‘Clock ticking’ on new content rules for web giants, Guilbeault says

Media | 01/13/2020 2:30 pm EST

The Liberal government's minority mandate means it will have to move fast...

Corus TV revenues up, radio down

telecom | 01/10/2020 5:42 pm EST

Corus Entertainment Inc. this morning reported television revenue either in line or slightly higher than...

Telecoms deadlocked ahead of 5G rollout: analyst

telecom | 01/10/2020 5:32 pm EST

No major wireless provider stands out as most likely to benefit from Canada’s looming 5G network rollout, despite two players’ extensive combined wireline footline placing them on the “front foot”, RBC Capital Markets...

CloudWifi says other small ISPs need access to in-building fibre

telecom | 01/09/2020 1:49 pm EST

CloudWifi Inc. has gone to bat for other small internet service providers...

Court docs detail expansion of Canadian website-blocking order

Media | 01/08/2020 4:58 pm EST

Fresh documents are shedding light on how Canada’s first piracy case involving court-ordered website-blocking is playing out — revealing methods used by BCE Inc. to keep up with an expanding list of sites, and that Bell, Rogers Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc. sent...

$1.7B broadband fund to launch in 2020, no formal consultation: ISED

telecom | 01/07/2020 6:33 pm EST

The federal government won’t hold a formal consultation on the...

Home internet speeds nearly doubled year-over-year: CRTC

telecom | 01/06/2020 5:27 pm EST

The average Canadian home internet speed soared to 126 Mbps in 2018, a 88.9...

Bell says CRTC used bad costing process in wholesale rate decision

telecom | 01/03/2020 5:28 pm EST

In yet another appeal of the CRTC’s decision lowering wholesale internet rates, BCE Inc. filed a fresh review-and-vary application to the regulator the week before Christmas, arguing that that the...

Delete wireless price commitment in Broadband Fund: Bell

telecom | 01/03/2020 2:58 pm EST

BCE Inc. is asking the CRTC to remove some of the pricing stipulations on...

CRTC eyeing occasional-use plans ahead of wireless review

telecom | 01/03/2020 2:30 pm EST

The CRTC has asked telecoms to provide information about wireless plans aimed at Canadians who only need service occasionally or on an emergency basis, as part of its upcoming wireless policy review....

Videotron buys cable company in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Que.

Media | 01/02/2020 5:41 pm EST

Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron has purchased a local cable company operating...

SCC simsub ban rejection a boon for Canadian performers: ACTRA

Media | 12/19/2019 10:15 am EST

The nation’s highest court has quashed a 2016 decision by the CRTC to ban...

CloudWifi decision stands, but other ISPs must wait for access

telecom | 12/17/2019 1:54 pm EST

In an ongoing dispute between BCE Inc. and CloudWifi Inc. over whether...

Cogeco Connexion president leaving

telecom | 12/17/2019 12:31 pm EST

Ken Smithard, the president of Cogeco Inc.’s Canadian telecom division, is leaving the company after 20 years. Cogeco said in a press release Monday that Smithard is departing “at the end of January 2020 to pursue personal interests.” The company said it would...

Wireless revenues, ARPU up industry-wide, CRTC report says

telecom | 12/16/2019 8:48 pm EST

The latest portion of the CRTC’s Communications Monitoring Report, focused on the mobile retail market and released Monday, shows that wireless industry revenues have gone up, and while smaller...

Bell subsidiary must provide TPIA service to Videotron: CRTC

telecom | 12/16/2019 4:37 pm EST

The CRTC has denied an application by BCE Inc. subsidiary Cablevision du Nord de Québec to eliminate its wholesale internet service, and ordered the company to sell that service to Quebecor Inc.’s...

Telecom in the spotlight in new Bains mandate letter

Media | 12/13/2019 9:25 pm EST

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has delivered a greatly expanded set of telecom and internet-related...

Comp. Bureau, telecoms, have until Dec. 18 to defend report confidentiality

telecom | 12/13/2019 2:01 pm EST

The CRTC has responded to requests to divulge the methodology and confidential data in the Competition Bureau’s report on mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), giving the bureau and telecoms who...

