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 SeaBoard Group said the move does not go far enough. The technology research group said in a paper released Monday that proposed measures in the federal government’s budget implementation bill that would cap what carriers charge competitors for roaming services to a price that reflects what their...
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is calling on governments to do more to protect people from companies that offer so-called free online services. In a press release issued Wednesday, it said consumers have little protection when they encounter problems or have disputes about issues such as privacy with companies that offer online services that entail no direct charges. The executive summary of the PIAC report on this issue, also issued Wednesday, listed Facebook Inc.’s social network, Google Inc.’s YouTube and Microsoft Corp.’s Skype as examples of the kinds of...
Some of the incumbents' new and cheaper roaming plans offer small data packages that smartphone users will quickly exceed, incurring extra charges, said John Lawford, executive director of the...
BCE Inc. would support government efforts to fully remove foreign ownership restrictions for Canadian telecom companies, though the company “will never be foreign owned,” BCE chief...
OTTAWA, TORONTO—Industry Canada will block Telus Corp.'s proposed deal for Dave Wireless Inc.’s mobile spectrum, as well as any other proposal from an incumbent to acquire wireless...
Canadian wireless consumers can cancel long-term wireless contracts with mobile phone providers after two years without any cancellation fees, the CRTC said in new wireless code of conduct...
A coalition of public advocacy groups are asking Industry Minister Christian Paradis to prohibit Rogers Communications Inc.’s from acquiring AWS spectrum Shaw Communications Inc. purchased in a 2008 auction. In a letter sent to the minister Monday, the groups—including the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC), OpenMedia.ca, the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) and the Council of Senior Citizens Organizations of British Columbia (COSCO)—said a proposed $700-million deal that would allow Rogers to purchase Shaw's spectrum would violate the auction's rules. Those rules set aside specific spectrum blocks for new entrant carriers and barred incumbent carriers, including...
One of the top issues for the CRTC's upcoming review of Northwestel Inc. and telecom services in the North will be how to better support newer technologies like advanced mobile services, said Paul Flaherty, Northwestel’s president. “Lots of people are going to talk about the interest of having more wireless...