OTTAWA – Canada’s telecommunications companies have launched an agency to hear complaints from consumers that can’t be resolved by the telcos or the CRTC.
The office of the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) opened its doors in Ottawa on Monday. It was created in response to a request from Industry Minister Maxime Bernier that telephone service providers work together to create an independent, industry-funded agency to handle complaints that fall outside the CRTC’s jurisdiction and that consumers and small businesses have been unable to resolve directly with their service provider. The request was tied with the federal…
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MONTREAL – Telus has brought its faster wireless speeds to Quebec, including more than a dozen cities such as Granby, Laval, Mont-Tremblant, Quebec City, Rimouski, Saguenay and Sherbrooke.
Building upon the EVDO network launched in late 2005, Telus has upgraded to EVDO Rev A service in the province, making it even faster for clients to "access data at broadband-like speeds while on-the-go," says the press release.
The speed improvement is part of Telus’ more than $100 million investment in delivering its clients access to EVDO.
The EVDO Rev A upgrade enables clients to experience upload speeds that are seven…
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WE’RE AN ODD BUNCH, we Canadians.
We shop at Wal-Mart, Sears, Home Depot, the Gap, and Best Buy. We dine at McDonalds, Starbucks, Boston Pizza, Outback and Subway. We drink Budweiser, Heineken, Miller and Corona. Foreign (mostly American) brands, all.
We also shop or eat at Canadian Tire, Second Cup, Rona, Sport Chek, Loblaws, Shoppers Drug Mart, Mountain Equipment Co-op, Sobey’s, Roots, Swiss Chalet, Kelsey’s, Aldo and Harry Rosen. Canadian brands, all.
Then again, we also fork over our dough to the likes of The Bay/Zellers, Holt Renfrew, Tim Horton’s, Future Shop, Molson’s, Club Monaco and La Senza. This…
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CALGARY and VANCOUVER – Telus has increased the speed of its EVDO (Evolution Data Optimized) wireless network throughout more than 50 cities in Alberta and British Columbia, including Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, Lethbridge, Grande Prairie, Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna and Whistler.
Building on its EVDO network launched in late 2005, Telus has upgraded to the next generation EVDO Rev A service in the provinces, which provides faster speeds for clients needing connectivity on the go.
The speed improvement is part of Telus’ more than $100 million investment in delivering its clients access to EVDO.
"In today’s fast-paced information society, Canadians…
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OTTAWA – This morning in the nation’s capital. the Canadian Telecommunications Employees’ Association will be demonstrating against Bell Canada’s "decision of cutting jobs and reducing the work hours of its Canadian employees in favour of overseas outsourcing companies," says the union’s press release.
It’s the second such protest over outsourcing in a week faced by Canadian telcos.
"Bell Canada and like minded companies continue to show disregard for their employees and the communities within which they operate by sending good jobs overseas to the lowest bidder", said Brenda Knight, president of the CTEA in the press release. "We want…
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VANCOUVER – The Telecommunications Workers Union held a press conference in Vancouver today decrying Telus’ moves to outsource jobs overseas.
Saying it’s "alarmed at the ongoing loss of hundreds of Canadian jobs to the Philippines and other overseas locations," the union also tried to raise the anxiety level of Telus customers by adding it has "grave concerns about customer privacy issues based on the fact that workers outside Canadian jurisdiction are accessing customer records.
On June 18, Telus shipped forty more Canadian jobs to Manila, says the union. "By year’s end, 200 Filipino workers will be fielding calls from…
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MONTREAL – At about 6 a.m. this morning (Saturday), Bell Canada Enterprises entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by a private investor group led by Teachers Private Capital, the private investment arm of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and two U.S. private equity firms, Providence Equity Partners Inc. and Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC.
The all-cash transaction is valued at $51.7 billion (US$48.5 billion), including $16.9 billion (US$15.9 billion) of debt, preferred equity and minority interests. The BCE board of directors unanimously recommends that shareholders vote to accept the offer.
The equity ownership of BCE would be as…
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MONTREAL – While the financial press churns out many stories on the Bell Canada auction, some saying there are three bids valuing the company at $41 or $42 a share, in cash and others saying there are higher bids that but not all-cash, Bell Canada Enterprises has been tight-lipped.
Some of the reports said a decision on the winning bidder for the company will be announced today and some even say that Telus might come back to the table.
Canada’s largest telco has been for sale for a while and a number of entities have expressed interest.
"(T)he Board of Directors…
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FAIR IS FAIR, RIGHT? On Tuesday, Cartt.ca presented one side of the advanced wireless auction debate through an interview with Videotron CEO Robert Dépatie.
On Wednesday, Rogers Wireless president Rob Bruce (pictured below) sat down – along with RCI vice-president, regulatory, Ken Englehart – with Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien to swing back, so to speak, and talk about RCI’s reply comments to Industry Canada on the potential for new rules on this auction and what they hope will happen.
What follows is an edited transcript.
Greg O’Brien: Well, let’s start with today’s filing. What does it say…
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THE ARGUMENTS FILED yesterday with Industry Canada on each side of the advanced wireless spectrum auction debate haven’t changed in a month, but circumstances have.
Reply comments on the spectrum auction framework were due into the ministry yesterday. As most will recall, the established players want an unfettered auction for new spectrum that will enable all sorts of new applications and services beyond just voice while potential newcomers want it good and fettered. The fight is still the same.
The three incumbents, Bell Canada, Rogers Communications and Telus, all argue the same thing as they did 36 days…
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