Videotron choses Samsung as partner for 5G

telecom | 12/13/2019 1:23 pm EST

Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron said Friday it has chosen Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. as its equipment supplier for the deployment of LTE-A and 5G networks. “This partnership is the result of an extensive selection process to identify the most complete and evolutive 5G option that fits Videotron's ambitious objectives,” Videotron said in a press release. It said the move “allows Videotron to accelerate the deployment of its next-generation network and aim for a gradual service availability in the second half of 2020.” Videotron previously partnered with Ericsson AB for 5G...

Federal Court dismisses Otterburn Park case

telecom | 12/12/2019 6:00 pm EST

A judicial review application to the Federal Court challenging Innovation, Science and Economic...

Telesat hires new CFO

telecom | 12/12/2019 3:40 pm EST

Satellite service provider Telesat Holdings Inc. has named Andrew Browne as its new chief financial officer on Thursday, following the retirement of Michel Cayouette. ...

Amos, Dabrusin, van Koesverden in as new parlsecs

Media | 12/12/2019 3:23 pm EST

As the new Parliament gets up and running following the election of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals to a minority government, there are also some changes to the ranks of parliamentary secretaries as well.  The Prime Minister’s...

Telus wants Competition Bureau methodology in MVNO review

telecom | 12/11/2019 5:29 pm EST

After a November Competition Bureau report endorsed a limited version of...

Quebecor’s court appeal over Bell’s G7 gov’t contract dismissed

telecom | 12/11/2019 4:35 pm EST

The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed a case brought forward by...

CRTC consulting on barriers to internet access in remote areas

telecom | 12/11/2019 4:19 pm EST

The CRTC is asking all telecoms about what barriers exist that would hinder their ability to deliver the basic service objective for internet access established three years ago. A consultation...

Canadian law should codify privacy as a human right: OPC

Media | 12/10/2019 6:05 pm EST

OTTAWA — Federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien told reporters...

CIPPIC training AI to highlight patterns in regulatory, court docs

Media | 12/10/2019 4:32 pm EST

The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) is teaming up with an artificial intelligence platform that it hopes will produce insights, which would otherwise be missed, from a...

Voltage defendants file appeal for release of $75,000 in defense costs

Media | 12/09/2019 3:40 pm EST

Defendants in a failed reverse class action certification motion brought by Voltage Pictures LLC are filing an appeal against part of the decision by the Federal Court to withhold legal fees they say are owed to them after the movie studio lost its case.  In denying certification for Voltage’s class of defendants it sought to sue for copyright infringement, the Federal Court also held back the $75,000 the movie studio put into a court trust before the certification motion was heard...

CRTC asks telecoms to implement new anti-spam call protocol

telecom | 12/09/2019 1:55 pm EST

The CRTC Monday announced that it will ask telecom companies to implement a...

Rempel claims Liberals lobbied most by wireless industry in first QP as industry critic

telecom | 12/06/2019 6:02 pm EST

Michelle Rempel Garner, Conservative MP for...

Rovi’s STB suit an attempt to extract royalties, Videotron says

Media | 12/06/2019 11:49 am EST

Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron will argue in Federal Court later this month...

Usual fault lines emerging ahead of 3.5 GHz auction

telecom | 12/05/2019 6:11 pm EST

A cap on the amount of 3.5 GHz spectrum any one company can hold in the upcoming auction is not, on its own, “sufficient” for smaller rural-based wireless internet service providers to compete, according to the trade group...

BTLR chair twice as busy as expected

Media | 12/05/2019 4:18 pm EST

The work of the chairwoman heading the review of the broadcasting and telecom acts turned out to be more time-consuming and complicated than the government initially planned for, according to a memo obtained through Access to Information.  The initial terms and conditions of Janet Yale’s appointment provided compensation for the equivalent of two days a week of work.  That proved to be insufficient, according to the secret memo to then-Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez in June 2019. “The Progression of the panel’s work has required the Chair to dedicate additional time over...

