OTTAWA – A coalition of consumer advocacy groups is petitioning the federal cabinet to overturn the CRTC’s approval to raise payphone rates from 25 to 50 cents per local call.
The groups cite a public opinion poll of more than 1,000 Canadians conducted for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) in July showing that 75% of respondents agreed that 50 cents was too much to pay for a local payphone call.
The petition calls for the cabinet to overturn the rate hike, announced as part of the CRTC’s new price cap regime, and send the matter back to…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Telus Corp. has reportedly shut down its Amp’d Mobile service after just five months in Canada because the U.S. parent filed for bankruptcy.
According to the Globe and Mail, Amp’d Mobile Canada subscribers can still make and receive calls for the moment, but Telus has stopped selling the products and services, which it did under the hip, youthful brand of entertainment services like 3D games.
As reported by Cartt, Amp’d Mobile launched its downtown Toronto retail store to great fanfare in March.
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is deregulating the first residential telephone markets in Canada, in Fort McMurray, and parts of the Maritimes.
The ILECs, TELUS and Bell Aliant, will no longer need to get the commission’s approval to set local phone rates or introduce new services and packages.
The systems in Fort McMurray, Fredericton, Charlottetown, and Halifax are the first of likely many to get approval in the coming months. The CRTC says it’s received enough applications for deregulation to cover more than 60% of the residential phone lines in Canada.
The commission says it’s considering the other applications and…
Continue Reading
COMING OFF A SUCCESSFUL free trial that saw 43,000 subscribers sign up for its OneZone WiFi service in downtown Toronto, Toronto Hydro Telecom moved to a subscription-based service in late April. Toronto Hydro Telecom president David Dobbin (pictured below) spoke to Cartt.ca contributor Linda Stuart about OneZone, the upcoming wireless spectrum auction, and the competitiveness of Canada’s mobile communications industry.
Linda Stuart: The OneZone service has been offering subscription-based services for a couple of months now. How has uptake on the subscription service gone so far?
David Dobbin: Better than we expected. We originally projected a 10% month-over-month conversion…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
