Rebuild already planned
By Amanda Oye
LYTTON, B.C. – Following record-breaking temperatures approaching 50 degrees celsius, a wildfire that began last Wednesday has wreaked havoc on Lytton, B.C., destroying much of the village, including its communication infrastructure.
“Our fibre network is totally torched,” said Daniel Mundall of Lyttonnet in an interview Monday.
As we reported in a feature story in 2018, Lyttonnet is a community cable, wireless and internet provider that spearheaded an initiative to build a community-owned fibre optic network in 2014 with the help of local volunteers. This was a significant advancement, since many in the Lytton community still relied…
Continue Reading
LONDON, U.K. — While rural Canadians have seen slight improvements in average mobile download speeds over the last 12 months, the gap between rural users’ download speed experience has become more prominent compared to networks in large urban centres, according to the latest analysis from analytics company Opensignal.
Generally speaking, Opensignal says rural users on Bell, Rogers and Telus’ mobile networks experience average download speeds which are less than half than those of its users in large population centres (PCs) on all three carriers.
For its analysis, Opensignal compared the mobile network experience of rural users, which make up almost 20%…
Continue Reading
CALGARY – As part of its Alberta investments announced last month, Telus said today it is directing $2 billion of that spend to connect more than 90% of Calgary homes and businesses to its PureFibre network, while also launching PureFibre X, what it is calling Canada’s fastest Internet speed tier with upload and download speeds of 2.5 Gbps.
The company’s 100% fibre to the home network is what allows it to deliver the speed. As well, PureFibre X Internet plans include the latest Wi-Fi 6, enabling better quality connectivity and connections throughout the home, which means it can provide…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU — The CRTC today announced it has approved recommendations made in a report submitted in October 2020 by the CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee’s (CISC) Emergency Services Working Group (ESWG), which now requires facilities-based wireless service providers to take steps to implement handset-based location technology in Canada by March 1, 2022.
With approximately 80% of 9-1-1 calls now being made on wireless devices, according to the Commission, wireless location information is critical when providing assistance to callers in emergency situations.
Advanced mobile location (AML) is a handset-based location protocol which can be used to find caller location for 9-1-1 calls made…
Continue Reading
Say letters telecoms sent to ISED in order to get funds
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers and Videotron have promised Innovation Canada they will implement several key policies that will speed up and cheapen access to subsidized support structures if granted money from the $2.75-billion Universal Broadband Fund.
The two companies propose to participate in frequent meetings of a co-ordination committee of owners of passive infrastructure; streamlining and accelerating permit reviews, administrative processes and contracts; and establishing a “dig-once” policy, whereby other carriers will be able to lay their fibre down at the same time that their own infrastructure is being…
Continue Reading
To be an open-access network
BROOKS, AB — Brooks, Alberta, announced this week it has reached an agreement with a consortium led by Community Network Partners, a subsidiary of Crown Capital Partners Inc., for the construction and operation of a next-generation, fibre-optic broadband network capable of delivering 10-gigabits-per-second service to every household and business in the community.
The southern Alberta city of 14,400, which is about halfway between Medicine Hat and Calgary, will invest $5.3 million in the project and will own the backbone network. Community Network Partners will invest $15.7 million to connect residents and business locations to the backbone,…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER — In its second year supporting small businesses during the pandemic through its national #StandWithOwners initiative, Telus announced today it is doubling its commitment by investing $1 million to promote Canadian small businesses in 2021.
“Small business owners have demonstrated incredible strength and ingenuity as they pivoted and innovated throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and Telus is proudly supporting them with funding, localized advertising, and mentorship as they move forward,” reads Telus’s press release.
“We continue to be inspired by the courage and determination of Canadian small business owners as they navigate long periods of lockdown and evolving restrictions to keep…
Continue Reading
TORONTO — Vice Media Group today announced the three docuseries being financed by the Telus Fund as part of the “Take Care” initiative, a new content incubator which funds the creation of short original docuseries focused on the mental health and wellness of young Canadians.
With the three projects heading into production this summer, each of the docuseries will be available on Vice’s online Take Care hub and social media pages later this year, says Vice’s press release. The Telus Fund is financing up to 75% of each project’s budget.
“The Take Care initiative is an opportunity for young up-and-coming…
Continue Reading
QUÉBEC CITY — For a rural broadband project costing $127.72 million, Videotron will receive a combined amount of $121 million in funding from the Canadian and Quebec governments, as part of the Canada-Quebec Operation High Speed initiative, to deploy high-speed Internet services to 13,300 households in the Abitibi-Témiscaminigue and Nord-du-Québec regions by September 2022.
The announcement was made today by the federal and provincial governments who have committed to providing $826.3 million in combined funding through the Operation High Speed program, first announced in March, to ensure connectivity for 150,000 underserved homes in rural Quebec by September of next year….
Continue Reading
Want faster, cheaper piracy measures
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The country’s largest broadcasters and telecoms want new copyright legislation to include provisions that give the courts the ability to order website-blocking, prevent the CRTC from overruling blocking orders, and to expand authority over other intermediaries to choke off infringers.
Bell, Rogers, Telus, Shaw, Cogeco, Quebecor, SaskTel, Eastlink, and the Canadian Communications System Alliance also want the legislation to reflect the courts’ ability to unilaterally order search engines to de-index infringing websites, social media platforms and to force hosts, like Cloudflare, to take down infringing services and not direct users to it,…
Continue Reading
