TORONTO – “It was not a take or leave it situation,” Ken Engelhart, senior VP of regulatory at Rogers Communications Inc., says of the roaming agreement the company signed with new entrant Wind Mobile.
In an interview with Cartt.ca Wednesday, he rebutted a number of the points that Simon Lockie, chief regulatory officer at Wind, made during an appearance before the Standing Senate Committee on Transportation and Communications on Tuesday. It’s simply not true that Wind had no choice but to accept the agreement it did, Engelhart says.
“I disagree very strongly with the notion that this…
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WINNIPEG – Telus will invest $130 million in new infrastructure and wireless technology across Manitoba through 2016, the company announced Wednesday.
Telus said that the funds will be used to expand its 4G LTE technology across the province; deploy its new 700 MHz spectrum; install “dozens” of new wireless sites to enhance coverage and data capacity in rural and urban areas; and expand the reach of its healthcare solutions, which currently provide electronic medical records to more than 12,500 Canadian physicians across the country and support more than 45 million patient interactions each year.
“Our wireless network has expanded rapidly across…
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MONTREAL — Bell Canada has begun the rollout of its 700 MHz wireless services across the country and will announce “in the next month or so” the communities across Canada, representing 96 or 97% of the population that will be able to use it by the end of 2015, BCE president and CEO George Cope said Monday.
The network upgrade, which will make use of the $565 million worth of spectrum Bell bought in this year’s auction, is just one of many improvements to the company’s services that Cope spoke confidently about in a speech to the Canadian Club of…
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GATINEAU – New entrants and would-be wireless providers find themselves trying to again convince the federal telecom regulator that it needs to intervene in the wireless market. At the same time however, the incumbent operators tell the CRTC everything is working just fine as it is.
The comments come as the CRTC is studying the wholesale wireless services market with the goal of determining if the market is competitive enough or whether it needs to impose more regulations on roaming, tower and site sharing and others. All interventions can be found here. The public hearing is scheduled for September…
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TORONTO – The third time does not appear to be lucky for Telus and Mobilicity.
According to a report Wednesday in the Globe and Mail, Telus has heeded a warning by Ottawa and backed away from its third attempt to takeover the struggling wireless carrier.
The Globe said that the federal government had threatened that if Telus persisted in going after Mobilicity, Ottawa would redesign an April, 2015, auction of 2,500 Mhz frequencies to effectively bar Telus from acquiring any of this spectrum.
The report goes on to quote an unnamed source who claims that the Vancouver-based teleco sent word of its decision to…
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TORONTO – Telus will invest $1.1 billion in new infrastructure and wireless technology across Ontario through 2016, the company pledged Wednesday.
Telus said that it will invest $500 million across the province this year, the final year of a three-year plan unveiled in 2012, and committed to spending another $600 million throughout 2015 and 2016 to provide fibre optic communications links to business clients, advanced healthcare solutions to consumers, expanded cloud computing data centre infrastructure, and roll out its 4G LTE technology to more Ontario communities.
"Telus is dedicated to bringing Ontarians the most advanced wireless communications infrastructure available in the…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Cable companies reported modest growth in revenues and subscribers in 2013, while satellite companies recorded a decline in both categories, according to the CRTC’s statistical and financial results for the industry released Thursday.
According to Broadcast Distribution 2009–2013: Cable, Multipoint Distribution Systems and Direct-to-Home, combined revenues for both cable and satellite companies increased by 4.8% from $14.1 billion in 2012 to $14.8 billion in 2013. The total number of subscribers, (which includes customers subscribed to IPTV services such as Bell’s Fibe TV or Telus’ Optik TV, but excludes independent cable companies with less than 2,000 subs and who…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC must address "the incentives" that Canada’s largest mobile wireless companies have to raise their competitors’ wholesale prices, and, offer new entrants help in gaining a foothold in the market.
That’s the gist of a submission made public Thursday by the Competition Bureau to the CRTC, in response to the Commission’s review of wholesale mobile wireless services.
Noting that mobile wireless companies, particularly new entrants, may need to enter into arrangements with the likes of Bell, Rogers and Telus to obtain certain wholesale mobile wireless services, the Bureau said that the retail market power that these large incumbents wield…
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CALGARY – Telus is set to invest more than $2.6 billion in new infrastructure and facilities across Alberta through 2016, the company said Monday.
Telus will spend $1 billion across the province this year, the final year of a three-year plan unveiled in 2012, and has committed to invest another $1.6 billion in 2015 and 2016 to build infrastructure, expand urban and rural Internet connectivity and capacity, and bring its wireless technology to more communities. Specifically, Telus pledged to rapidly deploy 700MHz spectrum for use in rural and urban areas; connect thousands of homes and businesses in various communities with higher-capacity Internet…
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TORONTO – Customers with shorter contracts have lower wireless bills and are more satisfied with their service, while SaskTel and Telus’ Koodo Mobile ranked highest in wireless customer satisfaction for the third year in a row, according to a new study released by J.D. Power & Associates.
Among full-service carriers, SaskTel’s score was highest at 727, which was 15 points higher than its 2013 score. The survey noted that SaskTel performed particularly well in terms of network quality, account management, offerings and promotions, customer service, and handset factors.
Koodo Mobile from Telus scored highest among stand-alone carriers with 778 points, up…
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