EVEN FOR A PROPONENT of spectrum set-asides, mandated roaming and mandated tower sharing, the rules surrounding the 2008 advanced wireless spectrum auction, which were released Wednesday afternoon in Toronto by Industry Minister Jim Prentice, aren’t quite a slam dunk.
MTS Allstream’s regulatory chief Chris Peirce was pleased Industry Canada had accepted his, and others’, argument that a leg up was required for newcomers to enter the space and increase wireless competition in Canada, but was non-committal about putting the rules into practice. “At a policy level, the government and the ministry have clearly gotten it. They understand that…
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OTTAWA – TELUS said Wednesday it’s “deeply disappointed” with the government’s rules that were announced for the upcoming Advanced Wireless Spectrum (AWS) auction.
“It (the decision on the rules) is inconsistent with this government’s stated policy of relying on market forces to deliver benefits to Canadian consumers. It also rewards companies that have both the resources and the motivation to bid openly for new available spectrum,” said Janet Yale, executive vice-president, TELUS Corporate Affairs, in a statement. “As a consequence, Canadian taxpayers will receive less than full market value for the new spectrum.”
She added, “TELUS advocated a policy that…
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TORONTO – Canada’s big three wireless incumbents will be wearing handcuffs when the advanced wireless spectrum auction begins on May 27, 2008.
Industry Minister Jim Prentice was in Toronto this afternoon to announce the rules of engagement when the federal government auctions off the 105 MHz worth of spectrum. The auction itself will take two to three weeks.
Of that spectrum, 40 MHz will be set aside for new wireless entrants to bid on alone. The remaining 65 MHz will be open to everyone. “The spectrum being set aside amounts to less than 14% of the total mobile spectrum…
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CALGARY — The weekend highlights for the 37th Annual Juno Awards to be held in Calgary that culminate with The JUNO Awards broadcast on Sunday, April 6 on CTV have been announced.
The April 4-6, 2008 events, include: Juno Awards Welcome Reception (at the Imperial Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency on April 4), Juno Cup Celebrity Hockey Game (on April 4 at The Stampede Corral), JunoFest (held in music clubs around the city of Calgary and featuring performers from any local and national Canadian acts, including a number of JUNO nominees, on April 4 and April 5), Juno Fan…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC announced yesterday that it has junked its idea to allow limited access to confidential information between parties in a dispute.
As first reported by Cartt.ca, the Commission said about a month ago it was “of the view that there may be instances where, in order for a party to be able to participate meaningfully in a proceeding, it must receive some access to confidential information. In order to allow for meaningful participation while respecting the confidential nature of certain information, the Commission proposes to grant confidential access under certain conditions in broadcasting and telecom…
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OTTAWA – Wireless phone customers in Canada numbered 19.3 million at the end of the third quarter of 2007, ended September 30, says the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association.
In the third quarter of the year, wireless service providers (Bell Mobility, Telus, Rogers Wireless, Virgin Mobile, MTS, SaskTel, Videotron, etc.) reported the addition of approximately 523,000 new subscribers, “which marks the first time that net new customer additions exceeded a half-million subscribers outside of a fourth quarter,” noted the association.
What that means is that now Canada’s national wireless penetration rate has surpassed the 60% benchmark.
And, recent CWTA research…
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TORONTO – Pierre Karl Péladeau will be a featured player in less than two weeks at nextMEDIA, where he is scheduled to discuss content strategy and the launch of the new Canoe.TV in a presentation at the two-day conference.
“Canoe.ca has quickly become a leader in video content production and distribution,” said Mark Greenspan, director of digital media, Achilles Media Ltd., the show’s organizer.
Earlier this year, Canoe.ca launched a new video section, which gives users access to content from Sun Media newspapers, along with content from CP-AP, WatchMojo, Jokeroo.com, Source Media, Just for Laughs, Moment Factory, IBC (Reuters,…
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MONTREAL – Advanced wireless spectrum auction rules that favour new entrants would certainly drop cellular prices in the short term – but such rules may also damage Canadian consumers in the long run, says a new paper published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy in Montreal.
The rules for the 2008 auction are expected to be released by Industry Canada before Christmas, with the auction to happen early in the new year.
The paper’s authors, University of Toronto economics professor Frank Mathewson, and associate principal at CRA International, Andrew Tepperman, say that any company wanting to…
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TORONTO – The final day of nextMEDIA – Monetizing Digital Media should be a very interesting one.
The two-day gathering will wrap up with a town hall meeting examining a broad range of issues related to the changing face of the Canadian and global media industry and with the group planned, some verbal fireworks are almost assured.
New media consultant Mark Kuznicki of Remarkk! Consulting moderates the session, which includes a discussion between industry panelists and conference delegates. The town hall contributes to Phase Two of the CRTC’s New Media Project Initiative, a study that will help the CRTC…
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TORONTO – Wireless service providers and phone manufacturers in Canada take note. Your customers are not happy.
The J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Canadian Wireless Customer Satisfaction Study released Wednesday indicates customer satisfaction has decreased considerably since 2006.
Now in its third year, the study examines perceptions of wireless customers with their service, the phone itself and their retail experience.
Overall customer satisfaction with contract service this year declined by 18 points, from an average of 675 on a 1,000-point scale in 2006 to 657 in 2007.
In the prepaid service segment, overall customer satisfaction averaged 652, down from…
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