AMID THE SWIRLING STORM surrounding the impending 700 MHz spectrum auction, a certain fact is often cited – followed closely by often obtuse, naïve assumptions which have served to warp the spectrum debate.
The fact we’re talking about is how Rogers, Bell and Telus own 85% of the existing spectrum licensed for wireless services in Canada. It’s a big number. It’s the correct number. When you put it in a pie chart (as the Industry Canada web site has), it looks daunting and very important. However, those who use that number to say the big three…
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NEW YORK – Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam told Bloomberg News on Monday that his company will not be entering the Canadian wireless marketplace after all and that it wasn’t all that interested in the first place.
He told the news organization in no uncertain terms the company is not interested in investing here and all the speculation that it might enter the Canadian market was “way overblown”. He told Bloomberg that Canada held some limited appeal for the company, but now that it announced it will pay British telco Vodafone $130 billion…
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OTTAWA – Telus has fired another legal salvo in its fight against the federal government’s wireless policy, this time challenging the Industry Minister’s authority to set the eligibility requirements for parties participating in the 700 MHz spectrum auction.
The carrier filed an application with the Federal Court on August 20 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 is Telus’s second attempt to legally challenge the federal government’s wireless policies. Continue Reading
BURNABY, B.C. and TORONTO – The Telecommunications Workers Union and the United Steelworkers announced today the two unions have agreed to a tentative merger.
The merger would join the TWU, representing close to 13,000 members working in telecommunications, cable TV and call centre locations in Canada, with the USW, representing 225,000 members in various sectors.
The two unions began merger talks in July. The agreement, includes strong commitments to support bargaining, membership education, legislative action and bringing in new members in the telecom sector.
“This is a merger about better bargaining power, about…
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OTTAWA – All it took was 21 minutes for the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology to halt any further hearings into the federal government’s 700 MHz spectrum auction rules.
Speaking from his Sudbury riding office, Glenn Thibeault, the consumer affairs critic for the NDP and who sits on the committee, says this represents a blow to Canadian consumers. “Ultimately at the end of the day by not having these hearings, it’s Canadian consumers that are going to lose out on this,” he tells Cartt.ca, lamenting the fact that there are still some big questions about…
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VANCOUVER, and ROCKVILLE, MD – Telus Ventures, the strategic venture investment arm of Telus, announced Tuesday it is investing in a U.S. global patient engagement software company.
Based in Rockville, Maryland, Get Real Health specializes in personal health record (PHR) technology, powered by their award-winning software platform InstantPHR.
The funding (the amount of which was not disclosed) will be used to accelerate Get Real Health’s development and functionality of the software, build its customer support capability, and expand its marketing and sales efforts.
Telus Health and Get Real Health have also collaborated on other projects,…
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MONTREAL and TORONTO – Bell and Rogers have both sided with the NDP in the party’s call for an emergency meeting with the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology to review the federal government’s wireless policy.
First proposed in a motion tabled by NDP Industry critic Chris Charlton, the meeting was officially scheduled to take place Tuesday, and will be held in camera.
“Public hearings are the ideal opportunity for open and constructive dialogue among consumers, government and industry to find a solution to the problem of the wireless loopholes,” said George Cope, Bell Canada…
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YELLOWKNIFE, NWT – Northern Canada is quickly becoming Canada’s hottest telco market, as Telus announced today it will offer its wireless products and services to customers in the Northwest Territories and Yukon.
As of September 6, Telus smartphone and other devices, as well as its SharePlus phone plans with unlimited talk, text and shared data, will be offered in these two territories at the same price as elsewhere in Canada.
Telus’s entry into Canada’s north follows just weeks after Iristel announced it had expanded its local phone service to all three territories.
“We…
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TORONTO – Canada’s largest unions continued their opposition today to the federal government’s refusal to budge on a wireless policy that would give Verizon preferential treatment if it were to enter the Canadian market.
Two of those unions are taking their “keep Verizon out of Canada” message to the streets in a rally planned for this Friday in Toronto.
A media advisory released today by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union and the Canadian Auto Workers said members are planning to protest the federal government's decision to allow U.S. telco giant Verizon to compete in Canada’s telecommunications market with…
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VANCOUVER – A new report from The Fraser Institute this morning says that Ottawa will only achieve its stated goal of providing Canadians with more choice and competition in the wireless marketplace if it removes restrictions on foreign ownership of telecommunication companies.
“The goal of achieving and maintaining a competitive market is not the same as having a minimum number of competing firms,” said Steven Globerman, Fraser Institute senior fellow and Kaiser Professor of International Business at Western Washington University, in the official press release. “By setting up rules that handicap the three large Canadian telecoms and favour small or…
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