EVEN THE VERTICALLY integrated companies know they need a code of conduct to help guide how – as the 800-pound Canadian gorillas – they do business in a country where they own most of the content and distribution channels.
CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein said repeatedly during last month’s vertical integration hearing that he wants to see some sort of code of business practices for vertically integrated media companies set out in writing in order to try and avoid new regulatory and legal battles when the new BDU regulations come into force this September. So final replies, which were due…
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GATINEAU – Aggregated volume pricing (AVP) shouldn’t be seen as a penalty on independent ISPs, but as an incentive for them to manage their network congestion, Bell Canada told the CRTC during the first day of the re-hearing of the wholesale usage-based billing issue.
Bell argued its AVP approach is a better economic internet traffic management practice (ITMP) than the 95th percentile method proposed by the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) because it provides returns on network investments and incents independent ISPs to reduce congestion in their networks.
“ ensures that incumbents receive an appropriate return on their…
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GATINEAU – It didn’t take long for the CRTC to modify its schedule in the usage-based billing proceeding. With Bell Canada’s appearance lasting all morning on Monday, the Commission has decided to push the testimony from the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Centre and OpenMedia.ca until Tuesday.
Konrad von Finckenstein, chair of the CRTC, noted that the OpenMedia.ca-CIPPIC appearance is likely to be lengthy and therefore would be better to hear from the consumer advocacy groups on Day 2 of the hearing.
The other interveners on Day 1 were Telus Corp., a panel of consumer interests from Ontario…
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GATINEAU – An annual report commissioned by the CRTC confirms what the telecom industry has been saying for a while about their broadband and wireless plans: It ain’t so bad here…
Prepared for the Commission by Ottawa’s Wall Communications, the annual “Price Comparisons of Wireline, Wireless and Internet Services in Canada and with Foreign Jurisdictions” report combines and averages wireline, wireless, broadband and bundled rates in Canada and compares them with plans with other international jurisdictions. The report found that while Canadian rates aren’t the most expensive, they aren’t the cheapest either, that while Canadian broadband speeds aren’t the fastest,…
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OTTAWA – Videotron is partnering with the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada (MGFC), a move that will allow its customers to support registered charities through the organization’s text-to-donate initiatives.
Videotron’s wireless customers can now text a specific keyword to an assigned five-digit number to donate either $5 or $10, depending on the charity’s call-to-action and type of campaign. The amount donated by text will be charged to the donor’s wireless phone bill, and is billed as a tax-exempt transaction. Videotron will then remit 100% of the funds collected from mobile donations to the MGFC, who in turn remits the full amount directly…
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OKAY, WE’LL ADMIT IT. Sometimes it does get a little difficult in maintaining one’s attention on the fifth day into a CRTC hearing.
The questions, and quite often the answers, grow more similar as minutes turn into hours, turn into days. Those repeated questions and answers, though, do tend to allow followers of the hearing to divine just what the commissioners and the industry are aiming for. If you read between enough lines, maybe you can even predict, a little, what’s coming.
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WE’VE ALREADY EXPLAINED what the primary topics are during our extensive coverage of the CRTC’s…
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GATINEAU – Do consumers really want the ability to pick the Jenny Craig of TV packages, a.k.a. the oft-debated, ultra-lean, skinny basic package?
It has been one of the primary questions coming from CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein and his colleagues over the first three days of the Commission’s hearing into vertical integration.
The idea has been bounced around for a couple of years (especially during the fee-for-carriage battles), however it has really taken hold of the imagination of the panel of commissioners this week.
In a nutshell, a mandated skinny basic package would force cable, satellite and telco TV distributors…
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PARIS – We can likely watch for a renewed wave of stories and blogs about how far behind Canada is when it comes to wireless and broadband as compared to the rest of the world when the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development releases its latest Communications Outlook report, expected some time today.
The wave of negativity has washed over the country several times already due to various such reports, so just make sure you dig deeper than the easy, salacious, headline.
According to a source who has already seen the report, it will make headlines that will make…
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PARIS – Canadians haven’t bought into the mobile Internet phenomenon like other countries’ citizens have according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) latest Communications Outlook report released Thursday.
Crediting the popularity of smart phones and tablet PCs for driving the growth of mobile broadband services, the report said that wireless broadband subscriptions in OECD countries exceeded half a billion by the end of 2010, noting an increase of more than 10% between June and December. The report is based on data from December, 2010.
The average penetration rate stood at 41.6%, meaning four in ten “inhabitants” in each country on…
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TECHNOLOGY HAS CREATED THIS vast crevasse. On one side is what consumers want. On the other is what the traditional TV industry says they can give them. Nestled in the void, like a big broadcast boogeyman waiting to pounce (for some, anyway), is OTT.
At the Banff World Festival last week, over-the-top video was top of mind and a prominent feature in CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein’s breakfast speech to delegates, although he refused to speculate on its impact, given the fact-finding proceeding that is under way.
But it’s clear that there’s no way to zipline across the divide…
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