TAGGED AS CHRIS SEIDL
Northwestel ordered to redo temporary relief application
telecom | 03/19/2020 4:46 pm EDT
The CRTC has ordered BCE Inc.’s Northwestel to resubmit its “urgent” application for temporary relief in order to waive overage fees in response to the COVID-19 pandemic because the application presupposes the regulator will determine to reinstate a subsidy for landlines. Northwestel submitted a Part 1 application and a tariff notice to the regulator on March 18 requesting the financial relief, stating in a press release that it could not take the consumer-friendly measures without it. Northwestel stressed the importance of supporting consumers during the COVID-19 “crisis”,...
CRTC broadband fund rollout criticized at industry committee
telecom | 06/07/2019 1:16 pm EDT
OTTAWA — Liberal MP William Amos, the MP who brought forward a motion compelling the House industry committee to study the issue of rural broadband, said Thursday that he's "very disappointed" with the CRTC's decision to restrict the first round of applications for its $750 million broadband fund to projects in the North. The remarks came as the House industry committee grilled the CRTC's executive director of telecommunications Christopher Seidl about commission chairman Ian Scott’s announcement on Wednesday that the fund would initially focus on the territories and the far north....
ISPs shouldn’t need government funding for rural builds, senator says
telecom | 04/04/2019 5:53 pm EDT
OTTAWA — Conservative New Brunswick senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen said...
Broadband Fund applications call expected for late spring or early summer
telecom | 03/27/2019 10:56 am EDT
GATINEAU, Que. — The CRTC is looking at a “late spring, early summer”...
Rogers, Bell add junk food bill concerns to lobby efforts
Media | 04/25/2018 2:54 pm EDT
Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. have registered to lobby the...
Internet Society establishes lobby footing in Canada
Media | 03/27/2018 6:32 pm EDT
A decades-old organization that is pushing for a multilateral approach to decision-making on the future...
Low-cost data plans ‘superior alternative’ to WiFi-first MVNOs: Scott
telecom | 03/22/2018 4:23 pm EDT
Having facilities-based carriers offer low-cost data-only plans is a better way to fulfill the government’s goals of more affordable wireless options for consumers than mandating roaming access by WiFi-first mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), CRTC chairman Ian Scott said Thursday. “The data-only plans fulfill the same objective, and [have] other attributes that make it a superior alternative in our view,” he said in a call with reporters. “It will be available nationally. It...
Liberals signal interest in enshrining net neutrality in law
Media | 02/06/2018 7:24 pm EST
OTTAWA — The idea of of explicitly making net neutrality part of...
CRTC demands NG911 network upgrade by 2020
telecom | 06/01/2017 6:06 pm EDT
The CRTC has started the clock on next-generation 911 (NG911) services, directing the country’s telcos to ready their networks to fully support sending emergency information via text, photo or video messages by the end of 2020....
Connect to Innovate yields $4.4B ask
telecom | 05/30/2017 1:40 pm EDT
OTTAWA — Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is currently sifting through nearly 900...
CCSA leads March lobbying pack
Media | 04/21/2017 8:39 pm EDT
The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) led the telecom field for lobbying the federal government in March, logging 15 communication reports for the month, according to the federal lobbyists’ registry. Those...
CRTC considers regulations after lost telephone service case
telecom | 06/08/2016 6:00 pm EDT
The CRTC said it might consider preventative regulations after a dispute involving two phone service providers resulted in lost telephone service for 27,000 Canadian phone number holders. On Jan. 15,...
Liberals’ infrastructure plans could extend to telecom: lawyer
Media | 11/12/2015 1:44 am EST
TORONTO — The newly elected Liberal government has indicated infrastructure will be a priority, and that could include telecom infrastructure, said lawyer Chris Tacit during a panel...
CRTC warns companies as rural broadband deadline looms
telecom | 06/06/2014 8:45 pm EDT
This week the CRTC warned three companies — Telus Corp., BCE Inc. and Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. — about missing a late-August deadline for expanding broadband service to rural...
CRTC rejects GATPE appeal
telecom | 12/07/2012 9:01 pm EST
The CRTC denied a GATPE Services request to review and vary its August decision to allow Dellvoice.ca and the Fibernetics Group of Companies to continue offering free telephone services in the Montreal market. In a Dec. 4 letter to GATPE’s owner, Max May, the CRTC’s executive director of telecommunications, Chris Seidl, said the commission closed its file on GATPE’s request, which was submitted earlier...