Wireless ISPs meet urban spectrum deadline, but face higher costs from looming rural transition

telecom | 05/01/2025 3:48 pm EDT

While many wireless internet service providers...

CRTC will not change temporary wholesale decision; final decision still on the table

Internet and Governance | 02/03/2025 6:53 pm EST

The CRTC has decided not to change its temporary decision on the wholesale...

PIAC says administrative monetary penalties appropriate in City Wide dispute over Eastlink service outage response

telecom | 12/18/2023 3:11 pm EST

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the...

Eastlink competitors seeking compensation for “negligence” during outage, ask for investigation similar to Rogers outage

Internet and Governance | 11/16/2023 6:39 pm EST

City Wide Communications Inc., Frontier Networks...

Cabinet should not intervene in non-mandated service: Rogers 

telecom | 10/03/2022 4:55 pm EDT

Rogers Communication Inc. is asking the federal government to reject City Wide Inc.’s request to force Bragg Communication Inc.’s Eastlink to relocate its third-party internet access (TPIA) point of interconnection (POI) to a more central location in Halifax, N.S,...

CRTC to forbear from regulating IXPL services on 12 additional routes

telecom | 03/25/2022 4:32 pm EDT

The CRTC has added a dozen additional routes to its list of interexchange...

CRTC won’t order Bragg to relocate its TPIA point of interconnection

telecom | 03/25/2022 4:17 pm EDT

The commission denied an application by City Wide Communications Inc....

Bell, Rogers, and Quebecor seek first-ever ‘dynamic’ site-blocking order

Media | 07/08/2021 6:22 pm EDT

Nearly six weeks after a Federal Court of Appeal upheld Canada's first-ever...

Federal court backs Eastlink in union expansion dispute

telecom | 03/24/2021 5:29 pm EDT

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 calls for public support in wholesale rates battle

telecom | 01/20/2020 3:47 pm EST

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...

Eastlink intros device switching after one year

telecom | 07/15/2019 5:45 pm EDT

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. ...

Telecoms at odds on mandatory-roaming licence conditions

telecom | 08/22/2017 2:15 pm EDT

The CRTC’s 2015 decision to regulate wholesale wireless roaming has made...

STB data measurement complex task, group says

Media | 06/30/2017 2:23 pm EDT

Activity by a working group tasked with studying the implementation of an audience measurement system via...

Wireless code hasn’t had expected effect on churn: PIAC

telecom | 02/06/2017 11:59 pm EST

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 the Wireless Code Monday, adding that itseffect on encouraging customers to switch providers hasn't been fully realized. “I think the full effect of the Wireless Code's intended market dynamism hasn't really come through yet,” John Lawford, who represented the coalition of consumer interest groups—consisting of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, the Consumer...

Tie tax change to rural broadband: finance committee

telecom | 12/14/2016 10:39 pm EST

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....

Iristel files complaint over Eastlink’s competition refusal

telecom | 11/22/2016 10:24 pm EST

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”...

Wireless Code could use tweaks, providers tell CRTC

telecom | 10/04/2016 8:55 pm EDT

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...

Eastlink launches TV Everywhere app

Media | 09/08/2016 6:41 pm EDT

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)...

Eastlink expanding rural N.S. broadband access

telecom | 08/25/2016 2:51 pm EDT

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 Scotia, there have and continue to be challenges,” Eastlink CEO Lee Bragg said in a press release. The majority of the funding, $5.5 million, will go toward “expansion of the company’s core fibre services” and expanding "access to Internet speeds that will scale to 940 Mbps” in West Pubnica, Guysborough, Inverness, Mabou, Judique,...

Rogers’ OMNI application a ‘band-aid’ solution, critics say

Media | 08/18/2016 7:14 pm EDT

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...

CRTC ‘rebalances’ TV system funds; up to $90M available for local news

Media | 06/15/2016 10:44 pm EDT

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...

Commission hears data cap debate

telecom | 04/27/2016 7:59 pm EDT

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...

Customers say skinny basic not worthwhile: study

Media | 04/15/2016 4:57 pm EDT

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...

CACTUS complaints result in 4 CRTC proceedings

Media | 01/25/2016 4:45 pm EST

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 renews contract with Eastlink for 3 years

telecom | 12/17/2015 3:31 pm EST

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...

