By Ahmad Hathout
The commission should not fear threats of lower investment in incumbent networks when it comes to set wholesale internet rates, the benefits of which will allow independent service providers to build their own networks, the CRTC heard on the final day of its wholesale internet hearing.
The CRTC has been wrangling during the week-long hearing over the question of what the sweet spot is for a rate on which independent internet service providers can lease capacity from the incumbents’ networks. Adam Scott, the CRTC’s vice chair of telecommunications, referred to the risk of the commission falling on either…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telus’s proposal to ride on its competitors’ internet networks outside of its home territory would be destructive to facilities-based competition and would create an existential crisis for regional wholesalers, two prominent cable companies told the CRTC on Thursday.
Representatives from Telus said Wednesday that the Vancouver-based telecom should be able to wholesale internet capacity from competitor networks to drive diversity of choice and competition, or the regime would be “useless.” The telco also pushed back against claims that it is a national incumbent, instead saying that its preferred status would be a regional player that’s a new…
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Telus and Samsung announced Thursday they will build the first commercial 5G virtualized and open radio access network (RAN) in Canada, and they are expanding their existing collaboration from greenfield to brownfield deployments.
Telus selected Samsung as one of its 5G network vendors in June 2020. Their approach to infrastructure deployment “embodies the essence of collaboration, bringing together manufacturers and providers to create a modular, state-of-the-art wireless network,” a Telus press release says.
“It is also one of the first truly virtualized Open RAN deployments within a complex, brownfield network environment,” the…
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Bell says market has ‘never been more competitive’
By Ahmad Hathout
Telus said Wednesday that it should be allowed to use the wholesale internet regime outside of its operating territory, but noted that an unfettered framework without limits will create a disincentive to invest in networks.
Telus took issue Wednesday with being labelled a national “incumbent” because it mainly operates in the west and has few facilities east of its home court, including some in Quebec.
The telco argued that it be given access to the wholesale regime in areas outside of its operating territory because that would boost competition. In contrast, it…
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Telus flanker brand Koodo announced Wednesday its new Happy Stack, which includes mobility, home internet and Telus’s new Stream+ streaming bundle in one package starting at $99 per month.
“For the first time ever, new and existing Koodo customers in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec can stack all three services at an unbeatable value, with monthly savings of up to 23 per cent,” reads a Koodo press release, which explained Koodo Internet is now available to more than seven million homes across those three provinces after a successful pilot program in the…
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In late January, the CRTC shot a letter to Telus’s vice-president of telecom policy and chief regulatory legal counsel, Stephen Schmidt, requesting detailed information about the Vancouver-based telecom provider’s proposed March 8 disconnection of home telephone service in an area of Tranquille Valley near Kamloops, B.C.
Having become aware of Telus’s intention to disconnect the service, CRTC staff “is concerned that TELUS’ plans could jeopardize access to telephone services in the Tranquille Valley, and perhaps elsewhere,” the letter said.
“Without reliable alternatives, Canadians in this area would lack access to public safety services…
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The CRTC last week said in a letter to several Canadian wireless ISPs (WISPs) that the commission’s joint study with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) tracking fixed wireless internet performance must be completed by the end of March and no extensions are possible.
The commission has previously asked the WISPs to participate in the study — the third phase of its Measuring Broadband Canada (MBC) project — which aims to better understand how Canadians subscribing to fixed wireless internet services with the federal objective speeds of 50 Mbps download and…
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Telus said last week the copper-to-PureFibre transition of its network is driving significant sustainability benefits and contributing to Canada’s net-zero targets, having already resulted in a cumulative reduction of more than 7,400 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions since 2018, the Vancouver-based telecom claims.
“This is attributed to the decommissioning of thousands of copper devices and our copper retirement program, where we have recycled or repurposed more than 3,600 tonnes of copper, offsetting the need to mine new copper sources,” a Telus press release says.
“Copper plays a vital role in Canada’s electrification strategy,…
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The CRTC last week informed TerreStar via letter that the commission was denying the Montreal-based mobile satellite and cell services provider’s request for a stay of its June 2023 decision not to allow the company to reduce its regulatory fee obligations by deducting its spectrum leasing revenues.
TerreStar has argued the revenues generated from 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 (NCF), which is used to fund broadband infrastructure in Canada.
TerreStar filed a Continue Reading
Bell cutting investments does not constitute irreparable harm, court said
By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal will hear Bell’s arguments challenging a decision by the CRTC to allow competitors to ride on its last mile fibre network, but stopped short of immediately suspending that decision until it deliberates on the matter because it is not convinced that the telco will suffer irreparable harm if a stay is not granted.
The CRTC ordered in November that Bell and Telus provide on a temporary basis access within six months to their last mile fibre facilities in Ontario and Quebec on an aggregated…
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