By Greg O’Brien
GATINEAU – The federal government’s Competition Bureau was a rather prominent player during the now 16-months long CRTC process reviewing the regulations governing the wireless market in Canada.
UPDATE, Aug. 7: Please see the bottom of this story for an update from the Competition Bureau.
Last year the Bureau fought the carriers and the Commission for access to confidential data from Canadian wireless companies so it could do its own “objective economic analysis” of the market, telling the Commission in 2019 the “information that we are seeking is critical to our ability to make an evidence-based submission…
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OTTAWA – On Monday, the federal government announced funding for four organizations to expand broadband connectivity in rural regions.
The funding is as follows:
$1,019,925 is allocated to Bell Canada to provide high-speed Internet via fibre in Saint-Pie-de-Guire, northwest of Drummondville; Lac-à-la Truite, southeast of Thetford Mines; and Saint-Séverin and Saint-Frédéric, northeast of Thetford Mines; and
$927,938 is going to Groupe Maskatelnto bring fibre to Saint-Lucien, east of Drummondville, and Lac Bolduc, southeast of Thetford Mines. Thetford Mines is about 100 kms south of Quebec City.
$1,015,368 will go to Bell division Télébec to bring fibre to Belcourt, which is northeast of Val-d’Or;…
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By Greg O’Brien
WHEN TELUS RELEASES its second quarter results July 31st, company executives will surely have to answer a fair number of questions about their primary western Canadian competitor’s new brand, Shaw Mobile, when they host their quarterly conference call with financial analysts at noon ET.
Those analysts all published their takes on the launch of Shaw Mobile and agree the dramatic discounts offered by Shaw will surely draw customers away from Telus, Rogers and Bell – while shoring up Shaw’s wireline customer base at the same time. As we reported, Shaw has gone to market in Alberta and…
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VANCOUVER – Telus announced today some of its Optik TV customers in B.C. and Alberta can choose Amazon Prime as a benefit with their service.
Optik TV customers who already have four or more programming theme packs can now also choose Amazon Prime membership (which comes with Prime Video) as a benefit in their Optik TV package, courtesy of Telus. It’s almost like Amazon Prime is a new, free specialty TV tier, but with free delivery of stuff bought through Amazon.
With their free Prime membership (which is normally $7.99 per month), customers can shop with free, fast shipping and gain…
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Prediction: Shaw Internet customers will really like this
By Greg O’Brien
CALGARY — In a move the company says is meant to reward its wired broadband customers while building its wireless subscriber count out west, Shaw Communications is launching today its new Shaw Mobile branded service.
Exclusive to British Columbia and Alberta, Shaw Mobile is meant to leverage the company’s LTE network, its Fibre+ network and 450,000 Wi-Fi hotspots to offer Shaw Internet customers a way to add wireless that promises to dramatically reduce their monthly wireless data bill.
Beginning today, Shaw Fibre+ Internet subscribers can add up to six wireless lines of…
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OTTAWA — As part of the federal government’s stated commitment to help reduce the cost of some wireless plans by 25% over the next two years, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada Navdeep Bains today released data showing how prices have not yet declined for the data plans the department has chosen to study.
Over the next two years, the federal government expects the three major wireless providers and their flanker brands, which together represent 90% of the national market, to offer data plans in the 2 GB to 6 GB range that are 25% cheaper than they…
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Rogers in favour of transport subsidies for rural fund
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers and Bell are among those in favour of a “flexible” approach for the use of the Federal government’s yet-to-be-announced $1 billion Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) to support rural backbone, transport and last-mile projects, according to Rogers and a briefing note prepared for the rural economic development minister.
In a stakeholder page on its website, ISED asks those providing feedback on the program’s design to answer questions including: “In situations where government is only funding backbone investments, how could last-mile investments be facilitated?” And, “Are there particular…
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By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – For the first time in five years, private conventional TV revenues increased nationwide in 2019, according to CRTC data released earlier this month.
The accumulated broadcasting data from the Regulator for the year ended August 31, 2019, show an increase to $1.55 billion from $1.54 billion in 2018 for all Canadian OTA TV revenue streams, including local and national time sales, network payments, infomercials, syndication, small market and independent local programming funds and government grants. National ad sales grew a healthy 2.5% to $1.05 billion. The 2019 revenue increase effectively stopped a continued revenue slide since…
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MARKHAM, Ont. — Huawei smartphone users in Canada now have a new way to access mobile apps with the launch today of Huawei’s new Petal Search tool.
Available for download from AppGallery on Huawei devices, the search tool offers an open gateway to download and update a million apps, as well as easily search for news, images and more, all directly from the home screen of the device.
Petal Search is now one of three ways in which Huawei users can find, download and update apps onto their Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) devices, alongside AppGallery and Huawei’s Phone Clone app. AppGallery…
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TORONTO — Saying it’s the first national carrier to offer wireless accessory financing, Rogers announced today customers will now be able to get headphones, smartwatches, cases and such for $0 down, 0% interest and no taxes paid upfront.
Accessories available with Rogers’ new financing option include AirPods and AirPods Pro, Beats, Google Nest products, phone cases, screen protectors, chargers, smartwatches and smart bulbs. (Telus is offering customers the option to finance its new Track+ tracker device, which it launched Wednesday.)
“By extending our financing option to accessories, we’re offering an affordable one-stop destination for our customers to finance the smartwatches, phone…
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