CRTC urged to put a moratorium on broadband fund contributions

telecom | 07/24/2023 5:37 pm EDT

Telecoms and other stakeholders have had their say on proposed changes to...

CRTC missed opportunity to hold NorthwesTel accountable to consumer concerns in Far North: PIAC

telecom | 06/01/2023 5:18 pm EDT

The CRTC presented its public opinion research...

SSi Micro given extension on filing for broadband funding

telecom | 03/13/2023 3:41 pm EDT

Monday the CRTC granted SSi Micro Ltd. an extension of the deadline for...

Wholesale access in the North is essential for service improvement, Indigenous economic development: stakeholders tell CRTC

telecom | 02/17/2023 5:26 pm EST

There is a consensus forming that the CRTC should...

Northwestel may provide FTTP services 35% below price floor and discount to Wholesale Connect: CRTC

telecom | 12/20/2022 5:46 pm EST

The CRTC approved an application by BCE Inc.’s Northwestel to modify the tariff approval process for the company’s terrestrial retail residential internet services by...

ITPA wants national NG911 rate; incumbents tell CRTC not to use, or to limit, funding

telecom | 05/25/2022 6:27 pm EDT

The Independent Telecommunications Providers...

CRTC approves Northwestel internet tariffs

telecom | 01/27/2022 3:53 pm EST

The CRTC approved two internet tariffs from BCE Inc.’s Northwestel Thursday, over objections from some stakeholders in the north. In October 2020 the telecom filed tariff notice (TN) 1099 which would have introduced three new...

Intervenors take issue with ISED’s proposed Tier 5 service areas in rural spectrum consultation

telecom | 01/11/2022 5:00 pm EST

Tier 5 service areas are “too large”  to meet...

ISED approves Rogers subordinated spectrum licence to SSi Micro

telecom | 11/04/2021 4:18 pm EDT

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) approved to subdivide and subordinate spectrum licences in northern Quebec from Rogers Communications Canada Inc. to SSi Micro Ltd. In a...

Residents want CRTC to allow more competition in ‘monopolistic’ North

telecom | 01/13/2021 11:19 am EST

Canadian residents in the North want the CRTC to allow enhanced competition...

SSi asks CRTC to mandate third-party access to fibre in the North, new wholesale rates

telecom | 12/09/2020 2:27 pm EST

Northern broadband provider SSi Canada is asking...

Wholesale debate moves to transport in CRTC rural broadband consult

telecom | 05/15/2020 2:33 pm EDT

The familiar argument over wholesale access has made its way to a CRTC consultation on how to remove barriers to rural broadband rollouts, with smaller providers arguing the regulator should mandate...

CIPPIC unveils most ambitious low cost wireless plan

telecom | 02/28/2020 6:01 pm EST

GATINEAU, Que. — The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic and Open Media have unveiled...

Big Three united in call for scrapping CRTC pricing guarantee

telecom | 01/23/2020 5:01 pm EST

BCE Inc.’s push for the CRTC to remove a provision that would require wireless providers seeking funding under the $750-million Broadband Fund to make a pricing commitment has won the backing of Canada’s remaining Big Three providers. Telus Corp. and Rogers...

Industry committee dissents from ISED spectrum clawback plans

telecom | 06/18/2019 8:09 pm EDT

The House of Commons industry committee has endorsed Xplornet Communications Inc.'s call that the ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) should not claw back any of the 3.5...

Bell opts out of 600 MHz, Rogers nabs 52 licenses for $1.7B

telecom | 04/10/2019 5:30 pm EDT

BCE Inc. was among three prospective applicants who didn’t grab licenses for the coveted 600 MHz spectrum, widely considered to be the last chance to get valuable low-band frequencies. The...

Radio interference, 5G delays raised in new spectrum tier consult

telecom | 02/26/2019 6:10 pm EST

BCE Inc., Shaw Communications Inc., and Quebecor Inc. are warning against a...

Cogeco won’t be among bidders for 600 MHz spectrum

telecom | 12/06/2018 6:29 pm EST

Cogeco Inc. isn’t among the list of participants in the 600 MHz auction, released by Innovation Canada...

CRTC denies Northwestel Wholesale Connect application

telecom | 08/17/2017 1:08 pm EDT

The CRTC won’t be reviewing its decision that set rates for Northwestel’s Wholesale Connect service, it said in a Thursday decision responding to the BCE Inc. subsidiary’s application that opponents said was an attempt to “gam[e] the regulatory system.” In...

