CALGARY – While Shaw Communications reported a 4.3% increase in first quarter profits, it also lost close to 30,000 cable customers for the period ended November 30, 2013.
In a media briefing on Tuesday afternoon, CEO Brad Shaw blamed the customer loss on promotional activities staged by an “aggressive competitor”.
“We have a 98% overlap of IPTV within our market with Telus. I think when you look (at) North America, we have the biggest overlap from a competitive point of view”, he said. “If we wanted to go out this quarter and get 80,000 revenue generating units, we could certainly do…
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TORONTO – For those hoping Wind Mobile would continue to build from struggling start-up into a strong, fourth national wireless competitor, those hopes were dealt a major blow Monday when Globalive Wireless, Wind’s parent in Canada, officially pulled out of the 700 MHz wireless spectrum auction beginning Tuesday.
In a statement released Monday afternoon, the Canadian wireless upstart said "Wind Mobile’s shareholder VimpelCom decided not to fund Wind Mobile’s participation in this auction, but confirmed that it remains in discussions with the federal government and Wind Mobile’s other shareholder AAL Holding to craft a path forward that will continue to…
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THE 10 COMPANIES vying for beachfront spectrum in Industry Canada’s 700 MHz auction set to begin Tuesday will have to navigate a complicated format that moves through various stages from interest in spectrum blocks to packages of licences and ultimately to specific frequencies.
During an Industry Canada technical briefing on the auction on Monday, a senior official with the department noted that this format, called a combinatorial clock auction (CCA), is now commonly used around the world. It’s used “because it features package bidding and eliminates what is known as exposure risk, which in layman’s terms is getting some but…
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SEVERAL SOURCES have told Cartt.ca over the past number of weeks that Rogers Communications has grabbed the over-the-top bull by the horns and has been signing a massive number of content deals and at least one significant partnership agreement (if not more) in an effort to battle back against Netflix in Canada by launching a new, national, OTT video portal.
Our multiple sources (all of whom requested anonymity for business reasons) have told Cartt.ca that Rogers is spending over $100 million buying all the video content windows available from as many rights holders (such as Disney/ABC, Warner Bros., 20th Century…
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OTTAWA – The Federal Court has shot down a request by Telus challenging the Industry Minister’s authority to set the eligibility requirements for parties participating in next week’s 700 MHz spectrum auction. The telco was also ordered to pay for the costs of pursuing its legal action.
Telus filed an application with the Federal Court last August asking for an order to prohibit Industry Minister James Moore from setting any other eligibility criteria than what is set out in the Radiocommunications Act when issuing licenses for spectrum access. This criteria prevents “large wireless service providers” from bidding for more…
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NEW YORK and VANCOUVER – NBCUniversal is expanding its distribution deal with Telus to add Golf Channel, CNBC and MSNBC to Telus’ digital application Optik on the go App, the companies said Thursday.
With Telus’ Optik on the go, Optik TV customers in B.C. and Alberta will enjoy live, in home streaming of more than 1900 hours of live golf programming across the PGA Tour, Champions Tour, Web.com Tour, LPGA, European Tour and others. On the news front, CNBC provides business news and real-time financial market coverage and business information, while MSNBC offers in-depth analysis, insightful political commentary…
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By Greg O’Brien
AS A YOUNG CANADIAN growing up in Timmins (hometown of NHL legends Frank and Peter Mahovlich, among several others) Saturday night hockey on TV was as regular, or normal, or expected, as church on Sunday. As reliable and loved as our family’s dog.
Hockey Night in Canada wasn’t just a staple. It was as much a part of life as eggs and cereal for breakfast or snow on the ground in the winter. We had a single-dial television in the mid-1970s that caught the few stations we had off-air. I was my dad’s remote control, standing by the…
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TORONTO – Wednesday’s announcement by the federal government to curb domestic wholesale roaming rates was welcomed by at least one new wireless entrant, but panned by an industry analyst who described the move as “too little, too late”.
Wind Mobile chief regulatory officer Simon Lockie said that the decision makes it clear that the government “is taking the realistic and committed actions necessary to create a level playing field for competition in the wireless space”.
“Today's announcement shows that Prime Minister Harper's Government is serious about competition and serious about consumers”, he said in an emailed statement. “Minister Moore has said this…
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PRINCE RUPERT, BC – CityWest is getting out of the cellular business “to focus investments on other product lines” and is referring its wireless customers in Prince Rupert to Telus.
The small telco said its customers can switch their account without cancellation fees, and may trade-in their current device for credit towards any new Telus smartphone. Telus and CityWest will soon offer other features to customers making the switch, such as allowing them to keep their wireless phone number and bundled packages of CityWest wired and Telus wireless services.
Telus, which already has an extensive wireless network in Prince Rupert, said that…
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TORONTO – Telus has rolled out a new mobile portal called Travel Tracker to help customers manage their data usage and costs in real-time while travelling.
When a customer arrives in their destination country, they will receive a free text message informing them of the voice, SMS and data rates in that country, roaming options, and now, a link to the Travel Tracker portal. In addition, Telus will send an immediate text notification to let customers know when their device begins to use data while roaming, and, a summary text message upon return to Canada showing data usage during their…
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