BANFF and TORONTO – Watch for coverage of the Banff World Television Festival 2006 in Banff, Alberta and The Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto next week as Cartt.ca provides in-person coverage from both important events.
In Banff, Cartt.ca will plug into the television industry for a look at global content developments. We will attend the lauded after-sessions, follow key announcements and trends; and interview “the personalities” within the industry.
This year’s Banff World Television Festival, June 11-14, 2006 is being held at the Fairmount Banff Springs in Banff, Alberta. It opens with a day-long session led by Kit Readman…
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OTTAWA – Former CCTA president Michael Hennessy started his new life at Telus this week.
As vice-president broadband and video policy he’s the western telco’s "content guy" Hennessy told Cartt.ca. He will be based in Telus’ Ottawa office working under another former Canadian Cable Television Association president, Telus EVP corporate affairs, Janet Yale,
"I just love this broadband and convergence stuff," added Hennessy, who has been working in the telecom space for the since the early 1980s when he was with the CRTC.
Despite the fact Hennessy has "switched teams" – as many will no doubt say – he…
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TORONTO – Name display is a neat technology that has been available to wireline telephony customers for years and as of today, is now available to Rogers Wireless customers.
A first in North America, says the company, the new wireless service will allow customers of both Rogers Wireless and Fido to see the name of the person calling, even if the person is not in their mobile address book. "Name display is one of the most popular services available on landline phones and Rogers Wireless is proud to be the first wireless company to offer it in North America,"…
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OTTAWA – With re-comments re-due today on the CRTC’s reconsideration of its 2005 decision on voice over IP telephony regulation, three of the four largest Canadian MSOs came down on the side of the Commission in a joint submission filed this afternoon.
Last month, the Federal Cabinet told the CRTC it had to re-think the decision it made on VOIP telephony and have a decision – again – within 120 days of the May 7th announcement. The cabinet edict was in response to appeals filed by all but one of Canada’s incumbent telephone companies.
Cogeco Cable, Quebecor Media’s…
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TORONTO – The most influential leaders of the Canadian and international communications industry will gather in Toronto from June 12-14 at The 2006 Canadian Telecom Summit.
The event will present a complete picture of current and expected trends and developments in the market with keynoters such as BCE CEO Michael Sabia, Telus CEO Darren Entwistle, Videotron CEO Robert Depatie, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier and CRTC chair Charles Dalfen, not to mention a large slate of U.S. and international speakers.
The depth and breadth of topics covered and issues debated will appeal to any and all who work in the…
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MONTREAL – Telus will expand its digital wireless network coverage to additional communities across Quebec, the company announced today.
By the fall of 2006, Telus’ national 1X digital wireless network is expected to cover locations in the Mauricie, Chaudière-Appalaches, Gaspé Peninsula, and Lower Saint-Lawrence regions. The company’s CDMA network presently reaches more than 90% of the Canadian population.
Telus will spend $10 million on the Quebec upgrade.
The digital network will improve existing coverage and upgrade service quality to meet the needs of businesses and consumers in the regions, says the company.
Telus began work on its digital network…
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VANCOUVER – Tens of thousands of Telus customers in British Columbia and Alberta lost their voice mail access this week, say reports.
On Tuesday afternoon this week, says cbc.ca, about a quarter of Telus customers were without access to voice mail for six hours. Callers could leave messages, but they couldn’t be retrieved, nor would the recipient know a message is there.
According to the cbc.ca story, the system went down again Wednesday morning, affecting 250,000 customers.
Telus blamed the problem on faulty software and said that no messages were lost.
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PARIS – Alcatel and Microsoft Corp. announced this week they will use server systems technology from both HP and IBM to deliver solutions for carrier-class triple play/Internet protocol television (IPTV) deployments.
This announcement, combined with the existing OEM agreements between Alcatel the two server companies, solidifies IBM and HP as key members of the joint Alcatel-Microsoft IPTV ecosystem. As a result, Alcatel and Microsoft will work together with HP and IBM to deliver these advanced systems to carriers deploying triple play service offerings.
In Canada, Telus and Bell Canada, as well as Aliant, are either rolling out – or…
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KELOWNA – It’s hot here in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. And we don’t just mean the weather.
While it was sunny and 32-degrees Celsius Wednesday in this town of 105,000, inside the Coast Capri Hotel was a hot new technical trade show. More than 170 attendees enjoyed the air conditioning – not to mention the 38 vendor tables and six hours of training at the CommTech Trade Show and Training Seminars.
Six more hours of training and vendor tables are on tap for Thursday, too. (Tune in to cartt.ca for seminar coverage later this week.)
This was…
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KELOWNA – A dozen informative seminars dotted the schedule of the CommTech trade show, held over two days here at the Coast Capri Hotel.
Below are notes from two of the 12 training seminars, which talked about subjects such as reducing locate costs, network synchronization, fusion splicing techniques, air-blown fibre, safety, Ethernet troubleshooting, IPTV testing, WiFi, OTDR testing and third party VOIP providers.
This morning, delegates were treated to an hour with Telus regulatory vice-president Willie Grieve, who expounded on where he believes the regulatory system is headed (and maybe should be headed).
He pointed to the crowd of…
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