TORONTO – Spectrum was on a lot of peoples’ minds at this year’s Canadian Telecom Summit, which is hardly surprising given Canada’s slow pace of 5G deployment compounded by the fact ISED has yet to hand over the 3.5 GHz spectrum that was auctioned off this past summer that raised $8.9 billion.
“Four years ago, there was apparently a race to 5G,” said Ted Woodhead, senior vice-president of regulatory at Rogers Communications, who spoke on the summit’s regulatory panel on Tuesday.
“For those of us in the room who are Canadians, that race is over, we lost it.” Woodhead pointed…
Continue Reading
By Lynn Greiner
There is a lot of talk these days around the digital economy, and how cloud, edge, and 5G (the three buzzwords of the year) fit in. The short answer: it’s complicated.
During his Canadian Telecom Summit keynote, Bhushan Joshi, head of sustainability and corporate responsibility for North America at Ericsson, pointed out it is a multimodal problem with several drivers – access, affordability, and digital readiness.
“This multimodal nature of the ICT of the digital divide makes it harder to close this digital divide,” he said. “We need to leverage ICT solutions including 5G to close the digital divide…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
During the lunchtime keynote on the second day of the Canadian Telecom Summit, Bell Mobility president Claire Gillies (above) said spectrum costs charged by the federal government are too high.
Coming off the most expensive spectrum auction in its history – a nearly $9-billion investment in 3.5 GHz frequencies said to be crucial for 5G – Gillies said this is not sustainable because service providers like Bell need to use the money to continue investing in future technologies.
“We have to change this,” she said during her keynote Tuesday. “Because we want our money going into investment –…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – CRTC chairman Ian Scott (above) said Monday the contested acquisition of 5G spectrum licenses by Quebecor’s Videotron in Western Canada is an example of what the regulator envisioned when it made the decision to allow regional competitors to force negotiations for wireless network space from the larger providers.
The regulator’s April decision allows regional carriers to negotiate access to the wireless facilities of the incumbents – Rogers, Bell, Telus and Sasktel – as long as they have spectrum and network facilities in the area they want to provide mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) service….
Continue Reading
TORONTO — Mediapro Canada announced today OneSoccer, its dedicated soccer streaming service, will undertake its largest-ever production of a live sports event in Canada tomorrow for the Canadian men’s national soccer team’s FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Mexico at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.
OneSoccer is producing coverage of the match, part of the Concacaf Final Round of FIFA World Cup Qatar Qualifiers, for broadcasters in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, as well as multiple rights-holders worldwide.
According to a press release, nearly 100 technical and production crew members, working across three outside broadcast trucks at the stadium, will produce live…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – The CRTC has officially denied the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and National Pensioners Federation’s (PIAC-NPF) procedural request to delay the hearing into the broadcast side of the deal between Rogers and Shaw.
PIAC-NPF had requested the hearing be delayed because of uncertainty around who was on the company’s board of directors, which arose when Edward Rogers, as chair of the Rogers Control Trust, decided to change five directors by written resolution – a move the company said was not valid. The matter ended up in front of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
In letters sent…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Organizers of the Canadian Telecom Summit announced yesterday the moderator and panelists for the conference’s panel on what is next in spectrum policy.
The panel will be moderated by Rita Trichur (above), senior editor of The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business.
Panelists include Jacob Glick, vice-president of public policy at Telus, Ian Fogg, vice-president of analysis at Opensignal and Rupert Wood, research director at Analysys Mason.
The panel will take place Nov. 16 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET.
The Canadian Telecom Summit is happening as a hybrid event this year with the in-person portion being held at the…
Continue Reading
BLANC-SABLON, Que. — Telus announced today the company, its Telus Friendly Future Foundation and a team of partners have donated $350,000 to distribute 10 Lü systems featuring immersive audiovisual technology to schools in Quebec’s Lower North Shore via the Fondation Docteur Camille-Marcoux.
“The 600 students in these isolated communities and Innu territories can now learn, explore, and be active, thanks to a virtual environment that connects them with one another and to activities that develop their social, emotional, physical, and intellectual skills,” reads a press release.
This donation, which includes $100,000 from Telus and $100,000 from the Telus Friendly Future Foundation,…
Continue Reading
Focus now on Shaw as company tells CRTC hearing must proceed as planned
TORONTO – Rogers Communications Inc. announced Sunday evening it will not seek an appeal of Friday’s British Columbia Supreme Court ruling, which settled the matter of who is actually on RCI’s board of directors. This would seem to put an end weeks of drama over who controls the company.
On Friday, Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick ruled in favour of Edward Rogers, chair of the Rogers Control Trust, who was seeking orders related to the board changes he made by written resolution in late October, which were…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER – Telus today reported its operational and financial results for the third quarter of 2021, which included total mobile and fixed customer growth of 320,000 – an increase of 43,000 from 2020.
This marks the company’s highest quarter ever, a press release says, and is inclusive of 135,000 mobile phones, 110,000 connected devices, 46,000 Internet, 30,000 security and 10,000 TV customer connections. “This was partly offset by residential voice losses of 11,000.”
At the end of Q3, Telus’s “PureFibre network covered more than 2.6 million premises, up from more than 2.4 million premises in the third quarter of 2020,” the…
Continue Reading
