VANCOUVER — Following its $1.3-billion equity offering last week, Telus announced today a debt offering of $500 million of senior unsecured Series CAE notes with a 30-year maturity and 4.1% interest rate.
The notes are being offered through a syndicate of agents led by CIBC Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets, and together with BMO Capital Markets and Scotiabank. The offering is expected to close on or about April 5, 2021.
The notes were priced at $99.47 per $100 principal amount for an effective yield of 4.131% per annum and will mature on April 5, 2051.
“The net proceeds of this…
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OTTAWA — The number of Canadian consumer complaints to the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) increased by 6% during the six-month period from August 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021 compared to the same period of the previous year, according to the CCTS’s 2020-21 mid-year report, released this morning.
During the six months ended January 31, the CCTS accepted 9,121 complaints from Canadian telecom and TV customers and resolved 88% of all complaints. There were 28 confirmed Wireless Code breaches, five Television Service Provider Code breaches, four Internet Code breaches and one Deposit and Disconnection Code breach.
The CCTS…
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Briefing note pointed to Premier Legault’s promise of 50/10 for all by end of 2022
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The federal portion of the $826.3 million investment announced this week to connect 150,000 households in Quebec by September 2022 is coming from the $1.75-billion Universal Broadband Fund, Innovation Canada confirmed, less than 10 days after the final deadline for applications closed.
This would make Tuesday’s announcement the first award from the UBF’s core program, as its “rapid” stream for projects completed by November has already disbursed funds. The massive $826.3-million operation will be evenly split between Quebec’s new Operation…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Independent internet service provider TekSavvy said this week a lower court made an error when, for the first time, it ordered Canada’s ISPs to block the websites of an alleged copyright infringer.
That’s because the Federal Court, in ordering the blocking of websites associated with alleged IPTV infringer GoldTV, leaned too much toward the rights of the copyright holders at the possible expense of free expression and the impact it could have on legitimate content, it alleged in a two-day hearing at the Federal Court of Appeal this week.
TekSavvy is challenging the first site-blocking order…
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VANCOUVER – Saying it will use the proceeds to “strategically bring forward transformational capital investments in broadband connectivity, including fibre and 5G, enhancing our industry-best customer experience, leading networks and competitive position,” Telus today announced a share sales deal which will bring in $1.3 billion.
Officially, the company “entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by RBC Capital Markets and CIBC Capital Markets, and together with BMO Capital Markets, Scotiabank and TD Securities Inc. as joint book runners… pursuant to which the Underwriters have agreed to purchase from Telus, on a bought deal basis, and sell to…
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VANCOUVER — Through the expansion of its Connecting for Good programs during the pandemic this past year, Telus says it is now helping to bridge the digital and health divides for three million Canadians in need each year.
During the past 12 months, Telus has expanded its Connecting for Good programs in the following ways:
Internet for Good
Telus partnered with school boards for K-12 students in need to get high-speed Internet at home for only $9.95 per month
Expanded the program to include people in need and living with disabilities in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec, giving them access…
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TORONTO — In its third report, released today, the C.D. Howe Institute’s new telecommunications policy working group — which includes executives from Bell, Rogers, Telus, Cogeco, Eastlink and Shaw, among others — says cellular phone services have seen a 25% price drop over the past five years, which they say meets Ottawa’s mandated wireless rate cut.
That means, the group says, it’s time to shift the focus of telecom policy debates to other issues, such as the modernization of the CRTC and rate-setting challenges for mandated access.
Citing data from Statistics Canada’s consumer price index, the telecom group says cellular services…
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LONDON, U.K. — While the 4G networks of Canada’s Big Three national operators are among the fastest in the world, their 5G network performance trails operators in other countries, primarily due to spectrum delays faced in Canada, according to a new report from U.K.-based mobile analytics company Opensignal, released Wednesday.
To conduct its research, Opensignal analyzed the current real-world 5G experience of its app users on Canada’s three largest mobile operators — Bell, Rogers and Telus — in terms of average download and upload speeds and their experience when streaming mobile video and compared it to the average 5G experience…
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By Ken Kelley
MONTREAL – Not that we expected otherwise, but there was no dodging the Rogers-Shaw elephant in the room when Cogeco president and CEO Philippe Jetté spoke during the Desjardins’ Group annual Industrials, TMT & Consumer virtual conference Tuesday.
In fact the session’s moderator, analyst Jerome Debreuil, ripped off the band-aid straight away, asking Jetté if he expected Cogeco would be interested in bidding on any wireless assets Rogers may be forced to divest as part of the tie-up.
“There’s a great deal of uncertainty as far as we’re concerned, as to whether the deal will be approved and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – Canada’s big telecoms are divided on a CRTC proposal to create a framework that would establish an independent body tasked with creating and maintaining a block list of known malicious software networks, known as botnets.
A botnet is a network of malware-infected devices that are controlled from a central location and used to do things like steal data and/or send an overwhelming number of communications to a server, which causes it to fail (denial-of-service attack). The increasing number of internet-connected devices coming to market, a lot largely with flimsy security measures, are multiplying the risk of…
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