OTTAWA – The CRTC has denied a request from Bell and Telus to replace the basic international telecommunications services (BITS) licensing regime with a registration system. Instead, the commission has decided to leave the current licensing regime as is, ruling it allows for more effective enforcement than a registration system.
In its year-long review of the BITS licensing regime the commission received submissions from Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Bell Canada, Saskatchewan Telecommunications, Télébec, MTS Allstream Inc., Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Communications.
The BITS licensing regime for telecommunications services providers (TSPs) was put in place a…
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VANCOUVER –Telus Corp reported a 5.5% increase in quarterly profits on the strength of wireless revenue and new mobile phone and Internet subscribers, but chief executive office Darren Entwistle told a conference call with analysts that the company needs to further reduce operating expenses.
"Despite the fact that since 2001 Telus’s ongoing investment in restructuring and workforce reduction totals $1 billion, I am less than satisfied with the revision of our restructuring expense target from $50 million to $30 million," said Entwistle.
Telus earned $267 million in the second quarter ended June 30. That was up 5.5 per cent from $253.1…
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OTTAWA – Industry Minister Jim Prentice says Bell Mobility and Telus have assured him that any customers mistakenly charged for text message spam can have the charges removed from their bills.
Prentice, in a news release, says he met with the CEOs of both companies to express his "serious concerns" with the fact the plans could charge for unsolicited, unwanted spam. He also said the government has “no intention of interfering with the day-to-day business decisions of private companies or with the choices available to consumers” but added that his officials will continue to “monitor market activity.”
"I would encourage consumers dissatisfied…
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MONTREAL – Bell Canada will use the Beijing Olympics to launch its new national brand tomorrow, aligning all of its products and services under the Bell name.
"The new Bell brand underlines that we are moving forward as a company and as a service provider, with new services, a new strategy and a new goal," said George Cope, president and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada, in a press release this morning. "It’s a straightforward and customer-focused brand that directly supports the Bell team’s goal: To be recognized by customers as Canada’s leading communications company."
The new Bell logo…
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IT’S NOT USUAL FOR a reporter to ignore a story on his beat, but it’s happening right now for me.
The issue is text message fees and the decision by Bell Canada and Telus to begin charging customers who aren’t on any sort of texting or data plan 15-cents for each of their incoming text messages.
I’ve been lax in my coverage of this story because I find the stupidity at all levels of this issue is breathtaking. Maddening. Press, consumers, government and the companies themselves; there is more than enough foolishness to go around.
When the story first…
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TORONTO – IT security breaches are costing publicly traded Canadian companies an average loss of more than $637,000 annually, says a new study released by Telus and the Rotman School of Management.
In government, the cost is $320,000 per organization, while the cost to private companies is $294,000 a year.
Similar studies in the U.S. show the cost of data security breaches more than doubling year over year, rising to an average of US$345,000 in 2007 from US$167,713 in 2006 for public companies. There is no similar benchmark data for Canada, but Rotman business economics professor Dr. Walid Hejazi…
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THIS WAS THE FIRST North American version of the IPTV World conference which is put on in a number of places around the globe throughout the year by London-based Informa Telecoms and Media.
A bit surprising since North America will be leading IPTV development for the foreseeable future. Prior shows have taken place all around the globe.
“IPTV is no longer just a theoretical solution of what telcos might do in the future, but a real see it now reality,” said Ian Tapp, SVP business development for Tandberg Television, who gave the opening keynote speech on Tuesday morning.
There…
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CHICAGO – Zouheir Mansourati’s task Wednesday morning was to show delegates to the IPTV World North America conference what Telus has learned so far, two years into its IPTV deployment.
The vice-president technology strategy for the Canadian telco noted first that choosing a “best-in-class” product for every piece of the IPTV pie is probably not the best idea.
“It’s far more important to have an overall system, that works together well,” he said. “You can’t have ‘best-of-class’ in every component if they don’t work together.”
Most important, though, of those components, is to choose the right set top box….
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OTTAWA – Canadian telecom’s movers and shakers will be celebrated at the 2008 Telecom Laureate Awards gala dinner and induction ceremonies, October 29, 2008 at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa/Gatineau.
This year, Canada’s Telecommunications Hall of Fame will induct contemporary entrepreneurs, innovators and leaders into the Hall of Fame, including: * Jim Balsillie (RIM) * Mike Lazaridis (RIM) * Carol Stephenson (Richard Ivey School of Business) * David Golden (Telesat Canada) * The late David Simmonds and his sons, Robert Simmonds, Gordon Simmonds and Donald Simmonds (Lenbrook Communications)
This year’s recipient of the Hall of Fames Special…
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VANCOUVER – Telus is encouraging the federal government to invest $1 billion of the $4.25 billion raised in the wireless spectrum auction to pursue its goal of making Canada the most connected country in the world. The auction says Telus has provided an unprecedented opportunity to bring broadband Internet services to thousands of rural communities.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make Canada the most connected nation in the world and advance the government’s own agenda of making ours an even more competitive economy," said Janet Yale, Telus executive vice-president of corporate affairs. "More than $4 billion has been…
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