The CRTC said it will not alter the Feb. 13 implementation deadline for Telus, Bell and SaskTel to provide competitors with workable access to their fibre networks in a decision last week that rejected Telus’s October 2024 request for a four-month extension to the implementation date in British Columbia and Alberta.
In arguing for the extension, Telus had said its systems would not be fully automated by Feb. 13 and using manual order processing created the potential for processing errors, which could have adverse effects on wholesale customers and their end users.
The telecom regulator…
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Broadpeak, a France-based provider of content delivery network (CDN) and video streaming solutions for pay-TV operators and other content providers, announced last week Telus is using Broadpeak’s Origin Packager solution to simplify video streaming and cut costs.
“Running on Google Cloud Platform, Broadpeak’s high-performance origin packager reduces TELUS’ infrastructure costs while enabling the operator to provide a superior quality of experience to subscribers,” a Broadpeak press release says.
Origin Packager features a high-performance and scalable just-in-time packaging engine allowing content libraries storage in only one format for reduced storage capacity, the release explains. “It packages and encrypts live…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is directing the country’s legacy telcos on Tuesday to modify their tariffs to address certain issues surrounding corrective and make-ready work to hasten access by third parties to their telephone poles.
The commission ordered Bell, Telus and SaskTel to amend their tariff pages to ensure both make-ready and corrective are on the same timeline for completion and be scheduled together to minimize third party attachment delays. Make-ready is the work involved in preparing the pole for a new attachment and corrective work deals with things like meeting construction standards.
On the matter of simple work, such as…
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By Mark Goldberg, a telecommunications consultant
The headlines were breathless – Canada’s telecom regulator is going to cut the cost of internet services for people living in the far north
What the CRTC didn’t say, and what was entirely missed in the coverage, is the regulator wants customers in the rest of Canada to pay for it.
This is the same regulator that continually chastises Canada’s internet and wireless providers for not doing enough to lower prices while pushing for more investments to connect remote areas. This, despite the federal government’s own data showing cellular and internet prices keep falling while the…
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Telus quietly purchased the residential internet customers of wholesaler City Wide Communications through its subsidiary Altima last summer, the Vancouver-based telecom confirmed.
“As a new entrant in the region, Altima is offering customers the added benefits of greater access to a wide range of products, including mobility, home automation, security, health, and entertainment,” a Telus spokesperson told Cartt. “It is business as usual at City Wide, which continues to operate as a company serving their business customers.”
City Wide, which also offers television and landline services, is based in Nova Scotia.
Telus, which purchased Altima in 2022 and more…
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The Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) announced Tuesday a new digital advertising and social media campaign encouraging Canadians to join its fight to have the Big Three telecoms — Telus, Bell and Rogers — banned from accessing the wholesale aggregated internet regime.
CNOC’s “Break Free from the Big 3” campaign asserts, among other things, “Canadian regulators have allowed the Big 3 internet providers in Canada to freeze out the competition, giving them an unfair advantage over smaller and regional companies. Don’t fall for the illusion of choice.”
“Allowing the Big 3 to resell internet…
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Telus announced Tuesday anime fans can now get the Crunchyroll streaming service as a standalone subscription with eligible Telus services.
And for those customers who add Crunchyroll together with Telus’s Stream+ streaming bundle, Telus is currently offering a 10-per-cent discount on their monthly Crunchyroll subscription.
Telus customers can subscribe to the Crunchyroll Mega Fan plan for $12.49/month, or for $11.24/month with the 10-per-cent Stream+ discount.
“With Crunchyroll, subscribers can dive into a world of anime, featuring over 1,000 shows and more than 200 East Asian dramas — all ad-free,” said an emailed announcement from Telus.
Crunchyroll offers new episodes shortly…
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The CRTC has approved on an interim basis tariff pages, including terms and conditions, for aggregated wholesale last-mile fibre access to provide competitors with workable access to the fibre networks of Canada’s large telephone companies by Feb. 13.
The telecom regulator in October 2024 set the interim wholesale fibre rates smaller players will pay Bell, Telus and SaskTel to use their last-mile fibre networks. In August 2024, the commission had ordered the large telecoms to provide competitors with workable wholesale access to their fibre networks by the February date.
In…
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Regulator forcing Northwestel to implement auto credits for outages
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC announced Thursday it is now collecting comments on how to implement a monthly internet subsidy for residents of Canada’s far north, the region with some of the most expensive high-speed internet services.
The regulator is contemplating providing the subsidy to internet service providers (ISPs) through the National Contribution Fund (NCF), which would then be delivered to eligible residents in all households of the region with sparse populations and difficult terrain. The NCF relies on ISP contributions and provides the funding for the CRTC’s flagship $750-million Broadband Fund.
The subsidy…
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By Ahmad Hathout and Linda Stuart
A watchdog that handles complaints for telecom and television services reported Wednesday that it received the highest number of complaints in its latest annual report, but its leadership stopped short of attributing the increase to more awareness of the organization.
Between August 1, 2023 and July 31, 2024, the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Servies (CCTS) said it accepted 20,147 complaints, a 38 per cent increase from the 14,617 complaints a year prior. Because each complaint can raise more than one issue, the 20,147 complaints translated to a total of 38,874 issues.
Despite the significant increase,…
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