Several telecoms are asking the CRTC to launch a proceeding looking at how much it should regulate residential and business wireline voice services.
BCE Inc., Telus Corp., Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink, Quebecor Inc., and Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding...
While many wireless internet service providers successfully navigated the recent deadline imposed by the government to cease operating in urban areas on a band of spectrum...
The CRTC has decided not to change its temporary decision on the wholesale...
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the...
City Wide Communications Inc., Frontier Networks...
Rogers Communication Inc. is asking the federal government to reject City...
The CRTC has added a dozen additional routes to its list of interexchange private line (IXPL) services that it is forbearing from regulation.
In a decision released Friday,...
The commission denied an application by City Wide Communications Inc....
Nearly six weeks after a Federal Court of Appeal upheld Canada's first-ever...
The Federal Court of Appeals handed a small win to Bragg Communications Inc. in a dispute with trade union Unifor, in which the union was seeking to enlarge a collective bargaining unit of Eastlink...
TekSavvy Solutions Inc. has launched a public campaign urging the federal government to reject petitions filed by the major telecommunications providers, calling on it to reverse a CRTC decision that...
Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink is bringing in a program that encourages customers to upgrade their phones after 12 months -- bucking an industry trend of switching at the end of the standard two-year contract term. ...
The CRTC’s 2015 decision to regulate wholesale wireless roaming has made...
Activity by a working group tasked with studying the implementation of an audience measurement system via...
GATINEAU, QUE. — The Wireless Code has been a positive development for consumers in the three years since its implementation, consumer groups said on the first day of the CRTC's hearing on...
A House of Commons committee has recommended that if changes to the tax structure for telecom expenses are implemented in next year’s budget, they be tied to rural broadband investment. In a report tabled in Parliament Dec. 7, the standing committee on finance set out 81 recommendations stemming from its pre-budget consultations. Included in that list was that government “prioritize measures in relation to strategic green, social and core infrastructure that have a direct and measurable impact on the Canadian economy, and that attract or facilitate foreign investment and...
Iristel Inc. has filed a complaint with the CRTC over what it says is a “refusal” of Bragg Communication Inc.’s Eastlink to “implement local competition”...
While the general consensus among the industry’s biggest players is that the Wireless Code has been an effective tool over the past three years, it could do with few upgrades, according to submissions made to the CRTC’s review of the regulation. Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. argued a return to three-year contracts is in...
Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink unveiled its new TV Everywhere offering Thursday, Eastlink Stream, offering a one-stop-shop for television subscribers to access content from multiple networks and over-the-top (OTT)...
Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink is investing $6.5 million to expand high-speed Internet services to rural Nova Scotia, the company announced Thursday. “We appreciate that when it comes to Internet in rural Nova...
Rogers Communications Inc.’s proposal for a new national ethnic programming service is neither innovative nor appropriate in today’s TV environment aimed at providing consumers more choice, critics of the application said in interventions filed with the CRTC. “Rogers, with their correct assertion that there exist many options for Canadians to choose from to access ethnic programing, prove the point that OMNI is not unique, not rare, and certainly not...
The CRTC has established new funding for local television news in a decision on its local and community TV hearing, though advocates expressed concern that the changes won’t happen quickly...
CRTC commissioners presiding over the basic services hearing continued to hear conflicting opinions over the effectiveness and necessity of including data caps in Internet packages Wednesday. The idea of enshrining a minimum...
More than 66,000 Canadians have signed up for a skinny-basic TV package since its rollout on March 1, according to the CRTC. In a Friday press release, the regulator said a third of those who signed up also took...
The CRTC has grouped 61 complaints by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) into four Part 1 proceedings, giving Shaw Communications Inc., Cogeco Cable Inc., Rogers...
Ericsson AB announced Thursday that it has renewed its agreement with Eastlink to expand and upgrade its LTE and HSPA networks, as well as continue to be the exclusive supplier for radio access network equipment for another three...
