By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The Federal Court has again denied movie studio Voltage Pictures its request for the court to allow it to group a bunch of alleged copyright infringers to sue because its litigation plan was contrary to the Copyright Act.
Voltage Pictures had to show the court how it was to deal with notifying the hundreds of anonymous alleged downloaders and sharers of its movies about its plan to sue them in a rare reverse class action lawsuit, a process that groups a basket of defendants for a mass lawsuit.
But the studio’s proposal to use the notice-and-notice system…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The Competition Bureau said in a submission to the CRTC studying the wholesale internet framework Thursday that mandating last mile fibre could have short-term price benefits but may also negatively impact investments in fibre builds.
The CRTC is seeking comments on a preliminary view it holds that third parties should have mandated access to the incumbent’s last mile fibre under the current aggregated regime, which packages the leasing of the traffic transport (middle) mile and the last mile. Under the current aggregated regime, third parties don’t have commission backing for access to the fibre going straight…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC is being asked to raise the financial threshold for registering online services with the commission and ensure transactional video services are made to contribute to the system when it implements the new Online Streaming Act.
The commission asked the public to submit comments by last week into two out of three consultations it is holding about the implementation of the new Broadcasting Act framework, including who should register with the CRTC for the purposes of collecting data and possibility requiring to contribute to the Canadian content system.
But some of the major broadcasting players are…
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MONTREAL – Telus announced Wednesday that is has signed an agreement to develop a 5G laboratory in Montreal to provide an incubator for technologies utilizing the next-generation mobile wireless networks.
The Vancouver-based telecom partnered with the school Ecole de Technologie Superieure, which will be the home of the lab, and with iBwave, a software developer that deploys indoor wireless networks.
The project will collect data on a building’s characteristics into a single 3D digital representation to “help improve collaboration between the various stakeholders, reduce errors and facilitate decision-making,” a press release said.
The idea is to optimize network performance in institutions, such…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC on Thursday rejected an application by TerreStar to reduce its regulatory fee obligations by deducting its spectrum leasing revenues.
The Montreal-based mobile satellite and cell services provider filed an application in November asking the CRTC to make a determination that the sale or leasing of spectrum did not qualify as a telecommunications-related expense, which would have reduced its obligation to the National Contribution Fund. The NCF goes to fund broadband infrastructure in the country.
In March 2022, TerreStar filed its annual revenue report and deducted its spectrum leasing revenues. The CRTC said it couldn’t do that. So,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Telus is appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada a decision by a lower court that denied its application asking it to find the CRTC has jurisdiction over wireless access to municipal infrastructure.
In arguments filed to the high court Monday, Telus said the Federal Court of Appeal’s fixation with the dictionary definition of “transmission line” under section 43 of the Telecommunications Act to include only hard wires made it unappreciative of the fact that those wireless signals have to route back to hard lines that go back to the provider’s network.
“By focusing on the point…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The large telecommunications companies are telling the CRTC that it’s a bad idea to temporarily mandate access to last mile fibre under the current regime because there isn’t evidence of a need for it, it doesn’t take into consideration areas that still don’t have completed fibre infrastructure, and the process will preempt the review of the wholesale internet framework.
The CRTC said in March it is of the preliminary view that fibre-to-the-premises access under the aggregated regime should be mandated, and launched an expedited proceeding for interim access until it completes its review of the…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is requesting information surrounding the status of negotiations for access to the incumbents’ wireless networks by regional service providers.
In a letter dated June 1, the CRTC said it wants Rogers, Bell, Telus, and SaskTel and the regional players to provide it with status updates on June 8, July 7, and August 7 about access to the incumbent networks by mobile virtual network operators run by the regional providers.
It is requesting that the incumbents provide a list of agreements that are currently in place, a list of regional providers that have made requests to begin negotiations…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is requesting specific information from mobile wireless service providers related to its investigation into international roaming rates, including specific agreements between Canadian and international providers.
A letter dated Thursday requests of over two dozen providers, including the big three, their active or most-recently expired roaming agreements, including number of subscribers; the rates in place, including pay-per-use call minutes, data, texts, daily and multi-day plans; how rates are set, including methodology and costing analysis; the rationale for past increases in rates; and payments made to roam on foreign networks between 2018 and 2022 and revenues generated from…
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By Ahmad Hathout
VICTORIA – The broadband ministry under the British Columbia government has been seeking ways to speed up broadband deployments in the province, and a recent briefing note outlines some ways it suggested to do so ahead of its utilization of federal funding.
In the Citizens’ Services briefing note from January, obtained via a freedom of information legislation, the ministry suggested that it could confidentially share with BC Hydro the poles that are expected to be impacted by broadband projects in areas with the 115,000 underserved households in the province.
“BC Hydro can take projective steps to determine the state…
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