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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Telus executive Janet Yale has announced that she is seeking the federal Liberal nomination for the riding of Ottawa-Centre, where she has lived for the last 28 years.
Yale, currently the executive vice-president of corporate affairs for Telus, once headed up the now defunct Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association (CCTA). She has more than 20 years of government and regulatory experience through senior leadership positions at AT&T Canada, the CRTC and the Consumer’s Association of Canada.
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Telus wireless customers will be able to catch some of CTV’s most-watched television programs via Telus’ new mobile video streaming service, the companies announced Thursday.
CTV has signed on as Telus’ first content provider for its new streaming video-on-demand service, meaning customers can use their mobile or smart phone to see shows like MTV’s The Hills, The Comedy Network’s South Park, or top stories and highlights from CTV News, TSN and BNN. Content will be updated on a regular basis, and will be available on demand in easy-to-stream clip format, the press release said.
“Two thirds of Canadian households have…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA and TORONTO – For a guy whose new company is about to jump into the competitive world of mobile communications – but only after it has been scrutinized in a very public review by the CRTC – Globalive Holdings chair and CEO Anthony Lacavera seems pretty relaxed.
Calling the upcoming review of Globalive’s ownership and control “fairly standard procedure”, Lacavera told Cartt.ca that his only moment of concern came when he read that the CRTC could take up to 120 days after the close of the hearing in September to render a decision, which could have pushed back his launch…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC will review the structure service rates charged by some of Canada’s biggest telephone companies.
Telus sent an application to the Commission last October asking for it review the rates, terms, and conditions of the support structure service tariffs of the large incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs).
The ILECs would like to increase the rates they can charge, currently $9.60 per year, to rent their poles to other customers such as cable companies. Telus’ application noted that the Ontario Energy Board had approved a hydro pole rate of $22.35 per year.
Parties other than those identified in Continue Reading
