Our vision at BCE is simple: To bring the world to Canadians and Canadians to the world through communications. That’s ambitious. But a vision must be powerful and far-reaching.

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GT Group Telecom has appointed Michael Kurtz as VP and GM prairie region. He previously worked with IBM, Intergraph and Unisys.

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CRTC grants licences to aspiring CLECs
Combined Telecom Inc and Combined Xchange Telecom have received Class B licences from the CRTC, thus clearing the way for the firms to become CLECs. In other commission news, Public Notice 2000-124-1 grants an extension to those seeking to file comments on access to multi-dwelling units, in-building wiring and riser space. The new deadline is October 31. Télébec’s 1999 final contribution rate was approved by Order 2000-861, while Québec-Téléphone had its 1999 rate adopted through Order 2000-860. Contribution exemptions were granted to MaxLink Communications Inc under Order 2000-862 and to RSL Com Canada Inc through Order 2000-864. The Atlantic Provinces Telecommunications Council learned of its new toll-free payphone rates in Order 2000-863. QuebecTel has also been given approval to introduce its Basic Listing Interchange File service.

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A group of telephone directory publishers claims the telcos are giving them the shaft financially and it wants the CRTC to do something about it. The seven firms say the telecom companies are overcharging them for the names and numbers of subscribers. They have filed a review-and-vary application with the commission seeking redress.

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Quebecor Inc startled many in the telephony world last week when it announced that the telecom assets of le Groupe Vidéotron ltée would be put on the selling block. It wasn’t the decision to sell that caught the industry off guard so much as the speed with which Quebecor acted. Some industry analysts believed the media conglomerate would study the subsidiary first to determine its potential value to Quebecor’s Canoe Internet portal.

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The demand for bandwidth is growing steadily, but government and industry are slow to respond, experts told a conference in Ottawa recently. All of the participants at a panel of the Canadian Institute of Telecommunications Research extolled the various delivery types, but said more developments are looming.

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Canada is facing a critical shortage of information and communications technology (ICT) professionals, and a new industry-led consortium has launched a major campaign to squeeze $550-$600 million from the federal government to combat the problem. Key details of the proposal will be hammered out this week when some of the industry’s elite – including Peter Nicholson (BCE Inc) and Jocelyn Ghent-Mallett (former Industry Canada DG) – meet to decide how the money would be administered and handed out.

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With all the hoopla over BCE Inc expanding into broadcasting and publishing, the conglomerate may be in danger of disregarding its core business. Several analysts believe the company is ignoring its telecom roots in favour of sexier, but not necessarily more profitable sidelines.

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