Subscribers to BCE Inc.’s TV services will pay more for CraveTV starting in February, though the company isn’t saying how much customers who get the streaming service through other TV-service providers, or those...
Yesterday's actions can have a profound influence on tomorrow. Such a notion might apply to a couple of decisions Shaw Communications Inc. has made in the last half-decade. The first of those was its 2010 move to spend $2 billion to purchase the broadcasting assets of Canwest Global Communications Corp., which included...
The CRTC has told Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc., and Telus Corp. that the terms and conditions in interim tariffs the incumbents filed following the CRTC’s move in May to regulate some...
When Channel Zero Inc. announced the launch of its Bloomberg TV Canada channel this week, it listed every TV-service provider that was carrying it and absent from that list was Canada's biggest provider of TV service. Channel Zero said in a press release that the new business-news channel is being carried by Rogers Communications Inc., Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Inc., Manitoba Telecom Services Inc., Eastlink, Telus Corp., Shaw Communications Inc.'s cable and satellite systems and Cogeco Cable Inc. in Ontario. It added that Cogeco and Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron would...
The CRTC said Wednesday it will, in spring 2016, release a preliminary report on the results of an ongoing study of the broadband performance of various Canadian Internet service providers (ISPs). The regulator said in a press...
The CRTC denied an application by Groupe Média TFO, Ontario’s French-language public broadcaster, for a must-offer order that would have required TV providers to offer its French-language educational TV service in English-language and French-language markets across the country. TFO had argued in its application that “maintaining and...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media said Monday that its streaming service, CraveTV, will debut its first original series — a comedy called Letterkenny — on Feb. 7. Bell Media noted in a press release that this happens to be...
BCE Inc.’s media division has launched a TV-everywhere app for five Discovery Canada channels, and said Discovery GO would soon begin offering 4K content. The company said in a press release Monday that programming from...
Eastlink said Wednesday that it will begin offering Internet service with gigabit speeds to its residential customers in Halifax next month. The move follows similar launches by companies including Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc., and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron in recent months. In a press release Wednesday, Eastlink said the Gig Internet service would have intial speeds of up to 950 Mbps. After Atlantic Canada, Eastlink said it will expand the service in other areas of Canada in 2016. Eastlink CEO Lee Bragg said in the press release that the move positions the company "to...
As of Thursday, any Canadian with Internet was able subscribe to Shomi without being a customer of other services from its owners, Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc., though one industry observer said this does not mean these companies have given up on their TV services. Shomi announced Thursday in a...
The Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC), representing independent Internet service providers, has asked the CRTC to prevent Eastlink from changing the way it calculates wholesales costs for use of its network. CNOC said...
The CRTC on Thursday released final rules for a new category of video-on-demand (VOD) services in which operators can avoid regular broadcast regulations, even if the service is offered through a broadcast-distribution...
Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. took issue with a complaint by small wireless carriers that their interim tariffs include “onerous” terms and conditions, arguing the Telecommunications Act requires...
The practice of sharing passwords so that more than one person or household can access a streaming service has financial ramifications for the industry, according to a new report, though it could also provide new services with a...
BCE Inc. will make its CraveTV streaming service available to all Canadians as of Jan 1., 2016, it said in a press release Monday, in what marks a change in strategy for the company. Bell Media president Mary Ann Turcke said...
Wind Mobile, Quebecor Inc. and Eastlink are asking the CRTC to require incumbent wireless carriers to re-file documents relating to interim tariffs and conditions for domestic roaming access. As part...
The proportion of Canadians connected to the Internet by fibre is rising and these people are more satisfied with their Internet service than others, according to market research data released...
Large wireless carriers are arguing for the elimination of set-asides and spectrum caps in the upcoming auction of unsold AWS-3 and 700 MHz spectrum, while smaller competitors say those measures should be kept in place. The government is set to auction off unsold portions of 700 MHz and AWS-3 spectrum this August. Companies will bid on one licence in the North, which went unsold in the 700 MHz auction last year, and on three licences that remained unallocated after the AWS-3 auction in March this year, in the North, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Reply comments were posted on Industry...
