OTTAWA – Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada announced today the provisional results of the 3500 MHz auction, which earned a total of $8.91 billion.
The auction began in June and concluded July 23. Winning bidders have until August 13 to submit 20% of their final payment and until October 4 to submit the remaining 80%. The money will be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund administered by the Receiver General of Canada, according to an ISED press release.
In total, 15 Canadian companies were awarded 1,495 licences, 757 of which went to small and regional players.
“Results of the…
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TORONTO — The Telus Friendly Future Foundation announced today it has donated $200,000 to the Women’s College Hospital Foundation to support the development of The Centre for Wise Practices in Indigenous Health virtual hub at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto.
The donation will help accelerate the expansion of this first-of-its-kind virtual hub, which hosts trauma-informed, culturally sensitive health information and tools for Indigenous communities from trusted Indigenous sources, says a press release.
The hub will directly support healthcare practitioners, hospital staff, learners, students, patients, partners and as many as 10,000 community members through direct partnerships and at least 50,000 people…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC announced today it will not regulate access to fibre in-building wire (IBW) in multi-dwelling units (MDUs) across the country, stating it found “that access to fibre IBW is not an essential service.”
This decision was outlined in Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2021-239, which follows a public proceeding announced in December 2019.
The notice of consultation itself followed a series of decisions and statements on the issue of fibre IBW in MDUs starting in 2018 when Cloudwifi, an independent ISP, alleged Bell disconnected its customers at two Ontario properties where the company had been using Bell fibre…
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Bureau notes past Shaw comments about its influence in the market
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The Competition Bureau has asked the Federal Court to compel the disclosure of records from four telecoms related to its inquiry into the proposed purchase of Shaw by Rogers.
The competition watchdog filed the first in a possible series of document requests on July 22, which, if approved, will force Bell, Telus, Quebecor, and Xplornet (respondents) to disclose related information on mobile wireless activity in the shared operating provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba, and outside.
That information, which falls roughly within the timeframe between…
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VANCOUVER — Telus International, a leading provider of digital customer experience solutions for global brands, announced today the launch of Intelligent Insights, which the company describes as “a tool-agnostic platform to monitor and manage robotic process automation (RPA) solutions and bots.”
Intelligent Insights lets companies track their digital operations on a single platform to monitor effectiveness, cost savings and opportunities for innovation, says a press release.
“Over the past year and a half, we have seen businesses significantly increase their spending on automated solutions to stay connected with their customers, ensure business continuity and realize efficiencies as a way to address…
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By Denis Carmel
IN A DECISION RENDERED last Thursday, the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) dismissed an application for judicial review that had been brought by six broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) and partially granted an application made by a group of nine collective societies.
The appeals stem from a decision from the Copyright Board of Canada (the Board), issued in August 2019 relating to royalties for the period 2014–2018.
In Canada, cable providers (BDUs) can distribute local over-the-air television signals for free and without permission from the signal owner. But, in the case of distant signals, the BDUs can distribute without permission…
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FORT MCMURRAY – WOOD BUFFALO, AB – Telus announced yesterday it is collaborating with the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo on a $21 million project to connect several communities directly to the Telus PureFibre optic network.
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo will contribute $13.2 million, making this “one of the single largest partnerships between Telus and a municipality to expand connectivity to benefit local residents and businesses,” according to a press release.
The project will connect residents and businesses in Draper, Janvier, Fort McKay, Conklin, Anzac and Gregoire Lake Estates directly to gigabit Internet speeds and will expand cellular…
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VICTORIA and QUEBEC CITY — Telus Communications announced today it is investing more than $100 million combined in Victoria, B.C. and the Capitale-Nationale region of Quebec this year to further support residents and businesses in those communities through the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent economic recovery.
In Greater Victoria, Telus is investing $63 million in 2021 as part of its $13 billion investment in infrastructure and operations across British Columbia through 2024. The company’s investments in Greater Victoria include expanding its 5G network, building new wireless infrastructure, and connecting more households and businesses to its gigabit-enabled PureFibre network, says a Continue Reading
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), wrote the CRTC last week to express “serious concerns regarding the actions” of Bell, Telus, and Rogers with regards to their recently released low-cost plans.
On July 14, Bell, Telus and Rogers each released new low-cost and occasional-use plans, as directed by the CRTC in Telecommunications Regulatory Policy CRTC 2021-130. PIAC, in its letter to the CRTC, noted the policy indicated “the Commission expected that the incumbents provide at least one low-cost plan on their premium brands.”
Despite this, PIAC did not find any such plan on the any of the companies’ premium brand…
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VANCOUVER and ST. LOUIS — Telus Agriculture, the ag-tech business unit launched by Telus in November 2020, and Rabobank, a global food and agriculture bank, today announced they have jointly acquired Conservis, a Minneapolis-based company “that integrates disparate farm technologies into one streamlined interface to manage the business of farming,” according to a press release.
With its farm management system platform, “Conservis enables family and institutional farms to organize data from different sources, eliminate error-prone manual entries, create winning business plans, and confidently manage costs, production and marketing throughout the entire year,” reads the release.
Rabo AgriFinance, a Rabobank subsidiary…
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