Report due by February
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The federal government’s pledge to have wireless prices drop by 25% is expected to be studied during House of Commons hearings into accessibility and affordability of telecommunications services, starting next week.
The committee on industry will begin the proceedings on Tuesday with witnesses Telesat and Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX). Both satellite companies made news over the past two weeks as they push low earth orbit satellites to colve rural broadband coverage. The former this week formalized a $600-million agreement for the federal government to purchase satellite capacity to serve…
Continue Reading
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – To no one’s surprise, Bell Canada and the large cable companies have sought leave to appeal the Federal Court of Appeal decision of September 10, 2020, over CRTC Decision 2019-288 (about the fees third party internet access ISPs pay to the incumbents) to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Bell adopted the reasoning put forward by the large cable carriers (Rogers, Shaw, Videotron, Cogeco, and Eastlink) and let them argue more at depth the issues at hand.
Their argument seems to focus on, besides the basic issues they contended before when they went to the Federal Court…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
CANADA’S LARGEST INTERNET service providers say they are pleased with the federal government’s infusion of cash with the $1.75 billion Universal Broadband Fund, but some are concerned about the speed objectives.
On Monday, the federal government announced the program was open for applications with an additional $750 million in new money and $150 million of it dedicated to a faster stream for projects that can deploy by November 2021. All projects must meet the speed threshold of 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload.
Rogers, Bell and Telus praised the announcement as one that will help connect those economically-challenging…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, Cogeco Inc. announced it hired Paul Beaudry (above) as its new vice-president, regulatory affairs.
He will be succeeding Nathalie Dorval, “who is beginning a well-earned retirement,” reads the LinkedIn post. “We are sending our best wishes to Nathalie, who will remain in her position until November 27th.”
Beaudry, a lawyer, who has been based in Calgary as director of broadband policy and regulatory affairs with Telus and before that as director of development at the school of public policy, will be joining Cogeco in Montreal in the new year, he said on LinkedIn.
Continue Reading
Bell takes top speed spot
NEW YORK — Bell is the fastest wireless carrier in Canada, according to PCMag’s annual Fastest Mobile Networks Canada 2020 report, released today.
Bell is regaining the fastest mobile network title this year, after Telus topped the list for the last three years.
To test the country’s mobile networks, PCMag’s Canada-wide testers drove through 20 cities, some as large as the Greater Toronto Area and as small as Sudbury, Ont., and Drummondville, Que., as well as rural areas in parts of Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. The tests were conducted from September 14 to October 15.
Overall, PCMag awarded…
Continue Reading
Transparent measure follows Telus
By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – Bell Canada may begin formally separating its mobile phones from tablets and other connected devices in future financial reporting, which will better isolate subscriber figures for 5G-connected peripherals and enhance transparency and comparability with competitors in the industry.
Back in 2018, Telus – which had trailed its competitors on paper when it came to new wireless subscribers – declared that it actually had similar, if not better, smartphone-specific new additions in its base versus its major competitors for certain quarters. The problem was that it, and its competitors, didn’t separate the “quality” smartphone…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Some of the country’s largest carriers have lost an appeal challenging the process by which the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) set higher pole attachment rates they say could hamper the delivery of broadband services.
Rogers, Telus, Shaw, Cogeco, Quebecor and Bragg (Eastlink), among others, didn’t like the consultation process that saw the rate to attach their cables on structures jump from an annual rate of $22.35 per attachment set in 2005 to $43.63 across the province. They argued in the province’s divisional court in late September that the OEB had not provided them with the appropriate…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL — Broadcaster and music service provider Stingray today reported its revenues decreased 16% in the second quarter of its 2021 fiscal year, compared to the same quarter last year, primarily due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the company’s radio revenues.
For the three months ended September 30, 2020, Stingray’s revenues totalled $64.3 million, down from $76.6 million in the same period of last year. The company’s radio revenues decreased by 33.6% to $25.1 million, compared to $37.8 million a year ago.
Stingray’s broadcasting and commercial music segment (which includes its TV channels) saw revenues increase 1.1% to…
Continue Reading
Videotron, others, are skeptical of Bell’s commitments
By Denis Carmel
MONTREAL – On Friday, Bell Canada issued a news release announcing new measures to simplify the process for access to poles by recipients of the Québec Branché and Régions Branchées grant programs and other service providers.
This follows a process announced by the Government of Québec back in May 2020, along with the members of a working group that was tasked to accelerate the deployment of high-speed Internet in rural regions through a program financed by the Government of Québec.
“To address the many technical challenges associated with the deployment of fibre…
Continue Reading
Company adds 60,000 wireless subs in Q4
CALGARY – While so many industries and companies have suffered through the Covid-19 crisis, Canadian telecoms like Shaw Communications have proven resilient because people need connectivity. This pandemic has shown that like never before.
The company’s fiscal 2020 results released Friday were in line with pre-Covid guidance, including adjusted EBITDA growth of 3.7% and free cash flow of $747 million, and included an addition of 60,000 new wireless subscribers in the fourth quarter (which includes Freedom Mobile and newly launched Shaw Mobile), ended August 31st. Wireless service revenue grew 17.4% to approximately $815 million…
Continue Reading
