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....