TAGGED AS BEN KLASS
On Rogers-Shaw, Champagne faces policy choice
Media | 01/26/2023 11:48 am EST
All eyes are on Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who is the last line of defense for opponents of the pending merger between Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.
“It's going to wind up like an albatross -- an albatross around one’s...
Ultimate impact of new ‘unlimited’ plans unclear: industry-watchers
telecom | 06/13/2019 6:29 pm EDT
As BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. reacted to Rogers Communications Inc.’s offer of a new wireless data plan with no data overage charges, analysts and experts had difficulty predicting how the new plans could affect the industry. Rogers announced on Wednesday that it would start offering wireless data plans starting at $75 for 10 GB with no overage charges, instead throttling speeds once customers reach their data limit. Telus responded the same day with a 15 GB for $75 promo, while Bell began...
CRTC approves telecoms’ proposed low-cost data plans
telecom | 12/17/2018 6:14 pm EST
The CRTC has chosen not to make changes to lower-cost data plans suggested...
Lack of scale, device lineup challenges for Xplore Mobile
telecom | 11/16/2018 6:34 pm EST
New Brunswick-based internet provider Xplornet Communications Inc. started...
As CRTC rejects FairPlay, proposal could move to legislative reviews
Media | 10/02/2018 11:20 am EDT
The CRTC has no jurisdiction to implement a system to block websites...
CRTC asks carriers for lower-priced data-only plan proposals
telecom | 07/25/2018 5:29 pm EDT
The CRTC wants the Big Three to submit options for lower-priced data plans...
Freedom launches its own low-cost data plans
telecom | 07/19/2018 4:32 pm EDT
Shaw Communications Inc. has launched low-cost wireless data plans that trump offers proposed by its competitors to the CRTC, after the telecoms told the regulator that it should accept no substitutes what they proposed. The new plans offer 250MB of data with 100 minutes of voice and unlimited texts in Canada and the U.S. for $20 a month, and a $30 plan with 1GB of data, Canada-wide calling for $0.05 a minute and unlimited U.S. and Canadian texts. “Too many Canadians cannot afford wireless services because it is simply too expensive for their monthly budget — their exclusion is...
Don’t opt for alternative low-cost plans, carriers warn CRTC
telecom | 06/29/2018 4:40 pm EDT
The big three wireless providers doubled down on their proposed low-cost,...
Low-cost data plans need higher caps, lower prices, CRTC hears
telecom | 06/14/2018 4:45 pm EDT
The Competition Bureau is among those who are telling the CRTC that mandated low-cost, data-only plans should have more data on offer, in a move that raises the stakes of the regulator’s proceeding...
Big three unveil low-cost, data only plans to criticism
telecom | 04/25/2018 6:08 pm EDT
Canada’s big three wireless carriers have responded to the CRTC’s...
FairPlay regime ineffective, counter to Telecom Act: opponents
Media | 04/05/2018 4:39 pm EDT
A proposal to implement a website-blocking system to fight piracy has drawn...
Cross-industry coalition calls for website-blocking
Media | 01/29/2018 6:21 pm EST
A broad coalition made up of Canada’s largest telecoms and broadcasters, as well as groups representing...
Bell copyright ask draws criticism, as others point to precedent
telecom | 09/26/2017 6:03 pm EDT
BCE Inc. has said it thinks Canada can tackle piracy by mandating that...
Alt TV managed service, doesn’t violate CRTC rules: Cope
Media | 05/15/2017 5:45 pm EDT
MONTREAL — BCE Inc. has launched a new TV product hoping to appeal to a segment of the market that’s less likely to subscribe to...
Net neutrality issues will re-emerge with IoT: MEI
telecom | 05/03/2017 9:04 pm EDT
The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) will force a new perspective on net neutrality and zero-rating, a report from the Montreal Economic Institute argues. “The development of the Internet of Things will bring to the...
CRTC effectively bans most zero-rating in differential pricing decision
Media | 04/20/2017 8:04 pm EDT
As the CRTC banned most forms of differential pricing practices Thursday — including declaring that telecoms can’t pick and chose Internet content to zero-rate and ordering Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron to stop offering its Unlimited Music service — Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais suggested the move levels the playing field between small and large telecoms and content providers and their customers. While noting that though there were Unlimited Music subscribers who...
