NL Short Takes

CEP sounds alarm over Scott’s comments on foreign ownershipPeter Murdoch, media VP of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), says he is alarmed by comments made by the federal Competition commissioner. Sheridan Scott, the head of the Competition Bureau of Canada and a former senior executive with Bell Canada, told the media that foreigners should be allowed to buy Canadian telephone companies. She cautioned though that changing the rules overnight would not be advisable. "Ms. Scott and the Liberal government are looking at the issue only in terms of the potential value of such a move to a handful of investors," Murdoch said. "In reality the issue is much broader. It is a question of sovereignty, of public interest and equality of economic development. Just as alarming is the potential disastrous impact on Canadian culture." Konrad von Finckenstein, the commissioner of competition previous to Scott, also noted before parliamentary committee hearings last year that the bureau was in favour of easing the restrictions and of applying the same rules to telcos and broadcast distributors (NL, March 11/03). The CEP is a member of a coalition that has vowed to make foreign ownership an election campaign issue (NL, Jan. 19/04). It is currently co-sponsoring a nationwide series of meetings on the question of foreign ownership of telephone and broadcast companies. Bell Canada issues medium-term note debenturesBell Canada announced March 11 that it was issuing $450 million of medium-term note debentures, the proceeds of which will be used to repay maturing debt and for general corporate purposes. The Series M-17 debentures, which will be dated March 16, 2004 and will mature March 16, 2035, will be issued at a price of $99.572 for a yield to the investor of 6.131% compounded semi-annually. Bell Canada provides funding to 19 Ontario communitiesBell Canada announced March 11 that it was granting $493,500 to 19 Ontario communities to stimulate growth and innovation through improved communications technology. The money was the third installment of its $1-million commitment from the Bell Canada Community Development Fund. Toronto startup Arcturus introduces VoIP adapterToronto-based Arcturus Networks Inc. has introduced a new analog telephony adapter dubbed the SIPjack. The adapter is business-card sized and production ready. By using a SIPjack, any residential broadband connection can become a phone line, according to the company. To place a call with the device, the user picks up their regular analog telephone and dials the desired number. SIPjack translates the touch tones, digitally encodes the analog telephone signal, and routes the voice stream across the Internet. The product family will eventually include a multi-port LAN router, wireless access point base station, and combination cordless handset. Aliant workers to vote on strike "in the coming weeks"Telephone workers in Atlantic Canada will vote "in the coming weeks" on whether or not to strike against their employer, Aliant Telecom. The 4,300 members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada are being told by their union that "the contract offer we have from Aliant falls seriously short in the areas of pension, money and contract language," and that it is recommending rejecting it. The latest contract offer was made during conciliation, which began late last year. The workers could be in a legal strike position in April. Teleresolve reaches settlement with Competition BureauTeleresolve Inc., an affiliate of Goldline Telemanagement Inc., has agreed to pay a $750,000 administrative fee to the Competition Bureau of Canada in a settlement reached with regard to prepaid long-distance phone cards. As part of the consent agreement, Teleresolve also agreed to provide a 50% credit of the value of all WOW and LILY cards to customers with proof of purchase. The company has since pulled its WOW and LILY prepard cards from the market. The settlement addresses the bureau’s concerns of alleged false and misleading representation with regard to Teleresolve’s prepaid long-distance phone cards. Some consumers reported problems such as hidden fees, higher per minute rates than advertised, and less minutes provided than originally advertised. Wightman Telecom buys Spediant DSL gearClifford ON-based independent telco Wightman Telecom is buying gear from NJ-based Spediant Systems to provide fibre-speed last-mile connectivity for its data services. Wightman is using Spediant’s products to connect its wireless nodes to collocated central offices of other telephone companies in the Ontario towns where it provides competitive services. Mountain Cablevision ups speed of Internet serviceHamilton ON-based Mountain Cablevision Ltd. announced March 15 that it has increased its residential high-speed Internet download speeds to 5 Mbps, which it says represents the fastest residential Internet speeds on the market today. Pat Kiely, Mountain’s director of business operations and development, says the 5 Mbps speed is three times faster than Bell Sympatico’s residential DSL service. He also notes that the $39.95 per month price is $5 less than what it costs for Sympatico. TelePlus rolling out virtual cellular network in U.S.TelePlus Enterprises Inc. announced March 17 that it has initiated final development of its private label wireless service, TelePlus Wireless Corp. Handsets and services will be rolled out in selected locations within the United States. There are no current plans to introduce the service in Canada.

NL Short Takes

News | March 18, 2004

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