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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TORONTO – Telus will be the telecom services provider for the Department of National Defense, signing a $213 million five-year deal with the Department of Public Works and Government Services.
“Telus is honoured to partner with the Department of National Defence to support the innovative delivery of best-in-class secure communications with leading Internet Protocol technology,” said Darren Entwistle, Telus president and CEO, in the press release.
“This contract in support of Canada’s Department of National Defence is another step forward in the continued advancement of Telus’ national growth strategy that was initiated in 2000.”
Telus will provide managed telecommunications…
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VANCOUVER – Telus has decided not to try and buy Bell Canada after all right now – and it will re-revise its official opinion on the advanced wireless spectrum auction.
After less than a week of angst and speculation and polls and Telus CEO Darren Entwistle attempting to sell such a merger to the country as a "Canadian strategy" the company announced this morning that it has elected not to submit an offer to acquire BCE by the 9 a.m. deadline this morning.
"The inadequacies of BCE’s bid process did not make it possible for Telus to…
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THOSE IN FAVOUR OF an advance wireless spectrum auction that imposes limits on the big incumbent wireless operators were given a huge gift last week when word leaked out that Telus would make a bid to buy Bell Canada.
After weeks of pounding away at a message that said any auction which placed spectrum caps or set aside some spectrum for newcomers was an unconscionable subsidy for large corporations that Canadians would ultimately pay for, Telus dramatically changed tactics once the news broke about its involvement with Bell.
Suddenly Telus CEO Darren Entwistle and his senior executives said they…
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MONTREAL – With bids due this week, perhaps this morning, and rumors swirling all around, here’s where the perplexing BCE bid brouhaha stands right now.
* According to a report in the Globe and Mail, both Onex Corp. and the Caisse de depot et placement due Quebec have decided not to take part in the bid for BCE with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and U.S. private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts Co., potentially scuttling that bid.
* The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan told Reuters that it will definitely make a bid. Teachers is currently Bell’s…
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VANCOUVER – Telus has decided not to try and buy Bell Canada after all.
After less than a week of angst and speculation and polls and Telus CEO Darren Entwistle attempting to sell such a merger to the country as a "Canadian strategy" the company announced this morning that it has elected not to submit an offer to acquire BCE.
"The inadequacies of BCE’s bid process did not make it possible for Telus to submit an offer," says a company press release this morning.
No word on whether or not Telus will now revert back to its…
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