PIAC, Competition Bureau, CCTS push label as important opportunity
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC must take a light-touch regulatory approach when it comes to determining how internet service providers (ISPs) present certain technical plan details, as being too prescriptive risks providing unnecessary information while adding implementation costs, according to several large service providers.
The gist of the ISP argument – both large and regional – can be distilled to some form of the following: they already provide the necessary information they believe an already-informed public should know, and the one example of a mandated “broadband label” – that is the one in…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Two of Canada’s largest telecoms are warning the CRTC against implementing a uniform internet subsidy for the far north or risk increasing internet service prices in rest of the country. Others are saying the subsidy contribution would be a negligible amount to support those in need of affordable services.
The CRTC last month proposed a monthly subsidy to be distributed by internet service providers (ISP) to all households in the far north. The contributions would come from the National Contribution Fund (NCF), which subsists on ISP contributions.
The concern, outlined by some providers in submissions to…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has ordered Telus on Wednesday to provide additional monetary compensation to customers in certain remote British Columbia regions who will lose access to landline service dependent on spectrum licenses the telco will lose next month.
The Vancouver-based telecom, which is the dominant provider in the affected region, has been relying on the 3.5 GHz spectrum to provide landline services to 115 customers in the Alexis Creek, North Kamloops, and the Tahsis exchanges. But the telco, which was granted two extensions on the use of the licenses, will lose access to them next month when Industry Canada…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telus CEO Darren Entwistle said in many words Thursday he expects the CRTC to reaffirm its decision to allow the three largest telecoms in the country to have access to the wholesale internet regime, and that some of the company’s decisions in the east will depend on it.
“We’re going to make the bold assumption,” Entwistle began during a fourth-quarter conference call with analysts, “that regulatory decisions pronounced by the CRTC after a comprehensive and rigorous and exhaustive process, where the diversity of voices was consulted in terms of all stakeholder constituency groups, where the documentation of the…
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Telus and the Calgary Airport Authority announced Wednesday a 10-year, multi-million-dollar partnership that will transform YYC Calgary International Airport into the first airport in Canada to be equipped with a 5G private wireless network.
“This ultra-fast, low-latency network will deliver consistent, enterprise-grade connectivity throughout the airport campus,” a Telus press release says, adding this first-of-its-kind deployment in a Canadian airport will enhance passenger experiences and streamline airport operations while preparing for future tech innovations.
“At YYC, we’re focused on the future of travel,” said Megan Gupton, chief information officer at the Calgary Airport Authority, in the press release….
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Competition Bureau’s deceptive marketing practices lawsuit against Rogers unfairly singles out the cable company’s “unlimited” wireless plans, cherry-picks out-of-context material, and doesn’t square with the fact that the plans have followed CRTC rules since they launched in the summer of 2019, according to the company’s reply submission to the Competition Tribunal.
The competition watchdog late last year filed a suit alleging Rogers has for years been misleading Canadians with its ‘Infinite’ mobile wireless plans, which it claims gave customers the impression that they were getting unlimited high-speed data when the speed of the data…
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CNOC calls move “disappointing” but not surprising
By Ahmad Hathout
Bell CEO Mirko Bibic announced Thursday the telco is again cutting its fibre buildout target after the CRTC earlier this week refused to ban the largest internet service providers from using its last-mile fibre network in Ontario and Quebec.
Bibic said the company is now targeting less than 8.3 million homes for direct fibre by the end of this year.
“This decrease in our fibre buildout is a direct result of the CRTC’s refusal to ban Telus and other large carriers from reselling the FTTP network we’ve built,” Bibic said in a fourth-quarter…
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United Steelworkers union (USW) Local 1944, which represents approximately 4,000 members at Telus, said Wednesday the Vancouver-based telecom’s latest round of voluntary severance packages (VSPs) is part of an ongoing practice that raises concerns about the integrity of Canada’s telecommunications system.
USW Local 1944 said in a press release Telus last week issued 545 VSPs to local members, impacting workers in various “critical departments”, including outside plant construction, cable repair, network operations, and engineering.
“This follows a trend of similar packages offered over the past two years significantly reducing its Canadian workforce,” the USW release said. “The recent…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers has filed an application requesting that the CRTC reverse its decision to expand the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) regime to internet of things (IoT) and enterprise services.
The market for those services, claims Rogers in its application to review-and-vary posted last week, “is likely one of the most competitive markets for telecommunications services in the country. Beyond Canada’s domestic national and regional , there are literally hundreds of service providers, including global wireless carriers, global and regional IoT/M2M aggregators of MVNOs, and global and regional IoT/M2M solutions providers in the Canadian market.”
The regulator affirmed…
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The regulator now moves to challenges against final wholesale decision
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said large provider access to the aggregated last-mile fibre facilities of mainly Bell but also Telus in Ontario and Quebec have proven to increase consumer choice and competition between internet service providers, rejecting a cabinet recommendation to impose a ban on Rogers, Bell and Telus (Big 3) from accessing those facilities.
The commission’s relatively short decision hinged largely on what it said was a lack of evidence that such access would hinder network investment as well as evidence showing that Telus is now…
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