NL Short Takes

Futureway offers high-speed service in Toronto regionFutureway Communications Inc. has unveiled its high-speed service to business clients in the Greater Toronto Area. The CLEC can deliver ADSL and SDSL at greater distances and speeds up to six Mbs. WorldCom opens data centre in Toronto, others may followWorldCom Canada has opened a data centre in Toronto to partner with its recently completed facilities in Vancouver and Montreal. Ron McMurtie, VP global e-services for WorldCom’s parent company, tells Network Letter, "the next spot we’ll be putting an eye on is the Calgary marketplace which has some great business opportunity" although the priority is filling the space in the sites already operating. Cogeco dumps @Home service for own domain nameAs of last Friday, customers of Cogeco Cable Inc.’s high-speed Internet service are switching their email addresses from "@home.com" to "@cogeco.ca". The precarious financial state of @Home’s American parent has led Canadian cablecos, including Shaw Communications Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. to abandon the @home designation in favour of their own. Telus request for filing extension denied by CRTCIn Order 2001-831, the CRTC has rejected a request by Telus Communications Inc. to set a deadline for the filing of restructured band rates (see page 1 story). The commission has also granted interim approval for revised unbundled loop-service order charges in Decision 2001-694. The CRTC has received Part VII appeals from Call-Net Enterprises Inc. against Bell Canada, and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre on toll rates and on the contribution regime. Bell discontinues Yellow Pages in western provincesBell Canada is not printing Yellow Pages directories for Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. The telco will rely on online directories instead. Consumers in Winnipeg are about to get an alternative to MTS’ Yellow Pages. The Winnipeg Telephone Book Co., which has been printing a small directory for areas outside the city, will now distribute the book to each household in Winnipeg. Ottawa gas lines considered for fibre optic networksSempra Fiber Links, a division of Sempra Energy of San Diego CA, is in discussions with Enbridge Consumers Gas to use its gas lines in Ottawa for fibre-optic cable. A similar deal has been struck between the City of Ottawa and Stream Intelligent Networks of Toronto. EnerSource to build next-gen networks in MississaugaEnerSource Telecom Inc., the telecommunications arm of the Mississauga ON utility company, has signed a deal with Foundry Networks Inc. to build its next-gen metropolitan area network. The Utel will offer its customers LAN services, video conferencing, web services and managed network services through six major service POPs. Aliant subsidiary slashes 80 positions in Saint JohnSaint John NB-based iMagic TV has cut 80 employees from its workforce. Company president Marcel LeBrun says the company, a division of Aliant Inc., is offering career counseling along with severance packages to the discarded workers. Telecom revenues up in second quarter, StatsCan reportsOperating revenues for Q2 of 2001 reached $8.07 billion, up 3.2% from Q1 and 6.3% from Q2 of 2000, Statistics Canada reports. Capex for the wireline sector was $1.34 billion, representing 22% of operating revenues. Broadband initiative backed by Canadian Library AssociationThe Canadian Library Association has endorsed the broadband strategy being promoted by the federal government. The National Broadband Task Force laid out the details of the plan in its report last summer (NL, June 18/01). CyPost Corp. expands capacity through Verizon dealVancouver’s CyPost Corp. has signed a deal with Verizon to expand its network in Mount Vernon WA. CyPost, which operates under the Connect Northwest Internet Services name, provides online access in Canada and the Pacific Northwest in the United States. Nisga’a launches web site, other cities get high-speed accessThe Nisga’a tribe in British Columbia has launched its own web site as a source for information on the native people’s culture, history and government. In other Internet news, several western ILECs are rolling out high-speed service to communities in their territories. Telus is moving into Nelson B.C., SaskTel’s DSL service is now available in Langham, and MTS is rolling out into Carberry, Pine Falls, Powerview, Roblin and Russell. Core Networks signs resale agreement for Latin AmericaCore Networks Inc. of Halifax has signed a reseller agreement with TVC Latin America. TVC will represent the Canadian equipment manufacturer in South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. Core has made modifications to its CoreOS provisioning system to help ISPs move to the DOCSIS 1.1 standard. Cisco finds room at the inn with Fairmont HotelsFairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc. plans to provide its hotel rooms with high-speed Internet access through a recently signed deal with Cisco Systems Inc. Fairmont operates such landmark lodges as Vancouver’s Empress, the Royal York in Toronto, Ottawa’s Chateau Laurier and the Queen Elizabeth in Montreal. Telus cards to be distributed by Go Prepaid across CanadaToronto’s Go Prepaid Inc. has inked an agreement with Telus to sell the telco’s Talk & Surf card across the country. The card provides toll-free Internet access in North America, flat rate LD and toll-free voicemail service. Excel Canada introduces nickel resolution as new LD planExcel Canada, a subsidiary of Excel Communications Inc., has unveiled its Nickel Deal, a LD plan that lets customers call anywhere in Canada for five cents on weekends and weekday evenings, with a monthly charge of $3.99. There are also daytime Canadian rates and Canada-to-U.S. prices. BCE Inc. sold Excel Communications to VarTech Telecom Inc. of Dallas last summer. Call centre helps Kingston weather economic stormA study by Ottawa consulting firm Doyletech Corp. and S. Rayner & Associates Ltd. of Kingston finds the establishment of a call centre has had a multi-million dollar impact on Kingston. StarTek Inc. opened its first Canadian operation in the Limestone City this summer (NL, July 3/01). African connectivity increasing, ITU data study reportsAll countries in Africa now are connected to the Internet and the sub-Saharan region has passed the threshold of one telephone subscriber per 100 inhabitants. Those are among the findings of a new report from the Telecommunications Data and Statistics Unit of the International Telecommunications Union. The study was released at the just-concluded ITU Telecom Africa 2001 conference in Johannesburg. PacketCable device ready to be launched next yearCable Television Laboratories has announced its PacketCable project is ready to qualify vendor product next year. PacketCable helps cablecos deliver IP telephony (NL, Nov. 6/01). Nortel signs American upgrade agreement with SprintSprint will convert its local circuit switched network to a packet switched network in January 2003. Nortel Networks Corp. will provide products and services for the initial phase of the conversion, which runs from January 2003 until July 2006. The deal is worth US$1.1 billion. SS8 contracts and then expands workforce the following daySS8 Networks, a San Jose CA company that has its R&D centre in Ottawa, cut 20 jobs in late October. The next day, the firm purchased the enhanced services division of Minnesota’s ADC Telecommunications Inc. Telus buys Unix division of defunct Ottawa companyTelus Enterprise Solutions has bought the Unix outsourcing section of Rebel.com from KPMG, which was acting as receiver for the bankrupt firm. Telus is hiring 30 workers who were previously with Rebel.com. Cognicase wins contract from NYC board of educationMontreal IT products and services provider Cognicase has won a US$2.1 million contract from the New York City Board of Education to enhance and operate the Internet architecture of the board. The board has wired 1,200 schools and 72,000 workstations. The Blair Bison Project hits Manitoba screensManitoba Telecom Services is running trailers for its animated movie You’ll Scream Too at cinemas in Winnipeg. The cartoon features MTS mascot Morty the Bison telling his friends about the legend of Spatula Jack. The trailer and the three-minute film are online at the MTS web site.

NL Short Takes

News | November 19, 2001

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