BURNABY, B.C. – The latest changes proposed by Telus to its final offer made to its employees are “an insult to all members of the TWU, especially those in predominately female job classifications," said Telecommunications Workers Union president Bruce Bell.
"This is an insult to members of the bargaining unit. It includes an offer of an additional $8,000 in signing bonuses for approximately 1,500 predominantly male craft employees in Alberta and an additional percentage increase to most of craft employees in British Columbia and Alberta. But there is nothing by way of a comparable increase for members in…
Continue Reading
SAN ANTONIO – There were no official numbers at press time but boy, it sure seems real crowded here at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo – a good thing for the vendors, who filled every open space this year.
Here’s a bit of what www.cartt.ca heard and saw today. ************** This morning’s CTO session was interesting on a number of levels. The panelists were Tony Werner, senior vice-president and CTO Liberty Media, (and also a former Rogers CTO), Mike Hayashi, senior v-p advance engineering and subscriber technology at Time Warner Cable, Paul Woidke, vice-president technology for Comcast Spotlight, and…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – So what’s it like going from one side to another, is what people often want to know from Janet Yale.
She spent four years as president and CEO of the CCTA (Canadian Cable Television Association ) before bolting to Telus in late summer 2003 and is now executive vice-president, corporate affairs. Yale (right) tries not to see her move from one side to another, and draws similarities between cable and telecom.
However, while each are facilities-based providers, cable and telecom are clearly at each others’ throats right…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Three of the nation’s incumbent telcos are going to the Federal Court of Appeal saying the CRTC’s win-back rule violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Bell Canada, SaskTel and Telus today officially applied to the Federal Court of Appeal challenging the "win-back rule" imposed on them by the CRTC, saying it violates their freedom of expression.
The Commission likely knew this was coming since, as reported here by www.cartt.ca, the companies had already filed that complaint with the Commission, only to be told it would be rolled into the local forbearance hearings beginning…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER – Telus and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) have launched a new annual contest which features $20,000 in cash prizes and an opportunity to present their projects to a panel of industrial, academic, and media experts.
The IEEE Telus Innovation Award invites IEEE Canada student members in their final year of an engineering or technology program at a Canadian undergraduate institution to submit a significant Information Computing and Telecommunication (ICT) Technologies project for which they are receiving education credit.
"We are very pleased that Telus is sponsoring this award," says Bill Kennedy, president of IEEE…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable today made official its launch of voice over Internet telephony in many of its major service areas.
Over the last year, Cogeco Cable has successfully tested its new digital telephone service in the Trois-Rivières area in Québec and in the Burlington/Oakville Ontario corridor.
These conclusive trials, as well as the market studies conducted at the same time, have helped to better pinpoint the services and functions that customers want, says the company.
In 2001, Cogeco abandoned testing it was doing in the telephony space after spending about $25 million, saying it would wait for the…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Last week’s Canadian Telecom Summit saw the leaders of Canada’s largest ILECs stay relentlessly on the attack, hitting at the CRTC as well as Canadian cable companies.
While Bell Canada Enterprises CEO Michael Sabia’s keynote on Tuesday said the telecom regs were just plain wrong, Telus Communications CEO Darren Entwistle backed him up the next day.
Both executives are peeved at the May 12th voice over Internet protocol regulatory decision which said, mainly, that for the incumbent local exchange carriers VOIP will be regulated as their traditional circuit-switched systems in that they must file tariffs each…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – With the telecom industry taking swing after swing at the Commission he runs for three straight days, CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen jabbed back on Wednesday.
He was given the last word by Canadian Telecom Summit organizers and spent much of his speech at the conference defending the CRTC’s VOIP decision. The May 12th voice over Internet protocol regulatory decision said, mainly, that for the incumbent local exchange carriers VOIP will be regulated the same as their traditional circuit-switched systems in that they must file tariffs each time they want to alter their pricing.
Telephony newcomers like cable…
Continue Reading
NIAGARA FALLS – The CRTC will begin three days of hearings in the honeymoon capital today focusing on a potential new TV station for the region and on six applicants for a radio station serving Woodstock and Tillsonburg, Ontario.
As reported only by www.cartt.ca last week, ITV founder Wendell Wilks is behind the well-financed, ambitious proposal for TV Niagara. He’s due up first thing this morning and is opposed by broadcasters and cable companies alike.
The roster of radio applicants for the 104.7 FM station license include Byrnes Communications, Standard Radio, CHUM Radio, Newcap Broadcasting, Sound of Faith…
Continue Reading
ST-LAURENT – National wireless provider Telus Mobility today announced the official opening of two new, state-of-the-art retail locations in Quebec City, one on trendy de la couronne boulevard and another in the Galeries de la Capitale.
Combined with the renovation of F.M. Electronique and recent opening of Expert-Cell Télécom, two prominent independent dealers, Telus Mobility has invested more than $500,000 to provide Quebec consumers with the company’s wireless wares.
These two new corporate store locations are part of the company’s network of more than 3,000 retail locations across Canada, including more than 100 corporate retail stores.
www.telusmobility.com
Continue Reading