The Federal Court has ordered wireless carriers to provide information being asked for by the Competition Bureau as it looks into whether Apple Inc. engaged in anticompetitive practices related to sales of its iPhone. BCE Inc.,...
Canadian TV providers are worried the wording the CRTC proposed to prohibit policies requiring 30-day notice to cancel TV services could be interpreted to apply to the cancellation of individual...
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) told the CRTC that evidence presented by other parties supports its case that Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.'s Shomi has not been distributed in line with...
Eastlink on Tuesday announced it is offering a new and improved security-and-automation service for homes. Among other things, the new service called Winston can detect when the home occupant is approaching the residence and...
Quebecor Inc. is still publicly sitting on the fence when it comes to expanding its wireless service throughout Canada despite bidding $187 million on 2500 MHz spectrum, including for licences outside Quebec, in an auction for which results were announced Tuesday. After Telus Corp., Quebecor was the second-biggest spender in the auction, acquiring 18 licences in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. Industry Canada said the purchases increased Quebecor's spectrum holdings by 28 per...
BCE Inc. announced Tuesday that its CraveTV streaming service is now available to Canadians on Apple TV, but subscriptions to a participating TV service provider are still required to access the...
Eastlink will provide up to $200 to buy out the contracts of new customers switching to its wireless services from competing providers, the company said in a press release Monday. The company said in...
Newly released results from a Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) survey show the availability of online video content is a factor for four in 10 Canadian Internet users who do not subscribe to cable TV. The data,...
BCE Inc.'s CTV network announced Thursday that its TV everywhere service, CTV Go, has become the first of its kind in Canada to work with Google Inc.'s Chromecast streaming device. Chromecast is a thumb-sized device that...
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) on Friday asked the CRTC to prohibit Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. from restricting the availability of their streaming...
MONTREAL — Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron hopes that producing original content exclusively for its Club Illico streaming service will help the company attract and keep subscribers, said...
Eastlink said Wednesday it will start offering the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus for no money down with two-year contracts to customers on Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island starting Friday. The company said in a press release...
Eastlink announced a wireless TV service Thursday that will allow customers to use the company’s Maestro DVRs wirelessly on up to six different TVs. The company said in a news release the DVRs will record up to six programs...
GATINEAU, Que. — It's not always a case of the wireless incumbents battling newer entrants; Wednesday's session of the CRTC hearing into the wholesale wireless market featured one of the big three throwing its two closest competitors under the bus. Representatives from Rogers Communications Inc. made the case on the third day of the week-long hearing that rivals Telus Corp. and BCE Inc., which have a comprehensive network-sharing agreement, should be forced to negotiate with smaller carriers as two separate companies. Rogers vice-president of regulatory affairs Ken Engelhart...
GATINEAU, Que. — The CRTC on Tuesday got opposing opinions on the need for wholesale wireless market regulation from two wireless carriers with very different perspectives. Incumbent carrier...
Cogeco Cable Inc. wants the CRTC to set up regulated access to established wireless carriers’ networks, president and CEO Louis Audet said during a conference call with media Thursday....
Cogeco Cable Inc. said Tuesday it will hold a conference call with journalists on Thursday to discuss "the future of mobile services in Canada." Cogeco has indicated an interest in launching wireless service, and it is...
University of Calgary economists Jeffrey Church and Andrew Wilkins are back at it, criticizing government attempts to bring more competition to Canada's wireless sector and insisting those efforts amount to a subsidization of non-viable companies by taxpayers with no justifiable benefit to consumers. In Church and...
Bragg Communications Inc., which operates Eastlink, won’t be buying Bruce Telecom, the Competition Bureau said Friday. The bureau said in a press release that it reviewed the proposed acquisition and concluded that had it “proceeded as proposed, it would have likely resulted in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition in the towns of Port Elgin and Paisley, [Ont.], where the two firms are the only providers of wireline telecommunications services.” The two companies “ultimately decided to abandon the proposed transaction,” it added. The...
