TORONTO and OTTAWA – Reaction to this week’s new draft copyright legislation was swift and predictably varied.
A coalition of Canada’s telecommunications, retail, Internet and technology companies and organizations, known as the Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright, largely supported the bill. But some parts of the legislation unfairly restrict consumer freedom and need to be revised before being passed by Parliament, such as the inability to circumvent digital locks for private use, the organization said in a statement.
The group includes the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, Bell Canada, Cogeco Cable, Rogers, Telus, Google, the CCSA and the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, among others.
The…
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OTTAWA – Telus executives told the CRTC today that it might resort to becoming a reseller of DOCSIS 3.0 high-speed cable services if the Commission changes the value proposition of the company’s network investments by giving competitors access to its high-speed next-generation services.
“If you make those margins large enough, I will look at opportunities to use cable DOCSIS versus build options, and then choose the most economical path, if that serves the economic interests of our shareholders,” Eros Spadotto, executive vice-president of technology strategy at Telus told commissioners on day two of the hearing looking at mandating certain…
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TORONTO – Nokia’s Ovi Store is open for business in Canada.
Touting itself as the easiest way to find content for Nokia’s devices, the Ovi Store allows Canadians to download and personalize their Nokia mobile device with a range of free and paid apps, games, themes and ringtones with content that supports more than 30 languages.
Thanks to integrated billing with Bell, Rogers and Telus, the cost of purchased apps will appear on a customers’ wireless provider bill.
“We are proud to be one of the first manufacturers and Nokia offices in the world to offer integrated billing with all major carriers,”…
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VANCOUVER – Telus is paving the way for Canadians to manage their personal healthcare records electronically.
Powered by Microsoft HealthVault, Telus health space is a high-security data storage and sharing service where individual Canadians will be able to keep all their personal healthcare information – such as lab results and prescription information – in an on-line database for access over any Internet connection. It is now available for licensing by healthcare organizations including provincial governments, health authorities, hospitals, insurers, individual practitioners and employers, the company said Monday.
“Today is an important day for Telus, and our partners in the health industry…
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TORONTO – Telus celebrated the opening of its new $250 million office tower in Toronto’s downtown on Wednesday with a nod to the Starship Enterprise.
Telus House Toronto, located at 25 York Street (right beside the Air Canada Centre), is built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold certification, an internationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance sustainable buildings. Occupying 12 of the 30 floors, Telus is the feature tenant in the Menkes-owned building.
Along with Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice and other high profile guests, Telus president and CEO Darren Entwistle (pictured) praised Telus House Toronto as…
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OTTAWA – The time has come to eliminate wholesale regulation of retail Internet services, two of the countries largest communications companies tell Cartt.ca. They say intermodal competition – cable versus DSL versus wireless – has rendered the need for a wholesale access regime unnecessary.
The comments come as the CRTC prepares to hear oral arguments in a very broad hearing dealing with wholesale access to certain broadband facilities. The proceeding, launched with Telecom Notice of Consultation 2009-261 begins on Monday.
“I don’t think wholesale is going to help the future of broadband in Canada. I think it could…
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KELOWNA, B.C. – Every May a few hundred of telco and cable industry tech types gather at the Coast Capri Hotel in Kelowna for the CommTech Trade Show and Seminars.
A total of 77 exhibitors fill the show floor while 25 seminars educate the industry folks in attendance. The Tuesday golf tournament was a success as well.
Cartt.ca is here of course. Editor and publisher Greg O’Brien is taking snapshots (below) and moderating a DOCSIS 3.0 session Thursday afternoon.
Sun Country Cable’s Jay Bobrowich (above left) and Arcom Labs Basil Dillon Malone
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LOS ANGELES–In a continuing break with their long-time public stance, North America’s largest cable operators are now openly racing to embrace IP video technology for their expanding portfolios of video offerings.
In a panel discussion at the Cable Show here this week, the chief technology officers and senior engineering executives of five major MSOs said they’re all looking to switch their cable systems to IP video so they can offer more video fare, reach more display devices, and cut delivery costs. At least one of the large MSOs, Time Warner Cable, is reportedly gearing up for an IP video…
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HALIFAX – Telus is urging its customers to think pink.
Between now and October 31, 2010, Telus has pledged to donate $25 from the purchase of every pink BlackBerry Curve 8530 or its pink BlackBerry Pearl 3G smart phone towards new high-tech equipment to help with the early detection of breast cancer.
The coast-to-coast campaign will benefit BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre Foundation, Alberta Cancer Foundation, Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, CancerCare Manitoba, Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation in Toronto, The Ottawa Hospital Foundation, Segal Cancer Center at the Montreal Jewish General Hospital and QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax.
"As a Canadian technology…
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WHY DO THE OLD TV sets in the living rooms, garages, kitchens or at the cottages of millions of Canadians deserve to go digital?
As the transition to digital over-the-air TV deadline grows closer and the industry is awakening to the need to act, the question has been asked in some quarters: Why bother?
We can keep fibbing if we want but as an industry we already know it’s now impossible to update our over-the-air television broadcasting system to digital by the August 31, 2011 deadline set years ago by the CRTC. Not “virtually impossible.” Not “challenging.” It is not…
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