Future CraveTV prices unclear for non-Bell customers

telecom | 12/08/2015 9:56 pm EST

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...

How do Shaw’s decisions on Canwest, mobile look today?

Media | 12/07/2015 8:30 pm EST

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...

CRTC says incumbents can’t change terms in interim roaming rates

telecom | 11/30/2015 8:55 pm EST

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 roaming rates must be consistent with the agreements in place at the time the decision was made. In its decision on the wholesale wireless proceeding last year, the CRTC said it would begin regulating the roaming rates the three incumbents charge smaller carriers, and directed the incumbents to file...

Bell holds out on distributing Bloomberg TV

Media | 11/19/2015 7:11 pm EST

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...

CRTC to release ISP performance results in spring

telecom | 11/18/2015 4:31 pm EST

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...

CRTC denies TFO’s must-offer application

Media | 11/12/2015 6:58 pm EST

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...

CraveTV first original series to premiere in February

Media | 11/09/2015 5:19 pm EST

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...

Bell Media launches Discovery GO

Media | 10/26/2015 8:49 pm EDT

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 Discovery, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, Discovery Science, and Discovery Velocity will be available “live and on demand on smartphones, tablets, computers, and television set-top boxes.” The service will be available to customers of Bell’s Fibe TV and satellite TV services, as well as customers of TV service from Shaw Communications Inc. and Eastlink. The company said its Bell FibreOP TV customers who “subscribe to Discovery Canada channels can now enjoy that content on their set-top boxes with app access coming soon.” Bell added that “Discovery GO will soon become one of...

Eastlink to launch gigabit Internet

telecom | 10/14/2015 3:08 pm EDT

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...

Shomi’s open access doesn’t equal white flag for TV services: expert

Media | 08/20/2015 8:21 pm EDT

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...

CNOC fights Eastlink on wholesale prices

telecom | 08/11/2015 6:58 pm EDT

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...

CRTC’s hybrid-VOD category takes effect

Media | 08/06/2015 8:02 pm EDT

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...

Big carriers defend interim tariff terms

telecom | 07/29/2015 8:39 pm EDT

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...

Credential sharing could help, or harm, OTT services

Media | 07/17/2015 7:47 pm EDT

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...

Bell’s CraveTV to go pure OTT

Media | 07/13/2015 10:28 pm EDT

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...

Smaller wireless carriers cry foul on interim-tariff filings

telecom | 06/25/2015 7:24 pm EDT

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...

Fibre Internet customers more satisfied, says market study

Media | 06/24/2015 7:22 pm EDT

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 Thursday. J.D. Power and Associates said in press release that its most recent study of Internet service satisfaction in the country showed 18 per cent of Canadians reporting a fibre-optic connection, up from 15 per cent a year earlier. Internet customers on fibre reported a satisfaction level of 698 out of 1,000, J.D. Power said. Those getting Internet through cable had a satisfaction score of...

Set-asides, caps at issue in upcoming auction of unsold spectrum

telecom | 06/22/2015 8:41 pm EDT

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...

Carriers ordered to comply in Apple competition case

Media | 06/19/2015 6:29 pm EDT

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.,...

BDUs worried about wording in new cancellation regulation

Media | 06/15/2015 8:16 pm EDT

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...

PIAC says evidence shows undue preference with Shomi

Media | 06/12/2015 4:34 pm EDT

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 offers improved home-automation service

telecom | 05/27/2015 8:01 pm EDT

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 prepare for their arrival by doing things things such as setting the temperature to preferred levels and turning on lights, Eastlink said in a press release. The service also allows the occupant to provide unique codes to different people, such as kids or babysitters, and set parameters for when certain people can enter the home. Eastlink's website lists other...

Quebecor adds spectrum, still non-committal on national expansion

telecom | 05/12/2015 2:43 pm EDT

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...

CraveTV now on Apple TV, still requires TV subscription

Media | 05/05/2015 4:02 pm EDT

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 to cover early-cancellation fees for new subs

telecom | 03/23/2015 2:39 pm EDT

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...

Online video factors into cord-cutting: CIRA survey

Media | 02/24/2015 9:43 pm EST

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,...