The minimum opening bids for the entirety of the available spectrum in the upcoming AWS-3 auction total $162.45 million, with a $97.45 million minimum for the blocks set aside for smaller carriers, Industry Canada said Monday as it launched a consultation on its proposed auction framework. In a Monday research...
Saving money, simplifying operations and creating a stronger telecom competitor in Atlantic Canada were among the reasons cited for why BCE Inc. is seeking ownership of all parts of Bell Aliant Inc....
The CRTC said on Thursday both the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the DiversityCanada Foundation are owed costs they incurred to make submissions in a CRTC proceeding on whether wireline...
Wireless subscribers declined during the first quarter among Canada's publicly traded carriers, according a compilation posted on the website of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA). According to the...
BeIN Sports Canada, the sports specialty television network owned by Qatari Sports Investments, said Tuesday that it is adding its channel to the East Coast and Quebec markets through Eastlink and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron....
The federal government’s meddling in the wireless market over the past seven years and its focus on bringing a fourth carrier into every region has failed to bring about meaningful competition,...
The CRTC said Friday that the deadline for initial interventions in its review of wholesale wireless services has been extended to May 15 from May 1. Other dates, such as the Aug. 20 deadline for further interventions and the...
Consumers and businesses alike have been storing increasing amounts of data in the cloud in recent years, a movement that has precipitated the building of a growing number of secure, air-conditioned, server-filled...
Industry Minister James Moore will announce the results of the government’s 700 MHz spectrum auction Wednesday afternoon in Ottawa, the federal government said Tuesday. The auction opened Jan. 14 and was a chance for wireless incumbents and new entrants to get access to new airwaves that would allow them to deliver the latest gadgets at the fastest speeds. Since at least 2012, the Harper government has promoted the idea of a strong fourth wireless carrier in every region of the country to compete with the big three incumbents: BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. The...
Eastlink’s purchase of a small municipally-owned telecom provider in southwestern Ontario might indicate it intends to buy spectrum there in the 700 MHz auction that got underway last week, said...
Eastlink has opened a data centre in Sambro, N.S., the company said in a release Monday. Eastlink (owned by Bragg Communications Inc.) said the Pennant Point Data Centre is currently operational and serving customers in Atlantic...
Regional telecom provider Eastlink launched new mobile plans that will allow its subscribers to use their wireless devices in other parts of the country without incurring roaming fees, the company said. Eastlink (owned by Bragg Communications Inc.) said in a release Friday that its new mobile plans give its Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island wireless...
Bragg Communications Inc. has asked the CRTC to prohibit telecom providers from requiring customers to give 30 days’ notice to cancel their telecom services. In an application dated Sept. 3, Bragg, which operates as Eastlink, said an increasing number of telecom providers have implemented 30-day cancellation policies in recent years, causing...
Eastlink introduced a new pick-and-pay option that will allow customers to add individual channels to their TV service packages, the company said. In a release Tuesday, Eastlink, a Bragg Communications Inc. subsidiary, said it launched a new “Personal Picks” television option on Monday, which allows its TV subscribers to “choose and pay for the channels they want.” Under the new offer, subscribers can add channels to their basic TV subscription at a cost of $3 per channel per month, the company’s website says. They can also add a bundle of any 12 of those...
Eastlink introduced a feature that will allow customers to use computers, tablets and smartphones to program their personal video recorder (PVR) devices, the company said. In a release Wednesday, the Bragg Communications Inc. subsidiary said the Eastlink Remote DVR will allow customers to access a TV guide, search for programs, and view, cancel or...
Rogers Communications Inc. will offer its discount wireless brand Fido in Halifax and Fredericton this spring, as well as in Moncton and Saint John, N.B., the company said. In a release Friday, Rogers said it will launch the Fido brand in five kiosk locations in the four cities, and through “over 50 third-party retailers,” including some in...
