in Vancouver and Toronto.
"Coming together as an organization to create positive change in the communities where we live, work and raise…
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TORONTO – Despite the prevalence of online shopping, the in-store experience and sales representative interaction are still the key drivers of an outstanding wireless purchase experience, according to a new J.D. Power report.
The 2015 Canadian Wireless Purchase Experience Study examined wireless carriers’ performance across sales-related activities in-store, over the phone and online. Satisfaction is measured in six factors: store representative; online purchase; phone purchase; facility; offerings and promotions; and cost of service. Overall wireless purchase experience satisfaction is 752 on a 1,000-point scale.
An outstanding in-store experience is one in which sales representatives display knowledge, professionalism and genuine concern for…
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THIS MONTH’S CRTC DECISION TO regulate wholesale wireless roaming rates is just the latest in a long line of seminal processes and decisions which have come under the tenure of chairman Jean-Pierre Blais.
Just about 60% the way through his five-year term, Blais has had to digest major developments in the industry, technology, and political environment—which is pushing for more competition and consumer rights – while dealing with an often-cranky TV and telecom executives trying to steer their ships through the same choppy waters.
Here are many of the key CRTC developments since Blais, a lawyer and lifelong bureaucrat, was named the…
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TORONTO – Telus is offering new travel passes for customers travelling far and wide this summer plus has revised its passes for some of Europe’s most travelled countries.
The company revealed new international travel passes for East Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand on Wednesday that range from $30 for a text only package to $150 for 150 minutes, 300 texts and 700 MB.
It also tweaked its passes for Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom. A text only package costs $30 for 350 texts, while the ‘Europe Combo…
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TORONTO – Everyone, and I mean everyone, agrees that if the Canadian TV industry is ever going to both boost revenues and build greater efficiency in the television advertising business, the companies here must work together.
More specifically, the four large vertically integrated companies must work in harmony for the greater good. It has not yet happened. This was an important focus of the discussions that happened at last week’s very informative Future TV Advertising conference in Toronto.
In theory, it should be easy. There are just four seats at the main table (Bell, Rogers, Telus and Quebecor), so the quartet…
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TORONTO and THUNDER BAY – Movie service Hollywood Suite today announced Tbaytel has launched Hollywood Suite GO (HSGO) to their Digital TV subscribers on iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.
HSGO is available for free to all Tbaytel Digital TV customers who subscribe to Hollywood Suite. Customers can download the Hollywood Suite GO app and take the company’s catalogue of films wherever they want. HSGO includes a customizable watchlist with optional push notifications and social features allowing users to share their watchlists and experiences with friends. The notification options keep users informed about new movies and collections, while the…
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