THE INCENTIVES FOR THE great, big vertically integrated Canadian cabletelbroadcellcasters to act unfairly towards everybody else has become too great to ignore and new protections against potential perils are needed, say many companies in their submissions to the CRTC ahead of June’s hearing into vertical integration.
(Editor’s note: This preview originally ran on April 29th. We’re re-running it here as a preview of the hearing, which gets under way Monday in Ottawa with Rogers first up. As usual, Cartt.ca will be there. But if you can’t be there, it will be streamed live on cpac.ca – and available for…
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VANCOUVER – Telus president and CEO Darren Entwistle is the 2011 recipient of the Fraser Institute’s T. Patrick Boyle Founder’s Award in British Columbia.
The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of 80 think-tanks. It gives the award to recognize outstanding achievements in entrepreneurship, the promotion of free markets, and philanthropic support for private-sector, non-profit enterprises.
"Darren is very deserving of this honour for his remarkable achievements at Telus”, said Fraser Institute president, Brett Skinner, in Thursday’s announcement. “He has built…
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OTTAWA – Canadian television viewers need protection from the “anti-competitive practices of the large broadcasting companies”, according to Telus.
The telco made the comments Wednesday in reference to the “concentration of content ownership” as a result of the recent mergers of Shaw/Canwest and BCE/CTV. Telus suggested that the CRTC implement safeguards designed “to protect consumer choice and competitive pricing” as the Commission prepares to examine the issue of vertical integration at a hearing scheduled to begin on June 20, 2011.
Telus’ proposed safeguards include:– Distributors should not withhold content from competitors in order to prevent anti-competitive programming blackouts;– Preferential…
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TORONTO – During his speech to shareholders on Wednesday, where he also announced the company’s planned 2011 LTE launch, Rogers Communications CEO Nadir Mohamed pressed whomever will form the new federal government for leadership on the digital front.
A big part of which, for him, means a 700 MHz wireless spectrum auction in 2012 free of any rules favouring new wireless companies, or ones which constrict the established carriers. That spectrum is currently in use by Canadian analog TV broadcasters and is well known as prime low frequency spectrum which is excellent for distance coverage (great for rural) and…
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TORONTO – Rogers confirmed Wednesday that it will launch its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network this year and roll out commercial services in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa. The company then plans to launch in what it described as “the top 25 markets across Canada” by 2012.
"The world is moving to LTE and we’re thrilled to be leading the way by bringing this next generation technology to our consumer and business customers", said Rogers Communications president and CEO Nadir Mohamed, in a statement on Wednesday morning. "LTE is the critical foundation to deliver a world increasingly being defined by connected…
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OTTAWA – The country’s free cell phone recycling program is encouraging Canadians to recycle their old cell phones and accessories during Earth Week 2011 via its free ‘Recycle My Cell’ program.
Run by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) in conjunction with cell phone carriers and handset manufacturers, the goal of the program is to keep handsets and accessories from entering Canada’s landfills. Proceeds from the recycled devices are donated to charity, and close to $1 million has been raised since the program launched two years ago.
A visit to the bilingual website allows consumers to enter their postal code to locate the…
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CALGARY – Mobilicity said Wednesday that it will launch its wireless service in Calgary on April 28, marking the last of its current market rollouts.
“It’s time Calgarians stopped paying among the highest wireless rates in Canada,” said president and CEO, Dave Dobbin, in the announcement. “A better alternative to Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless and Telus Mobility is on its way. Mobilicity provides reliable talk, text and data capabilities – without outrageous extra charges and fees that eat into people’s savings.”
Calgary-based consumers will be able to purchase plans and name-brand handsets like BlackBerry and Android at over 70 points of…
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GATINEAU – The Independent Broadcast Group has called on the CRTC to establish a new, flexible framework for smaller and independent Canadian broadcasters.
Appearing before the CRTC last Thursday during the group-based license renewal proceeding, the independents insisted that it’s only fair to provide competitive parity for the unaffiliated broadcasters.
“The CRTC needs to be prepared to provide similar or greater flexibility to independent broadcasters within months of this happening to at least maintain some competitive parity in the short term,” said Naomi Zener, director of business and legal affairs at Channel Zero (owners of CHCH, CJNT, Movieola and Silver…
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VANCOUVER – Telus and the Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) have agreed to the terms of a tentative collective agreement covering approximately 12,100 employees across the country.
Telus and the TWU said Monday that they will not release further details of the agreement pending finalization of contract language, which is expected to be completed later this week. The TWU did confirmed that it will present the tentative agreement to its membership in the coming weeks and recommend their members vote in favour of it.
Telus president and CEO Darren Entwistle described the process of negotiations as “constructive and conducted in a professional…
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VANCOUVER – Telus confirmed Wednesday that in early 2012 the company will launch its ultra-fast Long Term Evolution (LTE) network.
LTE technology boasts of download speeds of up to 150 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of up to 70 Mbps. Following field testing in 2011 and the completion of an RFP process currently underway, construction on Telus’ next generation, 4G+ LTE network will begin in the latter half of 2011 in major urban markets across Canada.
(Ed note: Ever since the International Telecommunications Union reclassified – downwards – what kind of network could be labelled 4G to include deployed…
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