TORONTO – Telus announced today it has purchased Assurent Secure Technologies for an undisclosed purchase price.
Assurent is a Toronto-based provider of information technology security services and products.
Assurent’s 55 employees will become a part of Telus Business Resiliency Services, a part of the Telus Business Solutions business unit. This acquisition is consistent with Telus’ approach to make "tuck-under" acquisitions which augment capabilities related to the strategic growth areas of data, wireless and IP, says today’s press release.
"Information security is an increasingly critical issue for all businesses," said Joe Natale, president, Telus Business Solutions. "Security threats continue to proliferate…
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TORONTO – Covering all segments of the Canadian telecommunications and IT industry, The Canadian Telecom Summit brings together the leaders of all industry sectors – service providers, manufacturers, applications providers, policy makers and regulators.
With two major pronouncements from different government bodies regarding the state of competitiveness of Canada’s telecommunications industry – the Telecom Policy Report and the CRTC’s local forbearance decision, which in some clauses appear to contradict each other – it will be very interesting to see how the new Minister of Industry, Maxime Bernier, juggles the interests of all industry players, consumers and the business sector.
He…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – A local market won’t be considered competitive until one-quarter of the households in it get their home phone from a newcomer, the CRTC said Thursday.
The 44,000-word decision made the newcomers like cable and third party VOIP providers very happy but angered the incumbent telcos, who erupted with anger and say they won’t stand for the decision.
“Aliant fully intends to appeal this decision,” said Heather Tulk, vice-president of residential markets at Aliant, the company whose application for deregulation launched the review.
There are three main aspects to the decision. 1) Competitors must gain 25% market…
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OTTAWA – Who needs to be tethered to a home phone anymore when the phone can be tethered to you wherever you are?
The proportion of Canadian households relying only on cell phones for their communications instead of land line phones has more than doubled in just over two years, according to new data from the Statistics Canada’s Residential Telephone Service Survey.
As of December 2005, just over 615,000 households, or 4.8% of the total, reported having only a cell phone, compared with just 1.9% in mid-2003. Households in the two westernmost provinces, British Columbia and Alberta, are leading…
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TORONTO – New Canadians are avid users of mobile phones and alternative long distance calling options — and spend more on wireless and home phone combined, according to a new study by Solutions Research Group, a Toronto-based market research firm.
Among the key findings of the wireless and telecom module of the Diversity in Canada study are:
• Major ethnic groups in Canada are somewhat more likely to have cellular phones (61% have one, vs. 59% average among 15+ population in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver). Highest penetration is among Chinese Canadians (74%).
• Rogers is the leading wireless company…
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VANCOUVER – Aimed squarely at B.C. and Alberta small business owners, Telus today launched Business One
Part of the company’s "Future Friendly Office," Telus Business One is a package of communication tools that "realize the full potential of Internet Protocol technology to make work easier, more productive and cost efficient for small business customers," says the release.
The package includes telecommunications and high speed Internet together with other tools like customized e-mail, desktop backup, web site hosting, virus protection and conference on demand at no extra cost.
www.telus.com/businessone
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TORONTO – By the end of 2006 Canadian cable companies will have 12% (1.57 million) of residential telephone subscribers in Canada and 27% by year-end 2009 (3.35 million), says a new report released today.
This is up from 6% at the end of ’05 (835,000), says the latest installment of The Convergence Consulting Group’s "Battle for the North American Couch Potato: Bundling, Internet, TV, Telephone."
While the inroads traditional cable companies are making in voice are strong, the report doesn’t have a similar forecast when it comes to the traditional ILEC’s push into video. Telcos will have 2% (220,000)…
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By Greg O’Brien
I REMEMBER WHEN THEN-CRTC broadcasting vice-chair Andrée Wylie told the 1999 CCTA convention in Vancouver that the Commission had no intention of trying to regulate the Internet.
Because of it’s very nature, it’s impossible to regulate the Internet itself (unless you’re China or some other repressive government that deploys some painful cyber-clamps and doesn’t mind tossing people in jail for reading the New York Times or somesuch online), which the CRTC recognized early on. Plus, 1999 was pre tech-bubble and the opportunities of the ‘net seemed endless. Why toss up regulations in front of such potential?
That Commission…
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TORONTO – If Canadians want their MTV, they’ll be getting it in spades starting this evening.
CTV is bringing the long-entrenched American brand back to the Great White North on six platforms, delivering MTV content “with a distinctly Canadian attitude.”
Calling it “the single-biggest multi-platform launch in the history of Canadian television,” CTV will flip on the MTV switch at 6 p.m. ET Tuesday in six ways.
First, it will change the talktv analog specialty service into MTV, featuring lifestyle, talk, and documentary programming, along with “distinct and interactive Canadian series.” It’s subscribed to by some 6 million Canadian…
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VANCOUVER – Saying it’s detected an increase in voice-mail hacking recently, Telus is urging customers to protect themselves from attempts to use this scam to make long distance calls at customers’ expense.
While businesses are usually the prime target for this type of fraud, residential customers should also take precautions, said the company.
"In a nutshell, fraudsters attempt to hijack the system by exploiting people’s tendency to use simple passwords and leave the default manufacturers’ passwords in place on their voice mailboxes," said Gene McLean, Telus chief security officer. "They try to make overseas calls using voice mail systems’…
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