VANCOUVER – Telus is using intimidation and bullying to “stop Mobilicity’s conversation that you don’t need a contract to get wireless” charges Stewart Lyons, Mobilicity President and COO. He was responding to a lawsuit that Telus has filed against the new carrier for “false and misleading” TV ads.
The ads claim that “unlimited plans” offered by the incumbent carriers don’t cover all costs such as text messages, while positioning Mobilicity’s own voice and data services as truly unlimited.
Lyons told Cartt.ca the lawsuit was “bizarre” given that his company has “been repeating the same message…
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OTTAWA – On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada will release its ruling on whether or not the CRTC has the jurisdiction to let conventional, over-the-air local broadcasters pursue a fee for the carriage of their signals by subscription television providers. The appeal was heard back in April, as Cartt.ca reported.
The ability for local broadcasters to charge a cable, satellite or telco TV provider a wholesale fee (and by extension of course, Canadian subscribers) has been something TV station owners have pursued off and on for decades. The CBC asked for the ability to pursue…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has ruled that Telus has placed OUTtv at a competitive disadvantage by marketing the Category A service more like a B service, by making it an optional package on its Optik TV service. It found that Telus violated undue preference regulations related to the packaging and marketing of OUTtv Network Inc. by providing operators of other programming services a preference, contrary to section 9 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations. It has given Telus until February 8 to provide a detailed marketing plan on how it will remedy the unfair advantage.
The decision sets…
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GATINEAU – While most agree that Canada definitely needs a national, mandatory code of conduct for wireless providers to adhere to when dealing with their customers, agreement on what this code will actually say is another matter entirely.
Submissions were due into the CRTC last week on the Commission’s proceeding to establish a mandatory code for mobile wireless services. A public hearing will start February 11th – after the Regulator itself releases a draft code for discussion next month and conducts three more days of public, online consultations.
Bell Canada says it’s been listening to what the CRTC Continue Reading
VANCOUVER – After apparently selling off its shares in Telus last month, Mason Capital is now “re-establishing a significant long position in common shares and shifting their short position primarily to common shares,” reports Telus.
The carrier cautions that due to the sudden increase in foreign ownership levels, Telus' transfer agent (Computershare) may not be able to approve new applications by non-Canadians to purchase Telus common shares, if that purchase would risk causing the company to exceed the federally mandated 33.3% foreign ownership level.
Telus says the re-established long common share position at November month-end…
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TORONTO – The past year has been a strong one for Canada’s big three telcos (see Figure 1 below), but new wireless pricing plans will cut into Average revenue per user (ARPU). In particular, a new Rogers Wireless price plan (see Figure 2) launched on November 7 and matched immediately by Telus and Bell, along with a maturing smartphone market and looming threat from Wi-Fi could combine to slow future growth. This according to research from analysts Dvai Ghose and Sanford Lee in Canaccord Genuity’s latest Daily Letter to investors.
“On the surface, one could conclude…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has denied a request by Globalive (Wind Mobile) to review Telus’ foreign ownership.
“The commission is satisfied that Telus’ mechanisms for ensuring its compliance are consistent with the provisions and requirements established,” and that it “does not consider there to be sufficient evidence of non-compliance on the record of this proceeding to warrant a review,” the CRTC wrote in its decision.
Globalive requested the review claiming the carrier was in breach of regulations that prevent non-Canadians from owning more than 33.3% of the common shares of incumbent telcos like Telus….
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CALGARY – Telus is adding Movie Central and HBO Canada content to its Optik on the go service, offering the latest seasons of HBO Canada and Movie Central programming to customers who subscribe to Movie Central. First launched in 2011, Optik on the go allows customers to view a selection of TV On Demand shows and movies on their mobile devices, tablets and laptops, at home and on the move.
With the addition of Movie Central and HBO Canada programming, Optik will now offer subscribers new seasons of popular HBO original series such as Game of…
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TORONTO – While rating the industry as “outperform”, a BMO Capital Markets report published Monday says the Canadian media and telecom business will generate $62 billion in revenue in 2012 and see an overall growth rate of about 3%, as compared to last year. Of that revenue, about 75% comes from our big four of BCE, Rogers Communications, Telus and Shaw Communications.
While wireless, wireline broadband and specialty television will continue to be the revenue drivers, overall growth will be partially offset by declines in legacy data, voice and print media, says the report. Look for the overall share of…
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RIMOUSKI, QC – Telus has opened its new $65 million Intelligent Internet Data Centre in Rimouski, and will invest an additional $13 million in added IT infrastructure to bring world-class cloud-based solutions to Quebec and Canadian businesses.
The new Telus Tier III design-certified centre is the first Telus Internet data centre built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold standards. Its 1.15 Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating places Telus at the forefront of the industry with an energy-efficiency that is more than 80% superior to that of traditional data centres. Constructed with a unique…
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