Company struggled with debt to town
By Ahmad Hathout
O-Net, a prominent community gigabit telecom in Olds, Alberta, was acquired by Telus in November after it struggled to pay back a loan it owed the town.
“We’re excited to welcome O-NET to the TELUS family,” a Telus spokesperson told Cartt in a statement. “This acquisition expands our TELUS PureFibre network to Olds, bringing our world-leading PureFibre technology to more residents in Alberta. O-NET customers can also now enjoy greater access to a suite of integrated product offerings, including mobility, home automation, security, health, and entertainment.”
The Vancouver-based telecom said all O-NET team members…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The Competition Bureau is suing Rogers at the Competition Tribunal for allegedly misleading customers by marketing its mobile wireless data as “unlimited” when speeds are throttled after the data cap has been exceeded.
“Rogers has made, and continues to make, representations to the public that convey the materially false or misleading general impression that Rogers Infinite Unlimited Plans offer unlimited and infinite data, allowing consumers to use as much data as they want, free from data limits,” the bureau claims in its tribunal application, filed Monday. “In fact, Rogers is providing plans whose high-speed data is limited to…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Representatives from the country’s largest telcos urged Senate members to consider legislation that would make copper theft a serious crime to deter what they say is becoming an increasing problem as the value of the element rises.
Currently, the criminal code penalizes copper theft as “theft under $5,000,” which the telecoms say does not align with the significance of the impact of that crime and doesn’t match what other jurisdictions have been doing – which is to charge the matter more severely.
Over the first two days of hearings on copper theft on Tuesday and Wednesday, members of the…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
A group of internet service providers has filed a petition to cabinet on a precautionary basis asking it to vary the CRTC’s wholesale framework decision from August in case the regulator decides, after its latest consultation, not to ban the three largest ISPs from accessing the regime.
The launch of the CRTC’s latest consultation came at the behest of cabinet, which ordered the CRTC to revisit an interim decision from November 2023 that did not exclude Rogers, Bell and Telus (Big 3) from accessing the last-mile fibre networks of the latter two…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The Senate Transport and Communications committee is scheduled to hold hearings starting next week looking into the issue of copper wire theft that has plagued the telecom industry.
Industry Canada, Public Safety Canada, and the Department of Justice are all scheduled to appear on the first day, Tuesday, December 10, while the industry association Canadian Telecommunications Association (CTA), Bell, Telus, and Electricity Canada are scheduled for the day after, according to the committee website.
The study comes after a number of incidents reported by telecoms, specifically telco Bell, in which individuals have cut and stolen the copper wire to…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Telus is asking the Federal Court to quash a decision by the Governor in Council to force the CRTC to consider banning the three largest telecoms from accessing the bundled last-mile fibre networks of Bell and Telus in part because cabinet allegedly held “dozens of closed-door meetings between various parties adverse” to the Vancouver-based telecom without providing an opportunity to respond.
Those meetings, it argues, are outside the legal bounds of the review process permitted under the Telecommunications Act, which requires all parties who submit comments to the CRTC on a matter be given an opportunity to respond…
Continue Reading
Rural broadband service provider Xplore Inc. announced Monday the appointment of Brent Johnston as its new CEO, effective immediately, following the departure of former CEO Rizwan Jamal earlier this year.
Xplore also announced Monday its chief financial officer, Geoff Lowe, who recently served as the company’s interim CEO, has been promoted to the position of president and chief financial officer (CFO).
A veteran of the Canadian telecom industry, Johnston previously served as president of wireless services at Rogers Communications, senior managing director at Apple Canada, and senior vice president of consumer…
Continue Reading
With Black Friday fast approaching, Telus announced Tuesday a new campaign aimed at transforming the annual shopping event into “a force for social good this holiday season” by replacing traditional Buy One, Get One deals with a Buy One, Give One promotion supporting youth in need.
“In a uniquely Canadian promotion, TELUS is flipping the script on Black Friday deals with a powerful initiative: For every new customer who purchases a phone between November 29 and December 1, TELUS will provide a free phone and plan to a youth aging out of foster care through our Continue Reading
Telus announced Tuesday it has launched a petition looking to drum up support for the Vancouver-based telecom’s plans to use the CRTC’s aggregated last-mile fibre regime to bring its PureFibre internet to Ontario and Quebec, following a federal cabinet decision earlier this month asking the commission to reconsider allowing the Big 3 telecom providers to use the bundled fibre networks of Bell and Telus in those two provinces.
Telus said in its Tuesday press release that it is “calling on Canadians to protect their right to choose their Internet service…
Continue Reading
Incumbents say market is evolving and no regulatory action is needed
By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor’s Freedom Mobile on Thursday launched a national campaign urging Canadians to sign a petition voicing displeasure at what the telecom is calling “expensive daily roaming fees that cost Canadian travellers millions of dollars annually.”
Freedom is targeting the international roaming fees in Canadian plans, which it says are among the highest in the world. “We demand an end to these unfair and inflexible roaming fees, and we call on the incumbent carriers to take it upon themselves to implement fair and affordable roaming options for their customers….
Continue Reading
