OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Nascent wireless company Globalive is so worried about protecting the identity of its financial backers that this week it has asked the CRTC for what looks like CSIS-level security if and when those financiers do meet the Commission.
Others say the request is unprecedented and should be immediately dismissed.
In a three-page letter to the Commission, Globalive doesn’t just want their competitive financial information kept confidential, but “requests that the Commission treat as confidential the name and other identifying characteristics of a Canadian financial institution (the Bank), or any other financial institution, which may provide witness to appear at…
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FIVE OF Canada’s biggest cable companies have complained to the CRTC for extending a filing deadline – two days after the deadline had already passed.
Calling it “both unprecedented and unacceptable”, the heads of regulatory affairs from Bragg Communications, Cogeco Cable, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media on behalf of Videotron, (collectively, the Cable Carriers), sent a sternly worded letter to CRTC Secretary General Robert Morin on Thursday expressing their collective “deep frustration” with Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2009-261-4.
“…The Cable Carriers want the Commission to understand the deep frustration that the companies feel at having made…
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OTTAWA – Canadian Wireless Telecommunications (CWTA) members have created a new code of conduct to underscore their commitment to high standards of service and support to their customers.
The new code will “safeguard the rights of consumers”, and serve as a resource in the complaint resolution process by Canada’s Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS). Unlike other jurisdictions that have developed wireless carrier conduct guidelines, such as in the U.S. where the code is strictly voluntary, the Canadian code will be backstopped by the third-party and independent CCTS, the announcement detailed.
“This new Code will ensure that customers have the…
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OTTAWA – According to Telus, wireless newcomer Globalive should be declared ineligible to operate as a telecommunications common carrier in Canada, as it is controlled by persons who are not Canadians.
The BC-based telecom giant made that assertion again this week as it filed comments for the CRTC’s upcoming review into Globalive’s ownership structure.
Globalive is co-owned by Orascom, a global wireless player based in Egypt with over 79 million wireless subscribers. Orascom holds a 65% indirect equity ownership, but less than 50% of voting control in Globealive Holdings, the parent company of Globalive Wireless.
But Telus alleges that Orascom’s ownership…
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WHILE WE WAIT for the CRTC to decide whether or not Al Jazeera English can be distributed in Canada by cable, satellite and telco TV companies, I already have it in my office.
Actually, I have both the English and Arabic versions, right now, on my television. (No Canadian BDU offers the Arabic version because even though it’s on the eligible satellite list, the regs around it say that BDUs must employ Arabic language censors to monitor it 24/7, if they want to launch.)
And yet, here they both are, in standard definition, full-screen quality, on my 30-inch LCD television thanks…
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THANK YOU FOR DOING what no mainstream reporters did and provide some analysis on the OECD numbers on wireless rates. Your story got it right. You can’t compare the EU and North America.
But why did mainstream media fail so badly in objectively reporting this? There were obvious signals. The first is that the U.S. is rated most expensive, but we all know it’s been accepted as fact that the U.S. has the lowest per minute costs in the world. (See Merrill Lynch Quarterly)
Number two is the minutes of use of the average European in the report: 780…
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PARIS – Canadians pay some of the highest prices in the world for their cell phones, says a report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). But do we really?
According to OECD calculations, rates charged by Canadian mobile providers rank behind only the United States and Spain as the highest in the developed world, while Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden have the cheapest rates.
But Canadian telecom consultant Mark Goldberg says that “the OECD service definitions should cause serious researchers to laugh”.
The survey, called the OECD Communications Outlook, compared domestic prices across countries for low, medium…
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VICTORIA – Telus will donate $100 for every new Telus TV customer on Vancouver Island to a home away from home for children requiring medical treatment and their families in Victoria.
The initiative, which will run through June of 2010, is in addition to a $100,000 donation from the 2010 Telus World Skins Game to The Queen Alexandra Foundation for Children for the planning and development of Jeneece Place.
Telus partners with local charitable organizations every year around the popular golf tournament, which next year will be held at Bear Mountain Resort in Victoria from June 21 – 22. Funds are generated…
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TORONTO – Bankruptcy courts in Ontario and the US have given the green light for LM Ericsson to purchase Nortel Network’s wireless business unit for US $1.13 billion.
The Swedish telecom-equipment maker outbid two other companies for Nortel’s code division multiple access (CDMA) business and almost all of Nortel’s long term evolution (LTE) access assets. The division, frequently referred to as the crown jewel of Nortel’s assets, counts telecom giants Bell Canada, Telus and Verizon Wireless among its North American customers.
The deal still requires federal regulatory approval before it can close later this year, however, there is growing pressure on…
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OTTAWA – Janet Yale said that it just “seemed like a good time” to make the transition to politics from her 20 plus year career in the cable and telecom industries in Canada.
Yale, now on leave as the executive vice-president of corporate affairs for Telus, announced earlier this week that she is seeking the federal Liberal nomination for her home riding of Ottawa-Centre.
Well know to Cartt.ca readers through her roles at Telus, the now defunct Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association (CCTA), AT&T Canada and the CRTC, Yale said that her background and experience should prove invaluable as she…
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