OTTAWA – The CRTC rejected Monday an application by Quebecor to force the legacy telephone companies to refund amounts collected and impose a pay-per-use system as they work to fully implement the next-generation 911 network.
Quebecor said in the application filed in December that it’s not fair for providers like itself to simultaneously pay for both the existing 911 and future next-generation network – which will include the capacity to handle audiovisual information from distressed callers. It asked the CRTC to refund the fees paid toward the NG 911 network development – expected to fully replace the…
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Cogeco hopes for mobile wireless launch by this time next year
By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri said Tuesday that Freedom’s competitive mobile wireless offers ahead of the back-to-school season didn’t have a “material impact” on its market share in Ontario.
“They launched a few, I would say, price points didn’t have a material impact on the market, frankly,” Staffieri said during the BMO telecom conference.
“So one of the things we’ve gotten a lot better at is to let the competition do their thing, we’ll do our…
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MONTREAL – NBCUniversal’s all-reality TV subscription streaming service Hayu is now available to Videotron customers in Quebec through Videotron’s Helix platform, the companies announced Tuesday.
Videotron customers will be able to access more than 300 reality series directly through their Hayu subscription, with the streaming service accessible via Helix voice command on their Videotron remote, a press release says.
A Canadian subscription to Hayu costs $6.99 (plus taxes) per month.
Hayu’s extensive content library includes shows such as Love Island, Below Deck, Vanderpump Rules, and franchises such as The Real Housewives and Million Dollar Listing, plus exclusive content like Watch What…
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By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced Monday that all carriers will need to provide service to their customers on Rogers’s wireless network in Toronto’s subway system by October 3.
All carriers will need to provide service within three weeks from Monday and will have to enter commercial agreements within the next 100 days – or December 20. Those stipulations, which will apply to Bell, Quebecor’s Freedom and Telus, are as of Monday conditions of those carriers owning spectrum, the technology powering wireless communications.
Government officials said on a technical briefing with media Monday that carriers will need to…
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By Mark Goldberg, a telecommunications consultant
An opinion piece in Monday’s Globe and Mail included a line that caught my eye. “A 2022 study found that Canada’s wireless rates were the second most expensive in the world – seven times more expensive than Australia, 25 times more expensive than France and Ireland and 1,000 times more expensive than Finland.”
Canadians complain about mobile prices, but does anyone in Canada actually believe that they are paying one thousand times more than what they would pay in Finland?
In fact, we don’t.
So how did the author, a university professor and academic…
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MARKHAM, ON – Rural telecom provider Xplore Inc. announced Tuesday the company’s president and chief commercial officer, Rizwan Jamal, has been promoted to president and CEO, effective immediately.
Jamal also becomes a member of Xplore’s board of directors. Interim CEO Fran Shammo will continue in his role as executive chair of the board.
“We are delighted to appoint Rizwan to the role of CEO,” Shammo said in a press release. “Rizwan’s appointment to CEO of Xplore comes as the result of a thorough search process. He has deep knowledge of and connections within the Canadian…
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OTTAWA – The Competition Tribunal has ordered the Commissioner of Competition to pay Rogers and Shaw a little more than $9.7 million and $3.2 million, respectively, to compensate for their costs associated with the Competition Bureau’s legal challenge last year of the companies’ merger.
In a decision filed Tuesday, the Tribunal says Rogers is to be paid $414,720 for counsel fees and $9,298,152.58 as reimbursement for reasonable disbursements, plus any applicable HST. Shaw is to receive $416,187 for legal costs and $2,836,920.30 to compensate for reasonable disbursements, plus applicable HST.
Quebecor’s Videotron,…
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Iristel urges PM to do something about withheld CRA funds affecting its response
By Ahmad Hathout
YELLOWKNIFE, NWT – Wildfires ravaging parts of the Northwest Territories are causing widespread devastation to homes, families and telecommunications networks, forcing operators to install backup systems and carefully enter repair territory as critical infrastructure burns.
Cartt asked some of the primary providers in the region to provide their perspectives on how they’re dealing with the wildfires that have burned many millions of hectares of land. It is Canada’s worst wildfire season ever, with more fires expected to come this fall.
Bell subsidiary Northwestel told us the company…
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CALGARY and OTTAWA – Telus Communications today announced the expansion of its community boards in Calgary and Edmonton, as well as three of its Ontario community boards.
“Leveraging a unique model of philanthropy, the Telus Community Boards bring together local business and community leaders, empowering them to make decisions on where Telus’ charitable funding will make the most meaningful difference in their own communities,” explains a Telus press release.
The two Alberta community boards are formally changing their names to Telus Calgary and Southern Alberta Community Board and Telus Edmonton and Northern Alberta Community Board….
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Electricity Canada said in a filing to the nation’s highest court this month that Parliament’s refusal to amend “transmission line” under the Telecommunications Act is evidence of its belief that it does not foresee an obstacle for telecoms getting wireless access to municipal structures without CRTC jurisdiction.
Electricity Canada is opposing a Telus application for the Supreme Court of Canada to hear its argument that a lower court erred when it upheld the CRTC’s decision to decline to regulate wireless attachments on municipal structures on the basis it does not have jurisdiction. The…
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