GATINEAU – The small incumbent local telephone companies (SILECs) are urging the CRTC to reject proposals calling for changes to the local subsidy regime for lost telephony customers (lost NAS). They also say a regime that will force them to raise local rates to make up for a shortfall in toll interconnection revenue won’t work.
The large incumbents, as well as Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications, want the Commission to only allow the 50% subsidy rule to apply to lost customers who port their number to a competing carrier. The SILECs counter that this is not what the CRTC had…
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“EVERYBODY’S STARTING TO realize that this market isn’t what we thought it was going to be,” said Alek Krstajic, president and CEO of upstart Canadian wireless company Public Mobile.
The wireless business is a very tough game. It’s extremely costly to build out, quite difficult to convince customers to switch service providers, incumbent carriers have been ruthless and access to spectrum, especially the good stuff, looks to be a problem. Those reasons and a few others make it appear like a round of consolidation among the three new independent wireless providers is close at hand, likely before the 700 MHz…
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NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. and CRANBROOK B.C. – Telus announced Wednesday that it has moved its networks down a couple of Canadian highways.
The first is the Queen Elizabeth Way as the company said it has launched its LTE network in the Niagara region. Today’s announcement is part of the company’s $650 million investment in Ontario over the next three years to further expand and enhance its wireless networks.
LTE has emerged as the new standard for wireless technology and Telus’ 4G LTE network supports manufacturers’ rated peak download speeds of up to 75 megabits per second (Mbps), with an expected average…
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VANCOUVER – The financial future looks friendly for Telus Corporation whose CEO has decided for the fourth consecutive year to take his salary in Telus shares. The move should come as no surprise given that Telus’ third quarter revenue increased 6% to $2.8 billion, while profit rose 7.7% from a year ago to $351 million. Earnings per share jumped 8% to $1.08 and free cash flow in Q3 increased 23% from a year ago to $426 million primarily due to higher EBITDA.
Smartphone subscribers now make-up 63% of the total postpaid subscriber base of 6.4 million…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is threatening to withhold subsidies to four Quebec small ILECs for delays in opening up their networks to local telephone competition. Cogeco Cable claims the delays have prevented it from offering competing triple-play bundles (telephone, Internet, television) to those regions.
The regulator denied Cogeco the settlement it sought, but instead issued a Notice of Consultation regarding the potential withholding of subsidy payments to CoopTel, Téléphone Guèvremont Inc., Téléphone Milot Inc., and Sogetel Inc.
The decision stems from the failure of the ILECs to complete an interconnection arrangement based on leased…
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GATINEAU – The small telephone companies and their larger competitors are seeing eye-to-eye on some aspects of proposed changes to the regulatory framework for small incumbent local exchange carriers (SILECs). But on others, they remain at loggerheads.
When it comes to giving SILECs the same flexibility as the ILECs in market trials and promotions, and the use of rate ranges, there is broad consensus among interveners. The same goes for maintaining the basket of services structure. Telus is an outlier on this issue. It wants the creation of a fifth basket that would group all competitor services – interconnection and…
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TORONTO – Telus’ newest suite of plans features unlimited local talk and text and the ability to share your data with others on your account. Launching on November 8, the plans include Unlimited Local Calling as well as Caller ID and Voice Mail 3.
"At Telus we are continuously looking for ways to make the customer experience better and ensure we are providing our new and existing customers with clear and simple plans that are transparent and easy to understand," said Brent Johnston, vice-president, Mobility Solutions, Telus. "Our new rate plans deliver the value that customers want…
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CALGARY – Cue the robots. Shaw Communications’ workforce has catapulted in numbers. Zillions of delivery robots working within the national cable, satellite and broadcasting company’s network known as the “pipe’ now service the needs of its 3.4 million customers alongside customer care staff.
In a national campaign which launched November 5 that crosses all customer touch points, including television, print, online and out of home, Shaw (along with its agency, Vancouver’s Rethink) introduces us to its newly animated network and two of its cheeky delivery robots Bit and Bud (click here for one of the televised…
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OTTAWA – Bell is falling far behind schedule in rolling out broadband services to rural communities using public funds and will only have 12 Commission-approved communities completed by year’s end, not the 49 communities it forecast says the CRTC. The regulator is now demanding that Bell Canada and Bell Aliant submit quarterly reports on the status of their deferral account project to ensure it gets back on schedule in order to be completed as agreed by August, 2014.
In an August, 2010 decision regarding how Bell should dispose of the funds remaining in its deferral account the…
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TORONTO – Telus has expanded its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) to customers in Newmarket and Aurora. Additional communities will be getting access to LTE in the coming months, as the carrier continues to bring the technology to more Ontarians by the end of 2012.
Today's announcement is part of the company's $280 million investment in the Greater Toronto Area over the next three years to further expand and enhance its wireless networks.
"Telus is committed to offering the best customer experience and launching our 4G LTE service in Newmarket and Aurora is an excellent…
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