By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau said Thursday that the CRTC must ensure that the final last mile fibre access rates are set appropriately to bolster competition.
Since the CRTC’s decision Monday to allow wholesalers to force negotiations for access on the last bit of Bell’s and Telus’s fibre network to the home, the competitors have been concerned about the rate set for the temporary regime. Some say while it is an important step forward, those interim rates are still significantly higher than what the telcos sell their own services at.
“We are happy that the CRTC has announced its…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri said Thursday that the CRTC’s decision to force the large telephone companies to open access to their last mile fibre networks “levels the playing field” with cable carriers who service the bulk of wholesale-based subscribers.
“We’ve been required to wholesale under the regulatory regime high-speed internet for quite some time,” Staffieri said during a third quarter conference call. “So it’s good to see a level playing field.”
The majority of wholesale-based competitors were using the large cable companies’ hybrid fibre-coax networks, which accounts for 75 per cent of all wholesale-based subscriptions, the CRTC said.
The decision…
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VANCOUVER – Telus Health on Tuesday unveiled its next-generation medical alert system, comprised of a discreet wearable pendant and connected caregiver app, designed to support older Canadians as they age in place.
Providing users with peace of mind knowing emergency support is available 24/7 at the push of a button, the newly designed Telus Health Medical Alert Pendant has the longest battery life of any mobile medical alert device in Canada and an enhanced fall detection feature for an added layer of security, according to a Telus Health press release.
Falls are…
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TekSavvy says it is currently not for sale
By Ahmad Hathout
Bell announced Monday evening that it is cutting its fibre investments by over $1 billion in 2024-25 after the CRTC said it must negotiate access with competitors on that network.
The telco said that plan will also include a minimum cut of $500 to $600 million in 2024.
“Bell’s fibre network is now available to over seven million homes and businesses,” Bell said in a press release. “Prior to the CRTC’s decision, Bell’s near-term plan was to build high-speed fibre to nine million locations by the end of 2025. Bell will now…
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By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – The CRTC approved Monday a limited and temporary regime in which competitors can force negotiations for access the last mile fibre services under the current aggregated regime.
The regime will be narrowed to the incumbent telephone companies, who will be required within six months to provide wholesale access to their fibre-to-the-premises networks in Ontario and Quebec, noting there is increasing demand there for faster speeds that are provided by a direct fibre line to homes and businesses.
The CRTC reasoned that the fibre builds of the cable companies, which have largely relied on hybrid fibre-coax builds, are…
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TORONTO – Canada’s telecommunications sector directly contributed up to $76.7 billion to the national GDP and supported 724,000 Canadian jobs in 2022, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report commissioned by the Canadian Telecommunications Association (CTA).
The same report estimates that the Canadian telecom sector’s delivery of enhanced connectivity, including 5G, has the potential to contribute an additional $112 billion to Canada’s overall GDP by 2035.
The report, titled Connecting Canadians through resilient networks: The impact of the telecom sector in 2022 and beyond, shows how Canada’s telecom sector invests billions of dollars each…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telus CEO Darren Entwistle said Friday he believes there will a future where the regulatory environment will be tempered by heightened competition and current declining prices despite higher inflation.
“God forgive me for saying this, but I see over the longer term the environment moderating,” Entwistle said during a third-quarter earnings call Friday. “I think a lot of the goals that the federal government has had on the regulatory front have effectively been answered, and I think this is an era to allow free market forces to determine competitive outcomes, not regulatory or government intervention.”
The telecom said…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell CEO Mirko Bibic said Thursday that the company could’ve driven more fibre through its footprint beyond its target plan for the year but slowed down because of regulatory uncertainty related to fibre and wholesale access decisions still in front of the CRTC.
“We got a head start in the first six months of this year on our fibre build and we’re well on track to hitting the targets that we had established for ourselves for 2023,” Bibic said during the company’s third-quarter earnings conference call Thursday morning.
“In fact, we had some wiggle room there given that we…
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MONTREAL – Telus, Montreal-based TerreStar Solutions (operating as Strigo) and U.S.-based Skylo announced Wednesday they have successfully used satellite connectivity to conduct voice calls and send text messages between smartphones as well as connect to IoT devices.
The trial in October combined non-terrestrial network (NTN) service provider Skylo’s software-defined network connectivity platform, TerreStar’s mobile satellite spectrum and service platform that covers most of Canada, and Telus’s network-building expertise, according to a press release. The trial was successful in making direct connections using TerreStar’s existing Echostar T1 geostationary satellite, the release says.
“This…
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QUEBEC CITY – Telus and FLO, a North American electric vehicle (EV) charging network operator and smart charging solutions provider, announced Tuesday an agreement to bring Telus connectivity to FLO chargers.
Headquartered in Quebec City, FLO is Canada’s most extensive EV network and boasts having 100,000 charging stations across North America, enabling more than 1.5 million charging sessions each month, according to a press release.
The companies say FLO will leverage Telus’s dedicated IoT network solutions and connectivity platforms in FLO public and commercial Level 2 and Direct Current Fast Chargers (DCFCs)…
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