Throne speech reiterates Liberal promise to cut wireless bills 25%

telecom | 12/05/2019 3:33 pm EST

The new Liberal minority government repeated its promise to lower wireless...

Telus International to go public after $1.3B acquisition

telecom | 12/05/2019 2:04 pm EST

Telus Corp.’s outsourcing and call centre operation Telus International...

CRTC surveying Canadians on wireless service

telecom | 12/04/2019 4:53 pm EST

As part of its review of Canada’s wireless market, the CRTC has launched a survey to find out how Canadians feel about their service providers. “The survey results will help determine whether further action is needed to...

V buy would give Bell too much market share: PIAC, Quebecor

Media | 12/03/2019 5:44 pm EST

BCE Inc.’s proposed acquisition of French-language Groupe V Media...

Conservatives name Michelle Rempel industry critic 

telecom | 11/29/2019 4:12 pm EST

The Conservative Party has announced its shadow cabinet ahead of the Dec. 5 return of the House of...

Masse stays as NDP telecom critic; Boulerice to take on Heritage

telecom | 11/28/2019 4:28 pm EST

OTTAWA — Brian Masse, the New Democratic Party MP for Windsor, is staying...

Telecoms find silver lining in unprecedented number of CCTS complaints

telecom | 11/28/2019 6:00 am EST

Despite improvements in customer service that have lowered customer...

Rogers seeks extension for select provisions of the Internet Code

telecom | 11/27/2019 5:27 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. is asking the CRTC if it can delay the implementation of several sections of the newly minted Internet Code, scheduled to come into effect in January of 2020. The company...

Videotron ‘diving’ like a soccer player over gigabit internet: TekSavvy

telecom | 11/27/2019 4:15 pm EST

Quebecor Inc.’s cancellation of its gigabit internet service is akin to a soccer player diving, or feigning injury to draw a penalty, TekSavvy Solutions Inc. is arguing in an intervention to the CRTC. Quebecor’s Videotron said in October that it was axing its 1 Gbps speed offering without explanation, after first launching it in 2016.  The CRTC told Videotron later in October that it couldn’t unilaterally cancel a service without filing a new tariff application. “Vidéotron is...

AIQ investigation shows need for strong privacy laws, OPC says

Media | 11/26/2019 6:22 pm EST

At a Vancouver press conference Tuesday, the federal and British Columbia...

Consumer groups push mandated low-cost data plans in wireless review

telecom | 11/26/2019 6:03 pm EST

Consumer advocacy groups are urging the CRTC to require incumbent wireless providers to make low-cost data plans a condition of operation in the latest round of submissions to the regulator’s review...

TekSavvy files appeal against site-blocking order

telecom | 11/25/2019 4:19 pm EST

Internet service provider TekSavvy Solutions Inc. has appealed a Federal Court order requiring ISPs to...

Competition Bureau endorses limited MVNO model

telecom | 11/25/2019 10:12 am EST

The Competition Bureau is officially endorsing a policy that would temporarily mandate access to the incumbents’ network infrastructure by mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), the watchdog said Monday. The recommendation...

Voltage drops appeal in disclosure cost case

Media | 11/22/2019 5:09 pm EST

Voltage Pictures LLC and Rogers Communications Inc. have both agreed to drop their appeal and cross-appeal, respectively, against a decision by the Federal Court to award the telecom costs to dig up personal information of alleged infringers of the movie studio’s copyright.  The notice of discontinuance is dated November 15, two days after a Federal Court judge denied certifying a class of about 55,000 defendants targeted to be tried for allegedly illegally downloading and allowing for upload Voltage’s movies for free.  Voltage filed an appeal nearly two weeks after a Federal Court...

Federal Court grants leave to appeal, stay in wholesale rate cases

telecom | 11/22/2019 5:08 pm EST

The CRTC’s decision to lower wholesale rates for its aggregated regime...

