RIMOUSKI — Telus Communications announced today it is investing $16 million in the Lower St. Lawrence region of Quebec this year to deploy its PureFibre and 5G networks.
In addition, thanks to a $1-million contribution from the governments of Quebec and Canada, Telus has completed the deployment of its high-speed services in the Mitis regional county municipality (RCM), and 1,800 additional families and businesses have direct access to Telus’s PureFibre network, the company says in its press release.
With its own investments, Telus will deploy its 5G mobile service in six additional Lower St. Lawrence communities in 2021, including in…
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Company challenges CRTC on decision not to indulge passive infrastructure debate; seamless roaming
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – When the CRTC asked for comments for its review of the wireless industry—with eyes trained on whether it would force negotiations on access to big wireless networks—a parallel issue emerged in the submissions: How will the regulator deal with the emerging friction between cellcos and local officials when it comes to equipment attachments on municipal infrastructure?
Apparently, not at all. Mid last month, in its decision to force the big three carriers to lease wireless network capacity to regional carriers, the Regulator said…
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MONTREAL — Telus and Ericsson Canada announced today they have conducted the first multivendor network slicing proof of concept in a lab environment based on 3GPP Release 16 and the IETF Layer 3 NW Yang Model (L3NM) standard.
“With the completion of this network slicing proof of concept, Telus and Ericsson have successfully tested the maturity of standards and readiness of commercial products to meet the needs of enterprises and industry verticals,” reads Ericsson’s press release.
Expected to help accelerate commercial 5G applications, end-to-end network slicing enables each slice to provide a dedicated network for specific applications “that can create…
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VANCOUVER – Telus reported first quarter net customer additions of 145,000 for the period ending March 31, 2021, up 39,000 over the first three months of 2020.
The company’s release added them up this way, saying the number includes “31,000 mobile phones, 63,000 connected devices, in addition to 33,000 internet, 11,000 TV and 17,000 security customer connections.” It was offset by residential voice line losses of 10,000.
The company’s rapidly growing health division saw revenue rise 10%, “driven by accelerated demand for virtual care, which has seen Canadian members nearly triple over the past 12 months to 2 million,” reads the…
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Rural areas need a single, open access, network
By Joe Hickey
IN A WORLD WHERE many causes are highly politicized, rural broadband access is a cause just about everyone can get behind. With it, Canada can improve rural access to education, healthcare, and economic growth. This is especially important in the wake of COVID-19, which put a glaring spotlight on the digital divide, and made it all the rage to support rural broadband access.
Even major urban telcos seem to be getting on board, with Rogers Communications promising a $1 billion rural broadband fund in its recent proposal to…
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By Howard Law
UNTIL LAST WEEK, PARLIAMENT’S Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage was plodding through the clause-by-clause review of Bill C-10 with no tasty headlines. Perhaps the bill’s revamp of the Broadcasting Act, which would sweep in Netflix, isn’t controversial anymore.
Of course, federal political partisanship is inevitable, as Canadian as bad weather.
And so, we now have the Conservatives’ faux controversy over free expression on social media platforms. In an e-mail blast from CPC MPs across the country, they made their case:
“Recently, the Liberal government introduced Bill C-10 – a bill that would regulate social media websites like Facebook, YouTube, and…
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TORONTO — To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, Life Labs announced today it has partnered with Telus Health to provide MyCareCompass customers in Ontario with improved access to allied health services such as virtual counselling through the Babylon by Telus Health virtual care service.
According to a recent study by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), 40% of Canadians say their mental health has worsened since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, says LifeLabs’ press release. Additionally, Canadians are continuing to rely on virtual care during the pandemic to support their healthcare needs, says the release.
In addition to letting customers…
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TORONTO — A new study from J.D. Power finds Canadian wireless customers are satisfied overall with the support they get from their service provider, with Videotron ranking highest in customer care satisfaction compared to nine other carriers included in the study, which was released today.
Videotron achieved a score of 787 (on a 1,000-point scale) for wireless customer care satisfaction, followed by Virgin Mobile with a score of 774. SaskTel and Telus Mobility tied for third, with each receiving a score of 766. (Please see the chart for the full rankings.)
The J.D. Power 2021 Canada Wireless Customer Care Study measures…
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OTTAWA — The department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) released today its latest quarterly report on wireless plans, which shows prices for the majority of mid-range data plans across Canada have decreased since tracking began a year ago.
As Cartt.ca readers know, the federal government wants service providers to reduce the cost of wireless plans by 25% over two years (from the beginning of 2020 to early 2022), and has been tracking prices since January 2020.
For plans with 2 GB to 6 GB of data, the latest tracking data shows most of these plans have seen price…
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TORONTO – Wireless upstart Data On Tap (dotmobile), filed a petition to federal cabinet Tuesday asking the federal government to overturn the portion of the CRTC’s recent wireless policy decision which excluded a mandate for full mobile virtual network operators to participate in the wireless market in Canada.
Dotmobile is Canada’s first full MVNO but has yet been unable to come to a wholesale agreement with any Canadian wireless network operator (company owners say none of the carriers even return their calls seeking a meeting). The CRTC’s much-ballyhooed wireless decision, however, didn’t mandate access for full MVNOs like…
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