TORONTO – Members of the Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) voted 73.7% in favour of joining the United Steelworkers (USW) in a referendum vote counted Friday.
The TWU represents 12,000 members across Canada who work for telecommunications companies including Telus and Shaw Communications, as well as employers in related telecommunications sectors. The USW is a diverse private-sector union with 225,000 members working in every region and sector in Canada.
The merger agreement takes formal effect on January 1, 2015, but both unions said that they will kick off joint activities immediately. The agreement includes strong, mutual commitments around collective bargaining, education, organizing…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER – Despite growth in operating revenue, Telus posted flat profits in the third quarter ended September 30, 2104.
Consolidated operating revenue increased 5.4% to $3.02 billion, while net income of $355 million was flat year-over-year. Adjusted net income increased by 6.0% to $387 million. Earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 2.9% to $1.07 billion, though EBITDA excluding restructuring and other like costs increased by 4.3% to $1.1 billion.
Telus said that consolidated revenue growth was generated by strength in both its wireless and wireline operations, with network wireless revenue up 6.6% to $1.54 billion and wireline…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Any time members of the Canadian telecom industry gather together for a conference, the age-old debate about just how competitive the market actually is here inevitably emerges. The Canadian ISP Summit held this week in Toronto was no exception.
And in fact, opposing views on the subject, firmly expressed, provided most of the sparks during the conference’s final session on Wednesday, a panel discussion that tackled many of the regulatory issues currently faced by the telecom industry.
Moderated by telecom industry consultant Mark Goldberg (co-founder and organizer of the annual Canadian Telecom Summit), the regulatory panel featured: Dr. Michael…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Telus is the first non-Bell TV service provider to offer that company’s new video streaming service currently code-named “Project Latte”.
In a release on Wednesday, Bell Media said that it has reached distribution deals to deliver its new SVOD service to Telus Optik TV, Bell Fibe TV, and Bell Aliant FibreOp TV set-top boxes, as well as via mobile apps, the web, game consoles, and smart TVs. Designed to complement traditional television, the service is available to every TV provider in the country.
As Cartt.ca reported last week, Project Latte pledges to deliver more than 10,000 hours of non-kids TV…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Canadians’ complaints over their telecom and Internet services fell for the first time in the seven year history of the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS), but Commissioner Howard Maker stopped short of calling it a trend.
“From our examination of other statistics… we are cautiously optimistic that the industry as a whole is becoming more focused on customer issues and on how it addresses customer problems”, Maker wrote in the 2013-2014 annual report, called ‘Driving Positive Change’, released Tuesday.
The CCTS received 11,340 customer complaints in 2013-14, down 17% from 13,692 in 2012-13, and successfully resolved…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Canada needs an autonomous Internet infrastructure that keeps local web traffic routed within the country’s borders as much as possible, said Jacques Latour, chief technology officer for the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), during a presentation at the Canadian ISP Summit in Toronto on Monday afternoon.
Latour said too much of Canadian Internet traffic flows south of the border through major U.S. cities, such as New York, Chicago and Seattle.
“If for some reason there’s an attack against the U.S., like a cyber-attack, and they decide to shut down the borders, in Canada we’re screwed,” Latour said….
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Thanks to multi-billion-dollar investments in spectrum and network over the past few years, a dedicated B2B network and its Health initiative, Telus is now positioned to capitalize on the current market enthusiasm for IoT (the Internet of things), according to Sachin Mahajan, Telus’s director of IoT.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Canadian Wireless Trade Show in Toronto, Mahajan outlined some of the technological possibilities — some practical and some more whimsical — provided by IoT, or machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity. Not surprisingly, Mahajan spoke about potential healthcare-related IoT solutions more than once during his presentation.
Currently, wearable fitness gadgets, such…
Continue Reading
BELLEVUE, WA – Bell placed first in two of Canada’s biggest three markets for wireless speed and reliability, according to tests done by an independent mobile analytics firm.
In its second set of reports on Canada's mobile experience, U.S.-based RootMetrics posted results from its more than 71,000 data, call and text tests, performed using the same phones that consumers can purchase, off the shelves, at their operator’s stores.
The company tested Bell’s Rogers’ and Telus’ networks in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, in addition to regional networks Wind (in Toronto and Vancouver) and Videotron (in Montreal). It conducted the tests in a…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Four traditional Canadian telcos which not that long ago had no TV subscribers now represent about 1.3 million Canadian subscription television customers.
A key reason behind that growth has been the offer of much more flexible packaging than what had been available from their cable and satellite competitors. While the telco TV companies’ cable competitors have made strides in that direction of late, it was the availability of smaller theme packs of specialty channels and some a-la-carte offerings that set the IPTV carriers apart from their more mature competition – who stuck with larger tiers for a long…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA and WOODSTOCK, NB – After receiving "thoughtful feedback" on Industry Canada's consultation on policy changes in the 3500 MHz band, Industry Minister James Moore was quick to reassure stakeholders that rural Canadians will not lose their broadband services as a result.
“Under no circumstances will our government take spectrum licences away from any local Internet service provider that is providing Internet service to rural Canadians”, Minister Moore said in a statement. "The decisions resulting from this consultation will ensure that the 3500 MHz spectrum band is deployed in the best interests of Canadian consumers, especially those living in rural…
Continue Reading
