The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an application for leave to appeal from Canada’s largest broadcasters regarding a Federal Court of Appeal ruling that supplanted a Copyright Board decision regarding rate setting for the retransmission of distant television signals.
The high court does not provide reasons for rejecting leave to appeal applications.
The group of broadcasters who brought the leave to appeal application to Canada’s highest court include Bell, Rogers, Telus, Videotron, Cogeco and the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA).
They sought clarification about whether a relatively new judicial…
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Telus and the Canadian government on Monday announced they are collaborating on a proposed sovereign AI factory cluster to be built in British Columbia under the federal Enabling large-scale sovereign AI data centres initiative.
Telus, Vancouver-based real estate developer Westbank and the federal government are working together on the details of this collaboration, Telus said in a press release, as Telus scales its Sovereign AI Factory network across three facilities in B.C.
With Telus’s first Sovereign AI Factory in Rimouski, Quebec — which opened in September 2025 — fully sold out, Telus…
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Telco ditches reporting on TV and landline numbers
By Ahmad Hathout
Doug French, Telus’s long-time chief financial officer, is retiring from the company on June 30 and will be replaced by the CFO of Telus Digital and Telus Health, Gopi Chande.
Affectionately known as “Uncle Doug” internally, French will stay on as an advisor until the end of July and will remain seated as chair of the board of Terrion, Telus’s tower company.
His retirement marks a 30-year career at the telco giant. Holding the CFO and executive vice president position for a decade, French was also a senior vice president and corporate…
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Access Communications Co-operative announced Wednesday it has partnered with Sask 1st Call, commonly recognized as the “Click Before You Dig” program, to support safer excavation across Saskatchewan.
By joining Sask 1st Call’s program, Access becomes part of a province-wide network of utilities working together to make excavation safer, Access said in a press release.
Whether the project is a large-scale excavation by a utility company or a homeowner planting trees or installing fence posts, Sask 1st Call helps ensure underground facilities are identified before work begins, significantly reducing the risk…
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Indigenous charity Indspire and the Telus Friendly Future Foundation announced last week a four-year, $500,000 partnership to support indigenous post-secondary students through Indspire’s Building Brighter Futures bursaries and scholarships program and the Telus Student Bursary program.
With matching funding from the federal government, this partnership promises to deliver $1 million to empower indigenous youth, by offering up to 320 Telus Student Bursaries to First Nations, Inuit and Métis students who are enrolled in their first undergraduate diploma or degree program at recognized post-secondary institutions across Canada, a Telus press release said.
Award recipients…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The attorney general, on behalf of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), is asking the Federal Court of Appeal to intervene in SaskTel’s challenge to the CRTC’s fibre access mandate, arguing the outcome could impact the ability of the federal government to shape telecom policy and impair its cabinet direction power broadly.
Late last week, the AG filed a motion for leave to intervene in SaskTel’s challenge to the CRTC’s decision to force the legacy telcos to open their bundled fibre networks to competitors. SaskTel is arguing there is an inherent conflict between Continue Reading
Rogers/Shaw generated 34 per cent of all accepted complaints, says mid-year report
Consumer complaints about telecom and TV services have increased by 61 per cent, according to new data from the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS).
According to the latest CCTS Mid-Year Report, released early Wednesday morning, the CCTS accepted 19,157 complaints from wireless, internet, phone and TV customers between Aug. 1, 2025 and Jan. 31, 2026, compared to 11,909 complaints accepted during the same six-month period in the prior year.
Rogers/Shaw had the highest number of complaints…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Friday set the final wholesale access rates to the bundled fibre networks of the incumbent telcos, keeping them “similar” to the existing rates set in 2024 because of their success in inducing new offerings in the market.
“The final rates set in this order are similar to those interim rates, which dozens of competitors have successfully been using to bring new offers to market and attract tens of thousands of new customers,” the CRTC said Friday.
Indeed, the final rates are mostly only slightly changed. For access to Bell’s FTTP facilities, between 3 Mbps and 1.5…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Cabinet has declined to overturn petitions challenging the CRTC’s decision to allow the three largest telecommunications companies access to the wholesale internet framework, arguing the regulator has instituted investment protections and has an opportunity to solidify the balance between that and competition by setting final access rates.
“The Governor in Council considers that bringing down costs for Canadians is a key priority and that restricting larger telecommunications service providers from accessing mandated wholesale high-speed access services, as requested in the petitions, would reduce the level of competition and consumer options in the retail high-speed Internet services market,” said…
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Telus, along with its network infrastructure partners Fibre Connect and Ledcor, announced Monday its Telus PureFibre internet services will soon be available in the community of Calgary-Bonavista, located in south central Calgary.
The release indicates residents will be able to access theoretical speeds of up to 5 Gbps.
“Soon, people living in Calgary-Bonavista will have access to the same future-ready speeds, rock-solid reliability and life-changing benefits that TELUS’ world-leading networks are enabling across Canada,” reads a Telus press release.
The project includes more than 250 kilometres of fibre construction and would not be possible without the collaboration of the City of Calgary…
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