Blair says ‘no timeline’ on Huawei ban; Bains promises ‘more’ on prices

Media | 11/20/2019 1:51 pm EST

OTTAWA — New Public Safety Minister Bill Blair indicated Wednesday he is...

Court orders Canadian ISPs to block pirate website for the first time

Media | 11/15/2019 6:35 pm EST

In a precedent-setting decision, a Federal Court judge has ordered internet...

U.S. trade organizations upset over proposed digital tax

Media | 11/15/2019 4:09 pm EST

In a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic and foreign affairs teams, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and 14 other organizations have told the American government that they are concerned...

Voltage’s choice of defendant made ‘difference’ in class action failure: expert

Media | 11/14/2019 9:05 pm EST

The movie studio that has for years sought to sue...

Hydro pole rates a problem for rural connectivity: CCSA vice-chair

telecom | 11/14/2019 5:26 pm EST

NORTH BAY, Ont. — Higher rates telecom providers must pay to connect to hydro poles in Ontario are especially onerous in rural areas, Angela Lawrence, vice-chair at Canadian Communication Systems...

Not enough money for rural broadband, conference hears

telecom | 11/13/2019 9:50 pm EST

NORTH BAY Ont. — The CRTC announced on Wednesday that it is now accepting...

Fibre company Beanfield acquired

telecom | 11/13/2019 3:55 pm EST

U.S.-based investment company Digital Colony has made another major purchase of Canadian telecom-owned assets this year, announcing on Wednesday the acquisition of fibre internet provider Beanfield Technologies Inc. ...

Cablecos, Telus join Bell in petition to government on wholesale rate cut

telecom | 11/13/2019 1:03 pm EST

Wednesday saw a flurry of legal moves to overturn a CRTC decision that cut the rates wholesale internet resellers pay for bandwidth from the incumbents, as  BCE Inc., Telus...

CRTC has sole jurisdiction over in-building wire: Ontario court

telecom | 11/12/2019 8:31 pm EST

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has ruled against BCE Inc. in favour...

BDUs appeal new distant signal tariffs

Media | 11/12/2019 12:00 pm EST

The country’s largest TV service providers are appealing an increase in the over-the-air distant signal...

Internet code will make it too hard to cut off non-payers: Xplornet 

telecom | 11/12/2019 11:36 am EST

The forthcoming Internet code from the CRTC would make it far too hard for Xplornet Communications Inc. to disconnect customers that haven’t paid, the company argues in a filing to the regulator...

Privacy commissioners call for updated privacy law

telecom | 11/11/2019 5:58 pm EST

In a joint resolution, passed in Prince Edward Island last month and announced in Gatineau last week, federal, provincial and territorial information and privacy commissioners are calling on their respective governments to...

Large telecoms say small ISPs should be subject to Internet Code too

telecom | 11/08/2019 5:20 pm EST

A few months ahead of the introduction of the CRTC’s Internet Code, scheduled for Jan. 31,, a grouping of the largest telecom companies in the country are asking the regulator to make the code apply to smaller internet service providers as well.  In the filing to the CRTC dated Oct. 29, a battery of facilities-based internet providers --  BCE Inc, Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink, Cogeco  Inc., Quebecor Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc., Saskatchewan...

Telus subscriber adds offset slight ARPU pressure

telecom | 11/07/2019 5:39 pm EST

Despite the summer’s volatility in the wireless market, with a rush of new offerings in “unlimited”...

Quebecor says it cut gig speeds due to new wholesale rates

telecom | 11/07/2019 5:12 pm EST

Quebecor Inc. executives confirmed on Thursday that its previously...

Incumbent reaction to wholesale rates warning shot for fibre, conference hears

telecom | 11/06/2019 9:13 pm EST

TORONTO — The aggressive way incumbent telecom companies reacted to the...

Rogers and UBC turn on 5G research campus

telecom | 11/05/2019 5:01 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. and the University of British Columbia said they have powered the first fully-functional 5G “smart campus” to test applications for the next-generation network.  The campus includes 5G towers and...

