OTTAWA – Reaction was predictably mixed when Industry Canada Minister Christian Paradis released the 700 MHz spectrum auction policy Wednesday, with some saying that it struck the right balance, while others describing the rules as devastating to new entrants.
Mobilicity, which had asked for the entire 700 MHz band to be set aside for new entrants, still saw the decision as a positive step for competition and support for the upstart wireless companies.
“I think Industry Canada had a tough decision to make and it tried to make all sides happy to some extent. So I thought it was a reasonable compromise,…
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TORONTO – The newly announced rules for the pending 700 MHz wireless spectrum auction and on foreign ownership could damage the credit ratings of the country’s three wireless incumbents, according to Moody's Investors Service.
The ratings agency said Thursday that the government’s new rules are credit-negative for Baa1-rated Bell Canada, Rogers Communications and Telus Corp.
Conversely, those rules are credit-positive for Canada’s five regional service providers and the three wireless-only new entrants.
www.moodys.com
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TORONTO – Telus has debuted a series of managed mobility services (MMS) designed specifically for the complex needs of Canadian enterprises.
Powered by Vox Mobile, the services help to manage various aspects of an enterprise's mobile infrastructure and devices from procurement to payment, all while managing wireless devices on multiple platforms, from multiple carriers.
"Mobile device management software has now made it possible to sync new mobile devices across multiple platforms, but there's so much more to consider than just synchronizing email," said Tony Krueck, VP of business products and services, in the announcement. "With the flood of new smart phones,…
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TORONTO – Despite how the rules to be applied to the auction of 700 MHz wireless spectrum have yet to be announced, one telecom industry analyst believes (taking all variables into account) the federal government can expect to earn about $3.5 billion when that auction finally does take place.
In a note to clients last week, Scotia Capital analyst Jeff Fan took into account potential changes to foreign investment rules, the possibility of a cap on the amount of spectrum to be purchased by any one company and the potential for certain blocks of spectrum Continue Reading
VANCOUVER – Telus has pledged to invest $3 million in British Columbia over the next three years to further expand its wireless and wireline broadband networks, and on the construction of Telus Garden, the company’s new Vancouver-based headquarters.
The company said that its investments will also result in the hiring of 1,300 new employees across the province – 800 this year alone to support its Optik TV and wireless growth, and an additional 500 jobs for the construction of Telus Garden.
"Telus' $3 billion investment over the next three years will support significant economic and community development in every region of…
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OTTAWA – Establishing a carriage relationship with Netflix, YouTube, Google, Yahoo! and others as well as reworking how money is distributed to fund online entertainment are two ways to ensure Canadian content will secure a space for itself on the Internet, Canadian Media Production Association’s (CMPA) annual Prime Time conference in Ottawa, heard Friday.
Online entertainment is growing leaps and bounds with the help of some major players such as Google and Yahoo, but what can be done to ensure that Canadian productions have a place? Richard Stursberg, senior advisor on media and entertainment with Telus (and former head of…
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OTTAWA – The biggest challenge the Canadian broadcasting industry is facing is a subset of distributors who are seeking lower rates for specialty services, Kevin Crull, president of Bell Media, told the Canadian Media Production Association’s annual Prime Time 2012 conference in Ottawa on Friday morning.
Crull spoke about this issue and other challenges Bell Media is facing in a interview style session with former CTV president, former head of CBC News and current professor, MBA program in arts and media administration, Schulich School of Business, Trina McQueen. Crull said this issue is more important than the group licensing regime…
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TORONTO – John Maduri finds the claims being made by Canada’s wireless companies that they need access to 700 MHz wireless spectrum in order to deliver wireless broadband to rural Canadians to be nothing short of a “myth.”
Maduri runs a company, Xplornet, which has long made its living serving many thousands of customers who live and work nowhere near a high-rise. With a combination of fixed wireless and satellite service – and hundreds of millions of dollars invested – Xplornet is serving rural folks just fine, thanks, Maduri said in an interview with Cartt.ca. It’s…
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OTTAWA – Its game over for Telus’ complaints against Bell over exclusive mobile rights agreements to select National Hockey League (NHL) and National Football League (NFL) content, the CRTC said Thursday.
In a letter addressed to Mirko Bibic, Bell’s SVP of regulatory and government affairs, the Commission said that it accepts Bell’s report that the two agreements in question were entered into prior to the issuance of a temporary moratorium against certain new exclusive programming agreements, and before the vertical integration framework prohibition against carriage exclusives on new media platforms.
The Commission also acknowledged that Bell has since reached…
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TORONTO – Mobilicity went to the drawing board to illustrate its opinion on spectrum set-asides in the pending 700 MHz spectrum auction.
Inspired by Charles Dickens' classic novel Oliver Twist, the company issued a political cartoon (see below) satirizing Canada's incumbent carriers' “hoarding of spectrum" and efforts seeking to prevent new entrants' growth.
"For Mobilicity, acquiring more spectrum in the upcoming Federal Government auction is a must-have – not a nice-to-have," said president and COO Stewart Lyons, in Wednesday’s statement. "Our current 3G technology uses our entire 10MHz of spectrum and we need more to expand and introduce new technologies, such as LTE."
Lyons also claimed that…
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