TORONTO – Cell tower sharing remains a white hot topic for wireless competitors and the issue raised its head Tuesday morning during the Canadian Telecom Summit’s annual regulatory blockbuster panel, moderated again this year by Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien.
Although mandated tower sharing was included in the 2008 AWS spectrum auction rules – as it will be for next year’s 700MHz spectrum auction – the problems for new wireless entrants are the growing costs to share tower space and that access rules are not adhered to by the three incumbents, said Ed Antecol, vice-president of regulatory affairs and…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The federal government said Tuesday that Telus can not buy Mobilicity right now and also pushed out the date of the auction of 700 MHz wireless spectrum to January of 2014.
Mobilicity’s network is built with AWS spectrum that was set aside for new competitors in 2008 and part of the rules of that set aside meant the spectrum could not be transferred to an incumbent for five years, a period which does not expire until February 2014. "Our government has been clear that spectrum set aside for new entrants was not intended to…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC’s new Wireless Code issued today allows consumers to cancel their mobile wireless contracts after two years even if they have signed on for a longer term, and also places caps on data overage and roaming charges.
The code, which will apply to new wireless contracts beginning December 2, 2013, requires wireless service providers to cap data overage charges at $50 and national and international roaming charges at $100 within a single monthly billing cycle. Additional charges cannot be added without a consumer’s consent.
The Commission says capping these charges is…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER – The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) along with Telus, Rogers and Bell announced yesterday they are donating the $22,000 legal costs awarded in a court decision with the City of Nanaimo back to the city for support of its 911 emergency operations.
The CWTA and the wireless carriers were awarded the legal costs from the City of Nanaimo following a decision by the Supreme Court of British Columbia last July concerning a jurisdictional review of a municipal fee on 9-1-1 calls.
“Our goal in determining what role wireless carriers can play…
Continue Reading
NETWORK EXPANSION NEWS
Launches this week:
Telus continues investing in western Canada: $1 billion in B.C., $17 million more in Manitoba
VANCOUVER – Following its announcement Monday of a $700 million investment to upgrade its network in Alberta, Telus is continuing with its push into western Canada today with further investments of $1 billion in infrastructure and facilities in B.C. and $17 million to expand its 4G LTE network in Manitoba.
The $1 billion B.C. infrastructure investment is part of a three-year, $3 billion commitment made a year ago, and builds upon the…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER, B.C. – The Ontario Superior Court of Justice today approved Telus’s proposed $380 million acquisition of struggling wireless carrier Mobilicity.
The court granted approval for the deal to proceed under the Canadian Business Corporations Act.
In a statement, Telus chief marketing officer David Fuller said the decision puts the company “another important step closer to completing this acquisition, which will allow Telus to save the jobs of Mobilicity’s 150 employees and continue service for their 250,000 customers without the disruption that company’s current financial issues could cause.”
Telus made the announcement to acquire Mobilicity…
Continue Reading
BURNABY, B.C. – Lee Riggs was elected president of the Telecommunications Workers Union during the recent 2013 Annual TWU Convention which took place in Calgary, Alberta, from May 6-10.
Riggs, a 50-year-old native of Kelowna, B.C., was hired at 19 to work for BC. Tel (later to become Telus). He has been a labour activist his entire career and has held many positions within the TWU. He was first elected as a TWU business agent in 2006.
Continue Reading
EDMONTON and CALGARY – Telus announced today it is investing $700 million to connect hundreds of Alberta homes and businesses to its fibre optic cable network.
Today’s announcement is part of the telco’s three-year, $2 billion infrastructure and facilities investment made a year ago. Since 2000, Telus has invested $26 billion in operations and technology throughout the province
This year’s infrastructure investment of $700 million will be used to connect homes and business to Telus’s Gigabit Passive Optical network (GPON), which offers internet speeds of up to 50 MB per second, and to further extend…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER – As thousands of Telus employees get ready to take part in the company’s eighth annual day of giving this weekend, Telus announced today they are extending the invitation to customers and business partners to take part in the event.
On May 25, almost 13,000 Telus employees and friends will volunteer to help with more than 500 activities all over Canada, such helping at children's hospitals, feeding homeless citizens, sorting thousands of pounds of food bank donations and completing ecological face lifts at community parks.”
From now until June 15, Canadians are invited to…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Mobilicity announced today that its debtholders have approved the plan for Telus to acquire the wireless carrier for $380 million.
“This is a significant step towards final approval of the plan through which the business, combined with the financial strength of Telus, can be continued in a way that will benefit our customers and employees,” said Mobilicity president and COO Stewart Lyons in a prepared statement.
In a separate release,Telus CMO David Fuller said of today’s vote: “Today’s positive vote is an important step on the road to allowing Telus to sustain service…
Continue Reading