ISED PS Lametti hot property for April lobbying

Media | 05/23/2017 3:30 pm EDT

The parliamentary secretary to the innovation minister was a popular target for lobbyists last month, as...

Iristel asks CRTC to deny Northwestel’s review-and-vary

Media | 03/14/2017 8:09 pm EDT

The arguments made by BCE Inc. subsidiary Northwestel in its request to the CRTC to review and vary a decision setting rates for Northwestel’s Wholesale Connect service have already...

New Northwestel rates could ‘finally’ lead to competition: SSi

telecom | 11/15/2016 8:54 pm EST

The CRTC’s order to BCE Inc. subsidiary Northwestel Inc. to file new cost studies last week “might finally bring effective telecoms competition to...

Speeds ‘red herring’ when North needs backbone builds, panel hears

telecom | 04/12/2016 9:36 pm EDT

GATINEAU, Que. — Setting a basic speed requirement doesn’t do the North any good when it comes to improving Internet access, unless there’s necessary backbone infrastructure in...

SSi to invest $75M in Nunavut Internet

telecom | 09/25/2015 2:03 pm EDT

SSi Micro Ltd.  announced Wednesday it is investing $75 million toward providing and improving Nunavut’s broadband infrastructure. It said in a press release that the investment will soon benefit consumers, business,...

Government approves all spectrum-auction applicants

telecom | 08/14/2015 2:20 pm EDT

Industry Canada has approved all six companies applying to take part in this month's residual spectrum auction, which deals with licences that went unsold in last year's 700 MHz sale and this year's AWS-3 auction. The...

All incumbents sign up for next spectrum auction

telecom | 08/12/2015 4:34 pm EDT

Canada's three national wireless carriers and regional players have applied to be part of the next spectrum auction, one intended to deal with licences that went unsold in this year's AWS-3 auction and last year's sale...

Industry Canada announces $41M for small-town Internet projects

telecom | 07/07/2015 4:17 pm EDT

Industry Canada said Tuesday it will spend $35 million to improve or expand Internet service for 8,400 homes in Nunavut, and in a separate announcement said $6 million would go toward doing the same...

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 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...

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...

Next spectrum auction seen as less substantial than previous sales

telecom | 04/13/2015 5:03 pm EDT

Canada's third wireless spectrum auction in a little more than a year is set to start Tuesday, and it is generally predicted to bring in far less money than the other two, though at least one...

Cisco announces educational, health network for North

Media | 04/02/2014 2:41 pm EDT

Cisco Systems Inc. announced Wednesday it is investing $1.6 million in a video network to bring educational and health services to Canada’s North. The project is called Connected North, and uses high-definition, two-way video, along with other technology, Cisco said in a press release. Cisco said that a pilot project that began in September...

Affordability, not access, key to rural Internet delivery: ISPs

telecom | 02/12/2014 10:13 pm EST

The federal government’s new rural broadband funding program should help reduce the cost of connecting rural locations’ Internet services with the rest of the country and not just focus on...

Competitors: Northwestel ‘thwarting’ competition

telecom | 06/20/2013 9:19 pm EDT

Northwestel Inc.’s new modernization plan contains an “unhealthy emphasis” on delaying potential competitors from offering services in the North, competitor SSi Micro Ltd. told a panel of CRTC commissioners. “The latest iteration of the modernization plan still contains inadequate commitments,” Dean Proctor, SSi’s chief development officer, said in Whitehorse Wednesday, during the second day of CRTC hearings into telecom services provided by Northwestel, a BCE Inc. subsidiary. “There is a continued unhealthy emphasis on thwarting competitors and it does not focus on the major limitation to development, which is affordable backhaul.” Proctor said Northwestel’s revised plan to modernize its aging telecom infrastructure, the most recent...

North needs backhaul, not wireless infrastructure, small competitors say

telecom | 02/08/2013 8:14 pm EST

The CRTC should require Northwestel Inc. to improve the availability and cost of its Internet backhaul infrastructure, not its last-mile wireless services, the company’s smaller competitors said in regulatory documents this week. In an intervention filed with the commission Wednesday, SSi Micro Ltd. said the CRTC...