The price cap hearings brought all facets of Canadian society to the CRTC to discuss proposed rate increases. Walter Noel, Newfoundland’s consumer affairs minister, spoke out against Aliant’s application. An edited version of his remarks appears here.

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Leo Hindery is the new chair at GT Group Telecom Inc. He has been chair/CEO of GlobalCenter Inc and president/CEO of AT&T Broadband.

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Look receives further extension from courts
Troubled broadband carrier Look Communications Inc has been granted an extension under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The firm now has until Nov. 30 to arrange new financing.

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A group of broadcasters is seeking to reopen the book on contribution by turning to the federal Cabinet to have broadcasters exempted from the telephone subsidy regime. While many had assumed the issue had finally been resolved, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), the Canadian Satellite Users’ Association and Star Choice Television Network Inc have filed a petition to Cabinet against the CRTC ruling.

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The Canadian telecom sector was apparently at home when the political party bagmen came calling last year. The Chief Electoral Officer of Canada released his report on contributions to all of the registered political parties in Canada made in 2000. The telcos and others in the industry were generous to the five groups in the House of Commons, donating $442,372.

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The meltdown in the telecom market has led to calls for the junking of the price cap regime, but one of the prime beneficiaries of that mechanism warns that such pleas are shortsighted.

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Consumers have benefited from competition in the telephone market, even as the competitors are taking a financial beating. That is the overriding message of a report on the state of the market released by the CRTC.

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Canada has made a major move forward in IP research thanks to a joint project of Ottawa’s Mitel Networks Corp and Analog Devices Inc of Norwood MA. The two telecom manufacturers have joined up to provide cash and equipment to Carleton University to establish a state-of-the-art training lab.

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