CTV Go now works with Google Chromecast

Media | 02/12/2015 3:47 pm EST

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...

Shomi, CraveTV could be pulled if PIAC challenge succeeds: analyst

Media | 02/06/2015 10:02 pm EST

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...

Videotron launches original content for Club Illico streaming service

Media | 02/02/2015 9:29 pm EST

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 to fully subsidize iPhone 6 series

telecom | 11/05/2014 8:10 pm EST

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 launches wireless TV

Media | 10/16/2014 4:45 pm EDT

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 at once to be watched from anywhere in the home as well as allowing customers to order their own list of channels and pause live TV. “With Eastlink wireless TV, our customers get an unmatched TV experience hassle-free, whether they're rearranging their living room or watching the big game on the back patio or in the garage,” Eastlink CEO Lee Bragg said in the release....

Rogers takes aim at Telus, Bell network sharing

telecom | 10/01/2014 9:19 pm EDT

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...

Telus, Eastlink provide opposing perspectives on wholesale regulation

telecom | 09/30/2014 9:23 pm EDT

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 calls for regulated access to wireless networks

telecom | 09/25/2014 8:05 pm EDT

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 to discuss wireless services on Thursday

telecom | 09/23/2014 7:54 pm EDT

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...

Another Church report blasts efforts to ‘enhance’ mobile competition

telecom | 08/19/2014 9:01 pm EDT

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 Wilkins’ latest report, released Tuesday, the pair argue there is little evidence that Canada's wireless market does not have sufficient competition, that policies implemented by the government have supported businesses that would otherwise be unviable, and that these interventions have limited the innovation and products that customers might otherwise enjoy from...

Eastlink no longer buying Bruce Telecom

telecom | 08/15/2014 5:34 pm EDT

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...

Lower prices for AWS-3 auction ‘attractive’ for new entrants: analyst

telecom | 07/28/2014 9:37 pm EDT

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...

Savings, simplification cited in BCE takeover of Bell Aliant

telecom | 07/23/2014 8:38 pm EDT

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....

Telecoms owe money for CRTC proceeding on cancellation notice

telecom | 07/03/2014 4:15 pm EDT

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...

Main wireless carriers lost subs in Q1: CWTA

telecom | 06/26/2014 8:40 pm EDT

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 gets carriage on Eastlink, Videotron

Media | 05/13/2014 2:43 pm EDT

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....

Federal government’s approach to wireless has failed: study

telecom | 05/06/2014 9:12 pm EDT

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,...

CRTC extends deadline on wholesale-wireless review

telecom | 04/25/2014 5:08 pm EDT

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...

Data centres a natural evolution for telecoms

telecom | 03/21/2014 8:59 pm EDT

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 “clouds” across Canada. The centres storing all that data have some very specific requirements, and they’re ones Canada happens to fulfill — from a cool climate to a low probability of political upheaval — making it a popular destination for data. Building data centres is also a natural fit for telecoms, which is why companies like BCE Inc. and Rogers...

700 MHz auction results coming Wednesday

telecom | 02/18/2014 10:59 pm EST

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...

Bruce Telecom bid could hint at Eastlink’s spectrum intentions: analyst

telecom | 01/23/2014 10:01 pm EST

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 opens Nova Scotia data centre

telecom | 01/20/2014 7:48 pm EST

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...

Eastlink scraps roaming fees in new plans

telecom | 11/15/2013 9:44 pm EST

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...

Eastlink asks to end 30-day cancellation policies

telecom | 09/11/2013 9:05 pm EDT

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 customers that want to switch providers to wait 30 days to switch, or to pay for services they don’t use. “This practice is anti-consumer and it creates a barrier to the existing Commission customer transfer processes intended to enable a smooth transition when services are transferred to a new service provider,” the company said. Bragg said 30-day cancellation requirements are used as a tool by companies to prevent customers...

Eastlink launches pick-and-pay TV add-on

Media | 08/13/2013 8:57 pm EDT

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...

Eastlink launches remote DVR

Media | 06/12/2013 9:07 pm EDT

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 to launch Fido in Atlantic Canada

telecom | 05/31/2013 6:25 pm EDT

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...