Iristel, EBox, DHX among new lobby registrations
Media | 02/21/2017 9:54 pm EST
The start of the new year was marked by new registrations for new and not-so-new companies and groups in the federal lobbyists’ registry. Iristel Inc. registered to lobby the federal government as of Jan....
Zero-rating regime should be similar to ITMP framework: CNOC
Media | 11/01/2016 12:50 am EDT
GATINEAU — On the first day of the CRTC’s hearing on differential pricing practices, a consortium representing small telecoms asked the CRTC to allow but regulate the practice of zero-rating,...
Bell mobile-TV appeal dismissed
Media | 06/20/2016 11:43 pm EDT
The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld the CRTC’s ban on BCE Inc.’s zero-rated mobile-TV plans, a year and a half after the commission ruled the company couldn’t exempt the service from data caps. In a...
Industry execs blast Quebec Internet-blocking, call for CRTC involvement
Media | 06/08/2016 12:29 am EDT
TORONTO — Executives from Canada’s telecom companies took aim at a new bill by the Quebec government that would force Internet service providers (ISPs) to block some gambling websites...
Bell-MTS deal raised in Manitoba legislature
telecom | 05/27/2016 6:51 pm EDT
The proposed $3.9-billion acquisition of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. by BCE Inc. dominated question period in the Manitoba legislature this week, with the opposition NDP peppering the governing Conservatives with questions about their support of the merger for three straight days. “Hundreds of thousands of Manitobans are faced with seeing their cellphone rates rise dramatically. It’s clear the Premier’s done no due diligence,” Opposition MLA Jim Maloway said Thursday, according to a transcript. “Why won’t he stand up for Manitoba...
Bell-MTS deal weakens Rogers’ ability to compete: academics
telecom | 05/26/2016 9:27 pm EDT
In a submission to the Competition Bureau arguing that allowing BCE Inc. to acquire Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. would weaken wireless competition in the province, Carleton...
Court hears mobile-TV case
Media | 01/20/2016 8:27 pm EST
BCE Inc.'s appeal against a CRTC decision banning the provision of mobile-TV services that are not subject to regular data charges was heard by the Federal Court of Appeal in Toronto on Tuesday, and the court is expected to render a decision some time in the coming months. Almost a year ago,...
Bell’s mobile-TV appeal hearing on Jan. 19
Media | 11/25/2015 6:30 pm EST
BCE Inc.'s challenge to the CRTC's decision to ban mobile-TV plans where data used does not count against customers' data caps will be heard before the Federal Court of Appeal on Jan. 19. A notice in the case file on the court's website indicates the hearing will be held in Toronto. Telecom researcher Ben Klass, who launched the...
Net-neutrality advocates cry foul over Videotron music service
Media | 08/27/2015 8:15 pm EDT
MONTREAL — Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron is giving itself an undue preference with a new service that allows its mobile customers to listen to music streaming without it counting against their...
Bell mobile-TV opponents call it OTT service
Media | 08/06/2015 8:36 pm EDT
Individuals fighting BCE Inc.’s appeal of a CRTC decision on its mobile-TV service in the Federal Court of Appeal have called it an “over-the-top” or OTT service, along the same lines of what...
Does VoLTE conflict with net neutrality?
Media | 04/10/2015 8:23 pm EDT
Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) had a small-scale launch in Canada recently, with Rogers Communications Inc. making the service that allows carriers to transmit voice calls on the same networks as data available to a portion of its...
Rogers includes NHL streaming, Shomi with new Internet packages
Media | 03/04/2015 9:50 pm EST
On Wednesday Rogers Communications Inc. announced a new brand of broadband Internet, Ignite, that comes bundled with subscriptions to two of Rogers' online video-streaming services. The company...
Bell seeking costs in appeal to overturn mobile-TV ruling
Media | 02/23/2015 9:34 pm EST
BCE Inc. is seeking to recover legal costs from a range of parties — including an advocacy group representing senior citizens, private individuals and companies in the telecommunications sector...