Wholesale-based ISPs at a ‘critical’ crossroads: CNOC’s Stein

telecom | 11/05/2019 3:22 pm EST

TORONTO — Smaller, wholesale-based internet service providers may be...

Cell data tracking company continues lobby push, despite tough reception

telecom | 11/05/2019 11:44 am EST

A company that says its privacy-focused software app can tell employers...

Rogers further defends 36-month financing

telecom | 11/01/2019 5:19 pm EDT

The objection to the new phone financing plans from the likes of the Competition Bureau is based on an incorrect understanding of device financing arrangements, according to Rogers Communications Inc.’s reply in the CRTC’s...

CRTC orders CCTS-avoiding telecoms to explain themselves

telecom | 11/01/2019 4:11 pm EDT

The CRTC has told six small telecoms who have refused to join the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) they have until Dec. 16 to explain why. It said WISP Internet...

PKP accused gov’t of ‘flagrantly’ favouring Bell over G7 contracts

telecom | 11/01/2019 1:59 pm EDT

Quebecor Inc. CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau wrote a letter taking the Liberal government to task over the contract to upgrade wireless services for 2018 G7 summit, accusing it of...

Cogeco ‘very optimistic on wireless’: CEO

telecom | 10/31/2019 5:54 pm EDT

Cogeco Inc. is looking forward to the upcoming spectrum auctions in 2020, especially since Innovation, Science, and Economic Development put in place new tier 5 spectrum licensing rules this past summer.  The new licenses,...

Bell to focus on declining mobile service prices in MVNO review

Media | 10/31/2019 5:40 pm EDT

Ahead of the CRTC’s wireless review early next year, and on the heels of...

Wireless prices down in Canada, but also everywhere else: report

telecom | 10/30/2019 6:29 pm EDT

Canadian mobile wireless data prices are falling precipitously, according...

Singh says telecom affordability among number of priorities

telecom | 10/30/2019 3:13 pm EDT

OTTAWA — NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said Wednesday that lowering wireless...

5G & Huawei: An explainer

telecom | 10/29/2019 6:42 pm EDT

As the Liberals head back to Parliament following the Oct. 21 federal election, they’ll be returning to a number of key files that were left unaddressed before the writ dropped — including deciding what security approach the government will take with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. equipment and Canada’s 5G networks. Of course, some things have changed since the House of Commons rose for the summer — not only will the Liberals need the support of another party to pass legislation now that they no longer have a...

New StatCan survey details a heavily connected Canada

telecom | 10/29/2019 4:09 pm EDT

Eighty-eight per cent Canadians have a smartphone, 45 per cent of Canadians check their smartphones at...

Bell offers to reveal AI call blocking system to critics

telecom | 10/28/2019 5:11 pm EDT

BCE Inc. says it is willing to share information with critics of its plan...

CRTC delays MVNO hearing to Feb. 18

telecom | 10/28/2019 4:10 pm EDT

The CRTC’s public hearing in its review of mobile wireless services, which was originally scheduled to be held in January, has now been pushed back to Feb. 18. The regulator said in a notice Monday that the Competition Bureau...

In an unstable week for wireless, steady Q4 for Shaw

telecom | 10/25/2019 6:02 pm EDT

In a conference call with analysts Friday, Shaw Communications Inc. executives declared that the company...

Mixed analyst response to Wednesday’s telecom stock sell-off

telecom | 10/25/2019 11:24 am EDT

Following the release of the Rogers Communications Inc. quarterly results Wednesday that were accompanied by falling stock prices, Desjardins analyst Maher Yaghi asked in a research note if the impact...

CRTC clarifies rules for reseller registration

telecom | 10/24/2019 4:10 pm EDT

The CRTC said Thursday that companies and organizations which offer free WiFi on their premises and providers of some Internet of Things connections don’t need to register with the regulator. It opened a consultation in 2017...

Bell’s Martine Turcotte retiring

telecom | 10/24/2019 2:08 pm EDT

BCE Inc.’s Quebec vice-chair, Martine Turcotte, will retire in January 2020, the company announced...

