VANCOUVER – Wireless high speed roaming to more than 230 U.S. cities is now available to Telus mobile customers.
The announcement enables clients to access high-speed mobile Internet (and their e-mails or multimedia content) in more U.S. cities than offered by any other Canadian wireless carrier, says a press release.
With typical download speeds of approximately 400 to 700 kilobits per second, and maximum possible speeds of more than two megabits per second, Telus Wireless High Speed service offers clients the speed they need for mobile computing and SPARK mobile entertainment applications like mobile TV and radio, or Telus…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER – A recent lawsuit launched by Bell Mobility over what it said were false claims made by competitor Telus in its advertising was dismissed by a Vancouver judge this week, according to a Canadian Press report.
As reported by Cartt.ca, Bell wanted the court to stop the printing and airing of Telus’ flexible share plans campaign, which said the service was "only from Telus." Bell said it was every bit as flexible and that the ads were damaging to its sales.
According to the CP report, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Kelleher decided Bell did not have…
Continue Reading
COMPETITION HAS COME to Saskatchewan. The little-big (population-area) province has had competition on the terrestrial video side since 2002 but only recently has a serious voice option come available.
It was quite a lag between the cable companies in the province losing 50,000 video customers and their recent launch of voice over IP. With the largest MSOs in the province: Shaw (Saskatoon, Prince Albert) and Access (Regina and area) now – or about to be – adding VOIP, competition is officially hot.
So how is the provincially-owned telco faring, with still 98% of the local phone lines? President…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – If the CCTA was still around, it wouldn’t have been able to find consensus among its members for the CRTC’s TV Policy Review either.
While the schisms among the Canadian Association of Broadcasters members meant that association was unable to come up with a submission containing any consensus among its members, some of whom want large carriage fees for broadcasters, some who want small ones and some who oppose them altogether, fractures of opinion exist in the distributor world, too.
Two of the former Canadian Cable Television Association‘s largest members faced the Commission yesterday with diametrically…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – As the so-called softer side of the industry comes to the fore over the next few, final days of the CRTC TV Policy Review hearing, groups like producers, actors, documentary makers and unions are just hoping the Commission pays more attention to them than the consumer media.
Reporters had elbows up in a crowd most of the week as the likes of CTV, Rogers, Shaw, Bell and Global Television faced the Commission – and then the microphones and notebooks right after.
No such problem Thursday afternoon and Friday.
At one point Friday morning we counted 13 people…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The idea that Canada’s signal distributors should pay conventional broadcasters fees to carry their signals is “trash” according to Rogers Communications CEO Ted Rogers.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday following his company’s appearance before the CRTC on day three of its over-the-air TV review hearings, Rogers countered the many broadcaster arguments in favour of such charges, known as fee-for-carriage (FFC), made over the hearing’s first two days. He said broadcasters should look to new technologies – not new regulations – for new revenues. “These guys should get back to high def and keep up with the new stuff.”…
Continue Reading
MASSET, B.C. – GwaiiTel and its Haida Gwaii Community Network launched operations today, launching high speed Internet in the remote communities of the Queen Charlotte Islands.
In collaboration with local Internet service providers, the network brings high-speed Internet service to about 5,000 people living in the Islands’ seven largest communities, said the press release.
However, the local cable operator, Masset-Haida TV, also says it already offers high speed Internet in the area and has been for a while.
The Gwaii Trust Society formed GwaiiTel earlier this year, partnering with the Province of British Columbia and Telus to connect Haida…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER – While Telus has been making waves in Bell Canada’s Ontario region, today Bell Canada announced it will help deliver "the world’s most technologically advanced meeting facility" in Vancouver.
In partnership with the Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Project (VCCEP), Bell will deliver a fully outsourced information and communication technology (ICT) solution to support the Centre’s 2008 expansion, its 2010 Winter Games needs and more.
"Our business partnership with the Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Project marks a significant milestone in Bell’s growth plan for Western Canada," said Charles Brown, president, Bell Western Region, in a release. "We understand…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER – As expected, Telus said that it will not proceed with its conversion to an income trust.
The company made the announcement after the close of trading on Friday saying, "in light of the federal Minister of Finance’s announcement on October 31, 2006 of a new tax plan that would increase the level of taxation on income trusts, Telus has re-evaluated the company’s proposal announced on September 11, 2006 to reorganize in its entirety into an income trust," says the press release.
"Telus management and board of directors believe that it is no longer in the best…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – In a decision that will may have more immediate impact on the telecom industry than last week’s voice over IP deregulation announcement by the Minister of Industry, the CRTC today approved local telephone rate ranges for incumbent telcos.
What is means is that ILECs (Bell Canada, Telus, SaskTel, MTS, Bell Aliant and the like) will now be able to submit to the Commission – confidentially – a low and high range of rates for certain services and as long as their pricing stays within that range, will not have to file for tariff approvals prior to altering…
Continue Reading