GATINEAU, Que. — CRTC commissioners drilled into what should constitute a need versus a want when it comes to access to broadband Internet Thursday, during the fourth day of a three-week hearing into basic telecom services. The majority of Thursday’s session was consumed by members of the Affordable Access Coalition as they faced questions from the five-person panel. The coalition is comprised of five advocacy groups: the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), Association of...
On the day Canadian TV providers were required to make their skinny basic options available to consumers, experts expressed skepticism about how many Canadians will sign up for the new offers and their ability to improve the trend toward cord-cutting. Drew McReynolds, an analyst with RBC Dominion Securities, said in a research note Tuesday that the new options launched by the TV providers “are designed to protect profitability and/or incentivize households to largely stick with existing channel bundles, which in some cases have been improved.” The new offers are the...
At some point this summer, Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.’s Shomi streaming service will be made available to customers of other TV and Internet service providers...
A recent paper from the lawyers representing the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) calls for changes in government structure that would give the CRTC more uncontested authority in governing the...
While the federal government’s current plan for limiting wholesale roaming rates charged within the wireless industry is a “step in the right direction,” a new study from the...
BCE Inc. should not compare itself to companies like Google Inc., Facebook Inc. or LinkedIn Corp. when it comes to tracking and collecting customer information for advertising purposes, the Public...
BCE Inc.’s collection of customer data for its targeted-advertising program doesn’t violate the Telecommunications Act, the company said in a filing to the CRTC. The letter, submitted on March 3, was made in response to a challenge filed by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Consumers’ Association of Canada in January against Bell’s practice of tracking customers’ information and habits for the purpose of targeted advertising. Bell pointed to the collection of data by companies such as Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., and said “these...