CALGARY – Telus is bringing the fun of karaoke right into its customers’ living rooms by adding Stingray Digital’s Karaoke Channel TV app to its Optik TV lineup.
All Optik TV customers may now access an on-demand library of more than 8,000 karaoke videos, with more songs added regularly. The easy-to-use interface allows browsing and searching using the TV remote control, and the app also offers an optional lead vocal track to help would-be stars hit those notes.
The Karaoke Channel TV App is free for three months for Optik TV subscribers effective immediately. Find the app by pressing the 'app' or…
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VANCOUVER – Telus has launched a new program aimed at helping Canadians develop safer online habits.
The Telus WISE (Wise Internet and Smartphone Education) program offers free seminars and online resources in two parts – one aimed at adults interested in keeping themselves and their families safe; and the second tailored to appeal directly to youth.
The program for parents and adults, known as Telus WISE, includes seminars about the common pitfalls of cyberspace and how to better protect personal information from predators and malware; a library of online educational resources for parents about what choices children might be making online,…
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OTTAWA – C’mon kids, grab those old mobile devices: the Recycle My Cell student challenge is back for a fourth year.
As the national sponsor of Waste Reduction Week in Canada (October 21-27), Recycle My Cell is challenging all Canadian schools and post-secondary institutions to recycle as many old wireless devices as possible, including cell phones, smartphones, wireless PDAs, pagers, accessories and cell phone batteries.
The school in each province and territory that collects the most cell phones (based on school population) will be awarded $500 to be used towards a school environmental project. Last year, more than…
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WHILE THE CANADIAN WIRELESS world and the politicians who oversee it spent the dog days of summer 2013 barking at each other over policies they said were either wrecking the business or boosting competition (depending on your point of view) one player, Halifax-based Eastlink, remained largely silent.
While Eastlink is a big deal in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island especially, and does daily battle down East with Bell Aliant, CEO, Lee Bragg told Cartt.ca in a recent interview that adding his own voice to that cacophony would have accomplished little. And besides, even though he can’t side with government…
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TORONTO – Despite deeply discounted pricing, Canada’s new wireless entrants are expected to own only 7% of the wireless market by the end of this year, according to a new report from Convergence Consulting.
Canadian Wireless: Assessing the Impact of New Entrants says that Wind Mobile, Public Mobile and Mobilicity are undercutting incumbents Rogers, Bell and Telus and their discount brands on voice packages by up to 58% and 40% respectively, and on combined voice/data packages by up to 63% and 57% respectively.
In some cases, such as with regional providers like EastLink and Videotron, the incumbents and their discount brands…
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TORONTO – Telus is readying the latest generation of Telus Link, its Push To Talk (PTT) service, that promises to connect teams faster, in more places and on more devices.
Using Telus’ 4G HSPA and LTE networks as well as Wi-Fi, Telus Link will provide instant 'walkie-talkie' voice communication with an individual or a team as well as standard wireless service, enabling members of a work team to connect in less than one second wherever they are. Customers can also roam in the U.S. and around the world with enhanced coverage via PTT over Wi-Fi.
The service will roll out in…
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TORONTO – Mobilicity filed for bankruptcy protection late Monday, but said that it’s business as usual for its wireless customers – and that it has a buyer at the ready.
The company issued a statement after the markets closed confirming that it applied for and received protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) ("CCAA"). The move will allow it “the necessary time and financing to advance and complete a going-concern transaction, which is before Industry Canada for its review and approval”, the statement reads. “Mobilicity believes that the proposed transaction is in the best interests of its stakeholders and hopes…
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MONTREAL – Bell, Rogers, Telus and Videotron said Wednesday that they are teaming up on a new $50 million mobile network for the Montréal metro, a move that will make that city one of the first in the world equipped with a 4G LTE mobile underground network on its subway system.
Within the next five to seven years, some 900,000 daily metro users will be able to browse the web, download music, and make and receive calls as 3G, 4G and 4G LTE technologies are deployed throughout the metro network, including in subway cars, tunnels and stations.
The Société de transport…
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OTTAWA – As widely suspected, no foreign wireless carriers were named as potential bidders for the 700 MHz wireless spectrum according to the list released by Industry Canada early Monday morning.
The 15 potential bidders includes incumbents Bell Mobility, Telus and Rogers Communications, as well as regional carriers MTS, SaskTel, T-Bay Tel, EastLink/Bragg Communications and Videotron. Also named is Wind Mobile parent Globalive Wireless, fixed-wireless operator Vecima and Vancouver-based Novus Wireless.
While new entrant Mobilicity is not on the list, another company owned by its chairman John Bitove, known as Feenix Wireless Inc. is, as is private equity investors Birch Hill Equity Partners and The Catalyst…
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MONTREAL – After summer-long public relations campaigns which saw wireless companies and the federal government at each other’s throats, with consumers caught in the middle, the CFOs of Bell and Telus believe the industry must do a far better job of telling Canadians how good they have it in Canada.
“We have to work on our communication of why we’re successful in Canada, why this is a competitive market, why pricing isn’t out of line with what’s happening in the rest of the world,” Telus EVP and CFO John Gossling told attendees at the CIBC Institutional Investor Conference in Montreal…
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