THAT SOUND YOU HEARD from Ottawa late Wednesday afternoon was that of Industry Minister Maxime Bernier jangling his keys to the shackles Canada’s incumbent telephone companies have said repeatedly they are burdened with.
The regulations holding back Bell Canada, Telus, Bell Aliant, MTS, SaskTel and the other smaller ILECs are on their way out far sooner than the CRTC perhaps envisioned when it made public its local forbearance decision a year ago tomorrow.
In that decision, the Commission set out a number of conditions that had to be met before any traditional incumbent telco could be granted deregulation. Until…
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TORONTO – Captain Kirk warped into Toronto today to help Rogers Wireless launch wireless video calling, a new service that will turn customers’ mobile handsets into a webcam for face-to-face calling.
Customers will be able to talk and watch their friends, family and business associates in real time and so far, Rogers is the first and only wireless carrier in North America to offer video calling. It’s a new part of the Rogers Vision suite of services that "allows customers on the go to enjoy the kind of hi-speed Internet and multimedia experience previously only possible on a PC,"…
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NEW YORK – During a recent trip to New York City, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier told reporters there the Conservative government is considering allowing foreign companies buy incumbent telcos or build their own networks in Canada, according to a Bloomberg news report.
"It’s an option on the table,” Bernier told Bloomberg News on Friday. "I just want to be sure to know the impact of that if we’re opening the foreign investment in telecom,” he said in the story.
Current Canadian law limits foreign ownership in Canuck telcos like Bell Canada or Telus to a maximum of 46%.
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OTTAWA – Despite the CRTC’s announcement today that it has deregulated the local telephony market in Fort McMurray, Alberta – where resident have been among the keenest adopters of cable telephony – Canada’s two largest incumbent telcos remain unhappy.
Shaw Cable boasts a high speed Internet penetration rate in the city of over 80% of its basic cable customers there. Convincing those customers to add cheaper VOIP phone service has been easy so far and incumbent Telus has admitted it’s lost well over 25% market share in the community when it applied for forbearance last fall.
Today, the Commission…
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TORONTO – As the new generation of multimedia consumers demands increasingly faster and broader access to interactive content, the creators and distributors of that content are struggling to keep up.
At the same time, marketers are wrestling with how to capitalize on branding opportunities presented by the myriad content delivery channels now available to consumers.
“The consumer has taken control,” said Brent Lowe-Bernie, president of comScore Media Metrix Canada, speaking at last week’s Interactive Content Exchange 2007 (ICE 07) conference held in Toronto.
“Consumers are totally platform agnostic – they don’t care, they will consume the content available,” Lowe-Bernie…
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MISSISSAUGA, ON – Canada’s digital specialty channel BITE Television has been nominated for an international Emmy in the Interactive Channel category.
BITE Television’s content consists of user-generated, acquired and in-house short-form productions. The three- to five-minute edgy shows target the 18 to 34-year-old male demographic. Last week, the channel finalized an agreement to provide Amp’d Mobile with short-form content.
“While we are still a very young company, it’s great to be internationally recognized,” said company president and CEO Jeffrey Elliott.
Mississauga-based BITE Television, which launched in April 2005, is available on channel 322 on Rogers Cable, channel 123 on…
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VANCOUVER – Telus Corp. will plant a tree for every wireless customer who signs up for online billing and cancels their paper bill, and for anyone who comes into a Telus store or authorized dealer before May 30 with the company’s weekend newspaper insert.
Telus customers can sign up for online billing by logging on to mytelusmobility.com, and can keep track of the trees being planted at telusmobility.com/tree.
The campaign is being carried out in conjunction with the non-profit charitable organization Tree Canada, which will ensure native and non-invasive tree species are planted.
“Telus is challenging our individual customers…
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VANCOUVER – Vancouver-based Broadbandtv (BBTV) has inked a deal to provide on-demand television and movie content to Telus Corp for its IPTV service, Telus TV, and its other distribution services, including cell phones.
Shows to be provided include The Hollywood Reporter, which covers the latest in entertainment news.
“Broadbandtv’s proven ability to deliver compelling content on demand is a powerful partner to Telus TV’s continuing growth,” said Telus VP of content Fred Di Blasio. “Their service will bring our customers popular programming on-demand, so they can choose when to watch it rather than having to tune into their program…
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TORONTO – In conjunction with Telus Corp., Amp’d Mobile, the youth-targeted mobile entertainment provider, launched in Canada this month.
The company offers a series of plans that provide voice and text, exclusive music tracks and videos, live entertainment, 3D games and mobile communities through its Amp’d Live 3G user interface.
Amp’d Mobile will handle marketing and content, along with providing optimized handsets capable of fast download speeds. Telus provides the distribution network, and will handle customer care and billing under the revenue-share agreement.
Amp’d Mobile Canada, the Canadian arm of U.S.-based Amp’d Mobile Inc., has also established an in-house…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has launched a public proceeding to set out rules regarding the installation of a network interconnection device (NID) when the incumbent local exchange carrier’s (ILEC) network is disconnected from the inside wire at the home of a residential customer who has elected to take a cable telephone service and no longer wishes to use any services provided on the ILEC’s network (Telecom Public Notice 2007-3).
The commission is asking for comment on whether a NID should be installed at the premises of a residential customer when no such device is present; should the cableco or…
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