NL Short Takes

Foreign ownership issue rears head at Heritage CommitteeIt shouldn’t likely come as any surprise that the contentious issue of foreign ownership in telecommunications and broadcasting was discussed at a recent hearing of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. On October 30, CRTC chair Charles Dalfen testified in front of the committee as part of its study of the commission’s mandate and priorities. During the nearly two-hour session, Dalfen was peppered from a number of committee members on the foreign ownership issue and whether any relaxation or elimination of limits for telecommunications companies would have any effect on the broadcasting sector. Diplomatic in his responses, the outgoing CRTC chair noted that the commission takes its cues from the government. NDP member Charlie Angus asked how the CRTC would deal with maintaining Canadian content obligations in a deregulated telecommunications environment. Daflen said the commission hasn’t looked at scenarios and doesn’t have time to do that. In the instance that the government issued a policy direction regarding the elimination of foreign ownership rules, how would the CRTC react? asked Angus. Dalfen responded by saying the CRTC is bound by law to follow policy directives. "We would have to say that the government has given us a directive and that we are legally bound to give effect to it," he said. The foreign ownership conundrum has yet to officially come up in Parliament, but all indications point to something happening on that front. As Angus pointed out during his questioning of Dalfen, the government appears to be pushing hard on the international scene the proposition that Canada is going to eliminate foreign ownership rules in the telecommunications sector. "Right now Canada is at GATS as the lead country on further stripping telecommunications deregulation," he said noting that Canada already has a fairly deregulated telecom market. "But the push that’s coming from this government and Mr. Bernier very clearly, stripping of foreign ownership restrictions on telecom – that’s our position internationally and it’s something I suppose we would be having to meet domestically." Bernier, minister for Industry Canada, is leading the charge for a more relaxed regulatory environment for telecommunications services in Canada. And while foreign ownership isn’t yet officially on his agenda, the removal of such rules does fit with his relying on market forces to the maximum extent possible mantra. MTS ups light high-speed InternetMTS Allstream Inc. has doubled the speed of its High Speed Internet Light service to up to 256 Kbps. "We are constantly improving service for our customers, and high-speed Internet is no exception," said Kelvin Shepherd, MTS’ president of consumer markets, in a news release. "As content on the Internet becomes richer, consumers want higher speeds to take advantage of it." Residential MTS customers can now choose between three different Internet speeds and pricing options, including High Speed Internet Lightning with download speeds up to 5 Mbps, and High Speed Internet Lightning Max with download speeds up to 7 Mbps. The revamped Light service is available to all MTS serving areas, including Winnipeg, Brandon and over 160 communities. Vidéotron combines home and wireless phone with DuophoneThe new Duophone package from Vidéotron ltée is the first offer in the telephone market to combine cable telephone and wireless telephone services by allowing unlimited calling between subscribers to the two Vidéotron options. Specifically, the promotional Duophone package includes unlimited local calls between Vidéotron wireless subscribers, unlimited local calls between Vidéotron wireless and Vidéotron cable telephone subscribers, and unlimited free long-distance within Quebec between Vidéotron cable telephone subscribers. "As we approach the holiday season, when families gather and safety is of paramount importance, the Duphone package will help our customers stay in touch at all times," said Manon Brouillette, senior VP of marketing, content and product development at Vidéotron, in a press release. UK cable operator uses Nortel optical solution for triple playThe UK’s largest cable operator ntl Telewest is using a Nortel Networks optical solution to deliver its voice, video and data triple-play services to residential and enterprise customers. Nortel’s next-generation Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing solution increases the capacity and capability of ntl Telewest’s backbone network, helping support the company’s digital TV with video on demand, unlimited broadband, home phone and mobile services. "We selected Nortel for its advanced next-generation optical technology and experience in building and operating networks of this scale," said ntl Telewest CTO Howard Watson in a press release. "We are developing a highly agile and flexible network that can evolve efficiently and cost-effectively as our business grows." Telus PSA: protect yourself from simple phone scamTelus Corp. is reminding its customers to take the simple steps to protect themselves from a resurging phone scam. Numerous businesses and consumers have reported receiving calls from someone posing as a Telus technician asking them to "dial 9-0, followed by the number sign" to get access to an outside line for repair work. Another variation of the same scam involve being asked to dial 9 to claim a prize. While residential customers are not at risk, businesses risk having the scammers access a line through which they can place overseas calls at the businesses’ expense. To protect themselves, businesses should implement a policy that no unknown caller will be transferred to an outside line and switchboard operators should challenge all suspicious calls. Axia, Vinci score another broadband concession in FranceAnother department in France has awarded a broadband Internet Protocol network concession contract to the 50/50 joint venture between Calgary-based Axia NetMedia Corp. and Vinci Networks. The concession for the départment de Seine-et-Marne is a 20-year service contract with a total initial network cost of 74.5 million euros. Construction of the 1,100-kilometre network, which includes 33 WiMAX extensions, is scheduled to begin in January 2007 and is expected to be ready to provide service to some communities by the middle of next year. The fibre network will be built through 346 industrial zones with fibre placements close to 480 public buildings and thousands of companies. Packet-transport equipment sales up 9% in Q3 ’06: OvumTelecom equipment market research firm Ovum-RHK has reported that global service provider packet-transport equipment sales grew to $2.3 billion in the third quarter of this year, up 2% over the last quarter and 9% over the same quarter in 2005. Ovum-RHK also reports that Cisco Systems Inc. and Juniper Networks Inc. continue to rule the IP transport and services market with 60% and 22% market share respectively in Q3 2006. "With some concerns entering Q4 2006 about whether the usual end-of-year budget flush will happen, we are looking forward to the first half of 2007 for stronger growth as some major deployments in Asia and North America may start to grow spending," said Mark Seery, VP of IP service infrastructure at Ovum-RHK, in a press release

NL Short Takes

News | 11/24/2006 5:00 am EST

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