ENCQOR mmWave 5G service now available at Ottawa site

telecom | 10/24/2019 11:02 am EDT

The public-private partnership known as ENCQOR 5G has now made mmWave spectrum available to participants. ENCQOR 5G was first announced in 2018 as a 5G laboratory of sorts, funded by $400 million from the federal government...

New no-data-overage plans drive down Rogers Q3

telecom | 10/23/2019 5:19 pm EDT

Wireless revenue for Rogers Communications Inc. struggled over the summer, primarily due to a larger-than-expected migration to the company’s new unlimited data plans, according to Rogers management in a third-quarter earnings call Wednesday morning.  Rogers CEO Joe...

CRTC orders Videotron to keep offering gigabit internet

telecom | 10/23/2019 11:51 am EDT

The CRTC has told Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron it can’t withdraw its gigabit internet offering from the market, after the company did exactly that earlier this month. Videotron told the CRTC on...

Don’t let Bell use AI to block calls, CRTC hears

telecom | 10/21/2019 5:56 pm EDT

Some groups are calling for the CRTC to put the brakes on a request by BCE Inc. to test out an artificial intelligence system for blocking nuisance calls, saying not enough is known about the way the program would collect data...

Bureau says three-year device financing will harm competition

telecom | 10/18/2019 12:20 pm EDT

In its intervention to the CRTC’s consultation on the emergence of...

Internet Society lobbies on project to get ahead of IoT vulnerabilities

telecom | 10/17/2019 5:33 pm EDT

The Canadian chapter of the Internet Society (ISCC) is looking to embark on...

CPC plans for Netflix, rural broadband still unclear days ahead of vote

Media | 10/17/2019 12:54 pm EDT

Despite Conservative leader Andrew Scheer indicating throughout this fall’s election campaign that he would make sure Netflix Inc. pays its “fair share,” his party is...

Federal Court rejects Quebecor’s leave to appeal on STB data

telecom | 10/16/2019 1:19 pm EDT

The Federal Court of Appeal has decided it will not hear a case brought by Quebecor Inc. on handing over set-top-box (STB) data to the CRTC. In the latest in a months-long dispute between...

Videotron eliminates gigabit internet service

telecom | 10/15/2019 5:29 pm EDT

Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron has shut down its 1 Gbps internet service, effective Oct. 11. The move...

Conservatives propose three-per-cent tax on tech giant revenue

Media | 10/11/2019 11:29 pm EDT

The Conservative Party has now specified its plan to make web giants “pay...

Consensus on ‘digital giants,’ data breaches in French debate

Media | 10/10/2019 11:57 pm EDT

Federal party leaders agreed Thursday evening in the last debate of the...

OECD seeks unified tax regime for web giants

telecom | 10/10/2019 5:49 pm EDT

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development will host a public consultation next month on its proposed “unified approach” to the taxation of the world’s biggest tech companies. A document released by the...

CNOC challenging Telus appeal in speed cap case

telecom | 10/08/2019 6:07 pm EDT

The Canadian Network Operators Consortium has filed its arguments in Federal Court against Telus Corp.’s appeal of a CRTC decision that would temporarily suspend a speed cap affecting wholesale-based service providers. The...

Two arrested in Bell data breach affecting 97k

telecom | 10/08/2019 5:41 pm EDT

The RCMP Tuesday announced the arrest and charge of two people in connection with a 2018 data...

Political parties’ use of Facebook Pixel violates CASL, CDR says

telecom | 10/08/2019 2:23 pm EDT

The Centre for Digital Rights, the non-profit founded by former BlackBerry Ltd. co-CEO Jim Balsillie, is asking the CRTC to agree that political parties engage in what is effectively commercial...

Scheer refuses to specify if he’ll take action on wireless prices

telecom | 10/07/2019 11:20 pm EDT

GATINEAU — Conservative leader Andrew Scheer refused to say whether he has any intent to tackle telecom affordability in the ongoing federal election campaign, following...