By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers told the CRTC that it must act expeditiously on its request to access Bell and Telus poles because the new policy direction from Cabinet requires it.
Rogers said as much in a reply submission last week to Bell and Telus, who told the CRTC to deny Rogers’s request last Wednesday asking for interim access to attach wireless equipment on their poles.
Telus said in its submission that the expedited request is “unsubstantiated” and that Rogers allegedly failed to “demonstrate any need for the Commission to exercise its discretion to implement an expedited process…
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Bell alleges it has approached Rogers about terms and didn’t hear back
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers is accusing Bell and Telus of delaying its requests to attach wireless equipment on their poles and is asking the CRTC to make an interim order granting those requests on an expedited basis.
Rogers said in a Part 1 application filed earlier this month and published Wednesday that Telus had invited it to apply for attachment permits last year, but “abruptly changed its position” on the basis that the CRTC said it would be reviewing the wireless attachment framework in a decision on wireline…
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MONTREAL – Telus and the Montreal Science Centre announced Monday that they are partnering to encourage people to give their old mobile devices for repair, recycling and refurbishing.
Telus said it has recycled or upcycled over 3.5 million devices since 2005, and uses its subsidiary Mobile Klinik to do the job. Quebec residents can drop off their old devices at any eligible Telus store.
Refurbished devices are then available for purchase from Telus backed by a one-year warranty. If the devices cannot be refurbished, they are then recycled.
“Research suggests that buying a refurbished device helps protect the environment by…
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VULCAN, AB – The federal government and Alberta jointly announced a $96-million investment to provide high-speed internet to 46 rural and remote communities across the province.
The investment will toward 14 projects to connect more than 10,000 households, 2,300 of which are indigenous.
The recipients of the money are Telus, Tough Country Communications, Stoney Nakoda Telecom, ATG Arrow Technology, Blood Tribe – Kainai Nation – Treaty 7, Missing Link Internet, Wi-fibre, and the Town of Rainbow Lake.
The federal portion comes from the Universal Broadband Fund, which partnered with Alberta to deliver $780 million to connect the entire province.
The communities to be…
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OTTAWA – Bell filed Wednesday a letter of support for the Supreme Court of Canada to review a Federal Court of Appeal decision affirming that the CRTC does not have jurisdiction over wireless attachments on municipal structures.
The one-page letter supporting Telus’s application includes a copy to Rogers, Cogeco, Quebecor, Xplornet, Ice Wireless, the province of British Columbia and opponents of the argument, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Electricity Canada.
Telus filed the appeal to the high court last month, which has yet to decide if it will hear it. The Vancouver-based telecom argued that the appeal…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The spate of acquisitions by incumbents of wholesale internet service providers in recent months is not because of a difficult market or bad wholesale access rates, Bell argued in its most recent submission to the CRTC’s wholesale internet framework proceeding, which is messaging that runs counter to what competitors have been saying.
“These acquisitions were completed for a variety of reasons, including succession planning, and the sales were made at strong valuations, not because the Resellers went bankrupt, were driven out of the market or…because of ‘the broken wholesale access model,’” Bell said, in reference to…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Innovation Canada has not yet delivered all money announced to certain large internet service providers from the roughly six-year-old Connect to Innovate program as of May 4.
In a tally recently released in response to a question from Conservative member of Parliament Dan Mazier, the department said it has transferred roughly $98.4 million out of an announced $110.8 million to Bell and roughly $14.3 million to Telus out of an announced $28.9 million. Shaw, now part of Rogers, had $11.4 million reserved for it, but ISED does not say if it received any of it. Rogers…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The Federal Court has again denied movie studio Voltage Pictures its request for the court to allow it to group a bunch of alleged copyright infringers to sue because its litigation plan was contrary to the Copyright Act.
Voltage Pictures had to show the court how it was to deal with notifying the hundreds of anonymous alleged downloaders and sharers of its movies about its plan to sue them in a rare reverse class action lawsuit, a process that groups a basket of defendants for a mass lawsuit.
But the studio’s proposal to use the notice-and-notice system…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The Competition Bureau said in a submission to the CRTC studying the wholesale internet framework Thursday that mandating last mile fibre could have short-term price benefits but may also negatively impact investments in fibre builds.
The CRTC is seeking comments on a preliminary view it holds that third parties should have mandated access to the incumbent’s last mile fibre under the current aggregated regime, which packages the leasing of the traffic transport (middle) mile and the last mile. Under the current aggregated regime, third parties don’t have commission backing for access to the fibre going straight…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC is being asked to raise the financial threshold for registering online services with the commission and ensure transactional video services are made to contribute to the system when it implements the new Online Streaming Act.
The commission asked the public to submit comments by last week into two out of three consultations it is holding about the implementation of the new Broadcasting Act framework, including who should register with the CRTC for the purposes of collecting data and possibility requiring to contribute to the Canadian content system.
But some of the major broadcasting players are…
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