OTTAWA – The CRTC is requesting information surrounding the status of negotiations for access to the incumbents’ wireless networks by regional service providers.
In a letter dated June 1, the CRTC said it wants Rogers, Bell, Telus, and SaskTel and the regional players to provide it with status updates on June 8, July 7, and August 7 about access to the incumbent networks by mobile virtual network operators run by the regional providers.
It is requesting that the incumbents provide a list of agreements that are currently in place, a list of regional providers that have made requests to begin negotiations…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is requesting specific information from mobile wireless service providers related to its investigation into international roaming rates, including specific agreements between Canadian and international providers.
A letter dated Thursday requests of over two dozen providers, including the big three, their active or most-recently expired roaming agreements, including number of subscribers; the rates in place, including pay-per-use call minutes, data, texts, daily and multi-day plans; how rates are set, including methodology and costing analysis; the rationale for past increases in rates; and payments made to roam on foreign networks between 2018 and 2022 and revenues generated from…
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By Ahmad Hathout
VICTORIA – The broadband ministry under the British Columbia government has been seeking ways to speed up broadband deployments in the province, and a recent briefing note outlines some ways it suggested to do so ahead of its utilization of federal funding.
In the Citizens’ Services briefing note from January, obtained via a freedom of information legislation, the ministry suggested that it could confidentially share with BC Hydro the poles that are expected to be impacted by broadband projects in areas with the 115,000 underserved households in the province.
“BC Hydro can take projective steps to determine the state…
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By Connie Thiessen
Eastlink cable subscribers soon won’t be able to watch HGTV Canada, W Network, and Showcase, among 34 other channels on the service, as the telecom provider says it’s been unable to reach a carriage agreement with Corus Entertainment.
“We worked very hard to reach an agreement with Corus that would not impact the availability of these channels. Unfortunately, we were unable to reach such an agreement, which means we have to remove these channels from our lineup as of June 27,” Jill Laing, Eastlink’s director of public affairs, told Broadcast Dialogue.
Eastlink, which declined to say whether any discussions…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Innovation Canada “repeatedly encouraged” the sale of Xplore Mobile’s spectrum licences in Manitoba to Quebecor, according to a company executive, after CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau sent a letter to the department urging it to push for a sale to subsidiary Videotron to maintain its four-player competition policy.
The department denied the July 14 joint request to transfer the five licences worth $30 million to Telus in September on the grounds that it would hinder the ability of “fourth” players to compete because of the high concentration of spectrum control by Telus, Rogers and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Executives from the largest telecoms said Wednesday that they are seeing more bundled services as the current and future competitive play in a post Rogers-Shaw merger market.
Doug French, Telus executive vice president and chief financial officer told TD Securities telecom analyst Vince Valentini that the Vancouver-based telecom’s strategy of driving more fibre in its footprint has enhanced the quality of its bundling strategy – the practice of reducing prices by selling more than one service, such as mobile wireless and internet.
French said that the company hasn’t seen a change in Rogers’s networks in western Canada…
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VANCOUVER – Telus announced Tuesday that it will invest roughly $77 billion over the next five years on infrastructure and connectivity across the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
The commitment is part of the $81 billion it expects to spent across Canada by 2027, it said in a press release.
In its home province, the telecom said it is putting $18.5 billion toward initiatives including expanding the reach of its 5G network by deploying more 3.5 GHz spectrum, expanding its healthcare and smart home product businesses, and driving more fibre to homes. It said its PureFibre product will connect…
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They warn the CRTC about competitive impact of Freedom sale to Videotron
OTTAWA – The country’s largest telecoms are asking the CRTC not to forcibly allow the large enterprise and internet of things device markets to roam on its wireless networks.
The CRTC launched a proceeding in March to explore whether mobile virtual network operators mandated under the April 2021 MVNO framework should also be able to leverage the incumbents’ wireless networks to serve those other markets. It held a preliminary view that the consumer retail markets that are currently regulated are similar to the enterprise (more than…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC on Thursday denied an application by British Columbia’s minister of transportation and infrastructure (MOTI) to suspend a November decision that forces it to enter agreements with third party carriers wanting to attach equipment on poles that are being moved by the province.
The November decision was triggered by a Rogers and Shaw application, which asked that they be treated similarly to the incumbent Telus when it comes to compensation to relocate their transmission lines when the province decides to move their poles. In the decision, the CRTC said the province must either stop compensating Telus…
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By Ahmad Hathout
VICTORIA – Shaw recommended the British Columbia government adopt a government policy directive that would give the province’s utility company the ability to create a new telecommunications division to address lagging permits to its joint-owned poles, according to a briefing note obtained by Cartt.
The recommendation, which would help “expedite permits controlled by BC Hydro,” was made late last year to the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, which oversees utility crown corporation BC Hydro.
BC Hydro jointly owns with telecom incumbent Telus a network of poles on which carriers attach their communications equipment to expand broadband…
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