Mobile-TV ruling could be harbinger of streaming regulation: Klass
Media | 01/29/2015 9:53 pm EST
The CRTC’s ruling on Thursday that BCE Inc. and Quebecor Inc.-owned Videotron can no longer exempt their mobile-TV services from data charges could have implications for the regulation of streaming services such as CraveTV and Shomi, according to the man behind the original complaint. Telecom researcher Ben Klass, who made the application to the CRTC about Bell’s exemption of its Bell Mobile TV service from data caps in 2013, said Thursday's ruling was largely about preventing...
Trio calls on government to reign in major telecoms
Media | 11/20/2014 7:42 pm EST
Three industry observers, including two academics, have released an open letter to senior government officials that seeks strong measures to temper the power of major players in the telecommunications industry. The letter comes...
Bell complaint could thwart Rogers’ hockey strategy: analyst
Media | 10/27/2014 5:54 pm EDT
Notwithstanding Guy Lawrence's recent remarks about rival BCE Inc. being a "crybaby," a market analyst says Rogers Communications Inc.’s strategy for NHL streaming could be affected by Bell's recent CRTC complaint. The analysis follows last week’s complaint by Bell that Rogers is contravening...
Rogers-Shaw merger seen as making ‘complete sense’
Media | 10/09/2014 8:07 pm EDT
A merger between Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. has been the subject of speculation for years. As the various industries these companies participate in — broadcasting, TV distribution, landline phone services, Internet and, in Rogers' case, mobile — change rapidly, at least one...
Rogers’ mobile TV now counts against data cap
Media | 08/21/2014 9:08 pm EDT
Rogers Communications Inc. has changed the pricing of data used by its Anyplace TV app, writing on its website that as of Aug. 18, standard data charges would apply to customers who use the app while on its wireless network....
CRTC asking new questions on mobile-TV and wireless data throttling
telecom | 08/06/2014 9:23 pm EDT
The CRTC has issued new interrogatories in its proceeding looking at an undue preference complaint about mobile-TV services, asking BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron about their throttling of customers’ wireless service. The proceeding began last year when telecom blogger Ben Klass said that Bell gives its mobile-TV service an “undue preference” over other online video services by allowing BCE’s mobile subscribers to watch videos...
CRTC allows exception on affiliate rates
telecom | 06/16/2014 5:01 pm EDT
The CRTC said Monday it has allowed an exception to its rule that telecommunications service providers' affiliates must charge identical rates to the incumbent phone company that controls them when reselling its services that...
Mobile TV is not a broadcast distribution service: CNOC
Media | 05/13/2014 8:53 pm EDT
Mobile-TV services, such as that offered by BCE Inc.'s Bell Mobility subsidiary, are not broadcast distribution services, critics said in final reply letters that were due this week in a case...
‘Mobile TV is a broadcasting service’: Bell
Media | 04/28/2014 8:39 pm EDT
In defending their practice of charging rates separate from regular data charges for mobile-TV service, both Rogers Communications Ltd. and Quebecor Inc., in written submissions to the CRTC, talked about being in the early stages of trying to develop a market for this kind of service. BCE Inc., meanwhile, said its...
CRTC questions service providers in mobile-TV case
Media | 04/04/2014 6:41 pm EDT
The CRTC has sent out a series of questions to be answered by telecommunications service providers at the centre of a complaint over undue preference in providing mobile-TV services for flat fees. In a questionnaire sent Friday,...
Mobile TV not undue preference, promotes Canadian content: Rogers
Media | 03/06/2014 9:38 pm EST
Rogers Communications Inc.’s mobile-TV service upholds the Broadcasting Act by making Canadian content available and is not an undue preference, the company told the CRTC Wednesday. Rogers made...
CRTC idea could violate net neutrality: experts
Media | 03/03/2014 3:53 pm EST
A question posed by the CRTC in its review of television services, focusing on exempting over-the-top (OTT) services from Internet data caps, could have implications on net neutrality, according to some industry experts. In an...