WE JOURNALISTS JUST love our year-end lists, don’t we? They are everywhere. However, we don’t do predictions here. They only thing I have found to be certain when trying to predict the future is that nearly all the time, the predictions are wrong.
So instead, here’s our list of 10 open questions heading into 2011.
1. How much market share will the Telus and Bell Canada IPTV services take from incumbent cable companies? The user experience of the Microsoft Mediaroom-driven Optik TV and Fibe TV is just so darn good and so darn integrated (I’d switch just for the whole-home PVR…
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VANCOUVER – Telus is offering free taxi rides and phone calls this week to last minute shoppers or holiday party-goers in major cities across the country.
From December 18 to December 25, Telus-branded taxis will cruise the downtown cores of Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon and Toronto between 11 am and 11 pm providing free rides. En route, passengers will also be offered a free holiday call anywhere in North America.
"The last week before the Holidays is hectic, holiday shoppers have their hands full between social commitments and picking out that perfect gift for their loved ones. We want to…
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OTTAWA – Not only is the NDP taking the credit for Rogers’ decision to begin unlocking its customer’s mobile phones, it’s now calling on Bell and Telus to keep up with both its competitor “and the rest of the world”.
NDP MP Bruce Hyer (Thunder Bay-Superior North) called Rogers’ decision a “major reversal of policy” and credited the move to public pressure created from his private member’s bill known as the Cellphone Freedom Act introduced in June. The bill calls for telecom companies to ‘unlock’ fully purchased phones free of charge at a customer’s request, and unlock subsidized phones…
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VANCOUVER – Telus is banking on wireless to power its 2011 financial results.
The telco said this week that it expects its wireless division to see revenues rise 3.5 to 6.5% to between $5.2 billion and $5.35 billion, while its wireline revenues, which includes local and long distance services, will see relatively flat growth between $4.73 billion to $4.88 billion. Overall, consolidated revenue is expected between $9.93 billion and $10.23 billion.
"We plan our 2011 performance to build on the progress achieved in 2010," said EVP and CFO Robert McFarlane, in a statement. "Next year’s results are expected to benefit from…
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TORONTO – The first ever 3D broadcast of CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada is coming to TV screens across the country.
Viewers with a 3D-ready television, along with the associated pair of glasses, will be able to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Montreal Canadiens at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT on December 11. The broadcast will be available free to Bell TV subscribers on channel 1933 (satellite TV) and 1208 (Fibe TV); Shaw Direct subscribers on channel 233/333 (Classic/Advanced); Telus Optik TV subscribers on channel 656 and Telus satellite TV subscribers on channel 1933; and to Vidéotron…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has completed its review of the large incumbent local exchange carriers’ support structure service rates.
The ILECs’ support structure services are tariffed wholesale services that make poles, strands, and conduits available to third parties for use as an input to provide competitive retail services. In a decision on Thursday, the Commission approved revised rates for the wholesale support structure services of Bell Aliant, Bell Canada, MTS Allstream, Telus and Télébec, effective 21 July 2009.
It also initiated a follow-up proceeding regarding service pole rates and a possible markup on Phase II support structure costs.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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TORONTO – Telus has rolled out an early device upgrade program which it says will make the cell phone ownership experience even simpler.
The ‘Clear and Simple Device Upgrade’ program creates a transparent linkage between the real price of new wireless devices and the discount customers receive when they select an optional one, two or three year term with Telus. Customers wishing to upgrade to a new device before the end of their term will pay an Early Device Upgrade Fee (EDUF) equivalent to the unrecovered portion of the original handset discount, and can then sign up for a new term with…
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TORONTO – When it comes to content and its distribution, what’s open and what’s closed off can be difficult to define – and what’s freely available to all and what’s behind a walled garden can both work as business plans.
That was part of the messages Monday morning during a session at Toronto’s NextMedia entitled: “Open vs. Closed, Content in the Digital Age”.
While many folks often talk about the preservation of the wide open internet and how individual business interests are interrupting that, those same people freely play inside such closed environments as iTunes, Netflix and Facebook, noted Michael…
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OTTAWA – Should there be spectrum caps for incumbents? Set asides for smaller companies? If so, what should they be? Should we align our bandwidth plan with the United States? Should we hold the 2500 MHz auction at the same time as the 700 MHz spectrum auction? How much spectrum should be set aside for public safety agencies? Does there need to be government intervention in rural regions? How will any new foreign investment rules affect the auction?
These are just some of the questions Industry Canada has asked the Canadian wireless industry in the paper it released late Tuesday:…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has sided with Bell Canada in a dispute with Telus over 911 network access charges in the province of British Columbia.
In a decision on Friday, the Commission directed Telus to credit Bell Canada for overbilled 911 charges in the province from March 2003 to February 2009, in accordance with Telus’ terms of service.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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