READERS MIGHT HAVE sensed with my column Thursday that I am taking the issue of getting broadband to low-income families very seriously. I called the fact that we have nothing in Canada to help the poor get broadband in their homes embarrassing, especially when compared to the ambitious and comprehensive Connect 2 Compete program that was launched in the United States this week by the Federal Communications Commission, numerous cable companies and other firms.
Then, reporter Peter Nowak reports today that Canada is the ONLY country in the G8 with no assistance…
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OTTAWA – Industry Canada should open up the TV white spaces spectrum in the broadcast band below 698 MHz on an unlicensed-basis, many companies are telling the department in its consultation on the as-yet used spectrum.
Earlier this summer, the department kicked off a consultation seeking input on the best ways to make the spectrum available. Cartt.ca reported on SMSE-012-11 in September. Companies tell Industry Canada that making white space spectrum licence-exempt will benefit consumers because of its ability to increase communications options.
Shaw Communications, which recently abandoned plans to deploy a mobile…
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TORONTO – In a company-wide memo leaked to the popular Canadian wireless blog Mobile Syrup, Public Mobile CEO Alek Krstajic outlined his company’s “very successful quarter”, noting the Canadian wireless upstart now has over 150,000 subscribers.
(A Public Mobile spokesperson confirmed to Cartt.ca that the memo was the genuine article.)
“We finished the quarter with more than 150k customers, with September being the best month for growth in the history of Public Mobile,” wrote Krstajic. “More importantly, when we look at the results of the incumbents, our importance to…
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OTTAWA – With more Canadians than ever connected to all manner of devices in so many ways, complaints about wireless services, Internet access and VoIP providers more than doubled in the past year, according to the 2010-2011 annual report for the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS).
The CCTS said that it received 8,007 complaints, up 114% over last year, which Commissioner Howard Maker noted was the largest year-over-year increase in complaints in the organization’s four year history.
Wireless complaints accounted for 62.3% of all complaints, up from 51.7% last year, which Maker said reflected the increasing availability of…
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VANCOUVER – Third quarter profits at Telus rose by 30%, which the company said Friday was generated by increases in its wireless, wireline and data revenues.
Net income for the quarter ended September 30 was $326 million, a sizeable jump from $251 million in the same period last year. Adjusting for three non-recurring items in the third quarter of 2010, normalized net income was higher by 12%.
Revenues for the quarter grew 6.5% to $2.6 billion, compared to $2.5 billion last year, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $968 million increased by 3% from $941 million due to revenue…
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GATINEAU – The chairmanship of the CRTC is often said to be a thankless job, so, many of the leading regulatory folks in Canadian telecom set about to change that this week, getting together to thank outgoing CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein for his yeoman’s work these past five years.
When he came on board as chair in 2007, von Finckenstein promised an open, accountable and transparent Commission. With dozens of public proceedings and many new ways to include the public in the debate launched under his watch, we got that in spades under von Finckenstein, who oversaw his final…
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GATINEAU – Some consensus around a Rogers Communications proposal for IP to IP connection emerged during the first day of rebuttals Monday at the CRTC’s interconnection hearing.
Rogers decided that it would be easier to live with the status quo in IP interconnection and pay for the costs of converting IP traffic to TDM (time-division multiplexing) to terminate voice calls on ILECs network as long as ILECs would negotiate IP interconnection where they offer it to either a subsidiary, a division or an unaffiliated carrier. Last week, Rogers requested the commission require the ILECs to pay…
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WINNIPEG – Residents of Manitoba are encouraged to begin using 10-digit dialing for all wireline and wireless calls starting December 1st, in preparation for the mandatory switch over which begins on July 29, 2012.
The Telecommunications Alliance, whose members in Manitoba include MTS, Rogers, Telus, Bell and Westman Communications Group, said Tuesday that the province’s telecommunications service providers will all be able to support 10-digit dialed calls starting early next month.
"10-digit local dialing and the addition of a new area code are forward-looking measures that will help the entire communications industry meet the continually growing demand for new services. A…
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WHILE HIS NAME MAY have been on every submission to the CRTC over the last four-plus years, few, if any know what Robert Morin thinks of Canadian cultural and telecom policy. That’s because he won’t say. It’s beyond his role.
He likens his now-former job as secretary-general of the CRTC (he retired this month) to that of a plumber, where it’s been his duty to make sure the plumbing, or the nuts and bolts of the Commission, work seamlessly and efficiently while policy and other national matters are developed and problems solved all around him. Basically, the type of house…
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GATINEAU – Mandating Internet Protocol interconnection for voice services is unnecessary because doing so will not bring any additional benefits to consumers, three of the country’s incumbent telcos told the CRTC during its first day of hearings into the interconnection regime.
In its opening remarks, Bell Canada said that “no regulatory intervention is required to push the market towards IP interconnection” and that “the market will naturally drive this migration without any need for regulatory intervention,” explained Jonathan Daniels, VP of regulatory law at Bell.
He acknowledged that the company’s network is capable of providing IP voice to most of its…
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