Non-traditional TV subscribers, such as those who use over-the-top (OTT) services, are more satisfied than those with traditional pay-TV subscriptions, a new J.D. Power survey suggested. Customers who participated in the company’s 2017 Canadian TV Provider Customer Satisfaction Study rated their satisfaction with the overall experience of alternative video services as a 7.58 on a 10-point scale, compared to a rating of 7.04 for traditional pay TV service, J.D. Power said in a Thursday...
Three movie studios have gone through the Canadian court system to identify alleged copyright infringers subscribed to 13 Internet service providers (ISPs), but TekSavvy Solutions Inc. is challenging the disclosure on the grounds that the copyright notices weren’t sent in...
Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink has added wireless service to Newfoundland and Labrador, with the plans now available in the greater St. John’s area. In a Thursday press release, the company said customers can make the...
The federal government is suspending rules in Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) that would make it possible to for lawsuits to be filed against individuals and organizations for breaking the rules. In a press release...
TORONTO — The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) also presents a...
Canadian 4G speeds have increased by about 15 per cent since 2016, according to a new OpenSignal Inc. report. In its latest State of LTE report released Wednesday, the United Kingdom-based company said a global sample earlier...
TORONTO — Representatives from the big three were on the defense a day after the innovation minister publicly took issue with wireless prices, pointing to investments they’ve made in their networks and the quality of service that’s available to Canadians.
“Nowhere...
Net neutrality is a digital pillar in citizens’ right to free expression, according to a report by the United Nations special rapporteur, or independent expert, on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion...
Applications for non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) systems will be accepted again as of June 26, following the release of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Canada’s new framework for licensing the low-earth orbit systems. In a decision posted online Monday, the...
OTTAWA — If the government expects to make connected cars safe and...
Innovation Canada has opened its consultation on releasing spectrum to support 5G wireless networks, Minister Navdeep Bains announced in Toronto on Monday. In a consultation paper posted on the department’s website, ISED...
TORONTO — IMSI catchers present a challenge for telecoms because...
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron made its bed and now it has to lie in it, according to consumer and digital rights advocates who opposed the company’s request for a delay in complying with the CRTC’s...
TORONTO — Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains said Monday the government would launch a public consultation on “releasing spectrum to support the development and deployment of 5G mobile...
TORONTO — Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains is directing the CRTC to reconsider a March decision in...
Twice-fired CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan has filed his application for judicial review, appealing his second removal from his post as the regional representative for Ontario. In a notice of application filed at the Federal Court on Friday, Shoan requested the quashing of a May 4 order-in-council dismissing him as a governor-in-council appointee, barely a week after he returned to the job. Shoan had only resumed his post on April 28, after another Federal Court justice set aside the first order-in-council issued 10 months prior. In her decision, judge Cecily Strickland sent the June 2016...
A recent satellite launch will lead to faster Internet speeds for rural and remote customers of Xplornet Communications Inc., the company announced Friday.
ViaSat Inc.’s...
Allowing customers to only select TV channels à la carte after they’ve taken advantage of one 10-channel small package doesn’t comply with the CRTC’s pick-and-pay rules, BCE Inc. was told....
OTTAWA — Before any right to be forgotten rules are instituted in Canada, there needs to be a fulsome public discussion, Colin McKay, head of public policy and government relations at Alphabet...
Shaw Communications Inc. is selling its fleet management arm to an American company looking to increase its Canadian presence, it said in a Friday press release. The Dallas, Texas-based Omnitracs LLC will acquire Shaw Tracking...
GATINEAU, Que. — The advent of 5G networks and the accompanying rise in Internet of Things (IoT) devices will bring different and heightened security and privacy risks, experts told a conference focusing on the next generation of wireless networks.
“I’m really...
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....
Montreal will be home to what’s being touted as the country’s first global exchange point for research and education, Canada’s Advanced Research and Innovation Network (CANARIE) announced Wednesday. In a press release,...
GATINEAU, Que. — New entrants and existing service providers that...
NorthVu Inc. has abandoned an appeal it filed with MediaTube Corp. in a dispute with BCE Inc. NorthVu filed a notice of discontinuance on May 23 in an appeal the two parties launched in February, against a January Federal...
The CRTC is asking for holders of both radio and cable and IPTV broadcast distribution undertaking (BDU) licences that expire on Aug. 31, 2018 to apply to renew their licences. The commission said...
BCE Inc.’s Manitoba operation is giving the University of Manitoba half a million dollars to support an agriculture program, the company said Tuesday. The Bell MTS Innovations in Agriculture Program is aimed at “providing...
VOIS Inc. customers are left holding the bag after the Alberta-based company has failed to rejoin the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS), the ombudsman announced Tuesday. In a press release,...
OTTAWA — Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is currently sifting through nearly 900...
The search of personal electronic devices when crossing the Canada-U.S. border is an “extremely privacy intrusive procedure,” Daniel Therrien, the federal privacy commissioner, has told the House of Commons committee on public safety and national security. Therrien made his remarks in a letter to committee chair MP Robert Oliphant dated May 24 and published on the commissioner’s website Monday. In the letter, Therrien said his “immediate concern stems from recent announcements by the US administration that they intend to search at their discretion and without legal grounds other...
The Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN) is asking the provincial and federal government to chip in to a $213-million public-private partnership to address cellular coverage gaps in Eastern...
Conservatives elected Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer as party and official Opposition leader over the...
BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. are trying to lure customers of Quebecor...
Innovation, Science and Economic Development has released its decision on a consultation into high-power and outdoor devices (HPODs), which allows their use in the 5GHz band. The department said in a Thursday decision that...
Telus Corp. and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron had the fewest reported problems on their networks in certain regions of the country, according to a new study by J.D. Power. Released Thursday, the 2017 Canadian Wireless Network Quality Study looks at the number of problems per 100 network connections experienced by users. Those problems are primarily data-related, and include slow downloads and connection errors while browsing the web, email and apps, J.D. Power director Adrian Chung said in a phone interview. It found Telus had the fewest problems in the West and in Ontario, with nine...
Establishing a dedicated fund to tackle service affordability for low-income Canadians as part of the...
Jean-Francois Pruneau, Quebecor Inc.’s senior vice-president and chief financial officer, told an investor’s conference Thursday that his company’s quad-play strategy in Quebec will limit the impact of BCE Inc.’s...
Both CBC/Radio-Canada and Netflix Inc. saw dramatic improvements in how Canadians view their brands over the past year, according to the latest edition of the Gustavson Brand Trust Index. The annual University of Victoria...
Rogers Communications Inc. has begun marketing itself as the Internet...
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron is asking the CRTC for more time to comply with...
Investments in cyber security are not keeping up with the pace of potential future hacking attempts at Canadian companies, according to a new survey. About 46 per cent of executives at 50 Canadian companies surveyed via...
The federal government is pledging $3 million this year and into 2018 to produce an analysis on a potential public safety broadband network (PSBN). The departments of Public Safety and Emergency...
The parliamentary secretary to the innovation minister was a popular target for lobbyists last month, as...
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seeking comment on its proposal, approved Thursday, to replace its current net neutrality rules.
It passed by a 2-1 vote a proposal by FCC chairman Ajit Pai, announced last month, for a new plan to replace the existing Open...
The presence of cable infrastructure in locations where there is no telco option for wholesale Internet service is not a sufficient alternative, small Internet service providers (ISPS) are arguing in...
Netflix Inc. is setting up “download zones” in certain areas in Ontario to help the data starved pre-load movies and TV shows onto their devices, according to a Canadian Press report. WiFi...
The CRTC will hold a hearing on a number of broadcast distribution undertakings’ [BDUs] licence renewal...
Fewer Canadians kept their security software up-to-date in 2016 compared to five years ago, according to a recent report by Ekos Research Associates Inc., while a little over half of small-and-medium...
Shaw Communications Inc.’s Freedom Mobile has expanded its LTE network into Calgary and Edmonton, the company announced Wednesday. “The launch of our powerful new LTE network furthers our commitment to providing Freedom Mobile customers in Calgary and Edmonton access to the same enhanced experience that those in the Greater Toronto Area, Southern Ontario and the Greater Vancouver Area currently enjoy,” Paul McAleese, Freedom’s chief operating officer, said in a press release. When McAleese was hired to replace former Freedom CEO Alek Krstajic last month, Canaccord Genuity...
The University of Toronto’s Institute of Technology will helm an initiative to develop a privacy code of practice for connected vehicles, according to the office of the federal privacy commissioner, as it announced this year’s...
BCE Inc. said Monday that an anonymous hacker has gained access to customer information. The telecom said in a press release late Monday that the information the hacker obtained “contains email addresses, customer names...
MONTREAL — BCE Inc. has launched a new TV product hoping to appeal to a segment of the market that’s less likely to subscribe to...
More than 200,000 computers in at least 150 countries were subject to a cyber attack by extortionists seeking cash over the weekend. Among the attack victims were hospitals in the United Kingdom,...
Rima Qureshi is leaving Ericsson AB as senior vice-president and head of market area North America, effective May 11.
Qureshi is pursuing “another opportunity in the industry,” according to a Thursday press release. A profile page on...
Wireless customers are taking advantage of an improved online experience and increasingly making purchases over the Internet, according to the results of a study released Thursday. The percentage...
Manon Brouillette, president of Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron, downplayed the effect that BCE Inc.’s recent move to deploy fibre-to-the-home...
OTTAWA — Canada’s privacy commissioner should not be vested with order-making and fining power because doing so would harm the collaborative...
Canada has made significant strides in improving its network infrastructure as Internet service providers (ISPs) increased their adoption of the IPv6 protocol in 2016, according to a new report by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority. Largely led by Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. introducing the technology on their networks in 2016, 18.6 per cent of Canadian network destinations are now IPv6 capable compared to 2.6 per cent at the start of 2016, placing Canada in the 14th spot in the world. “As the world has effectively run out of IPv4 addresses because of the...
The Federal Court of Appeal has granted Voltage Pictures LLC its appeal challenging the costs Rogers Communications Inc. was asking for to disclose customer information in...
Telus Corp.’s ehealth division will develop and operate a Canada-wide tool for doctors to send prescriptions electronically, the digital health-care organization behind the service announced Thursday. In a press release,...
Despite not operating in Canada, the country’s competition watchdog has reviewed the proposed merger of AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Cable...
Telecom service subscribers who consider switching providers but ultimately don’t follow through are generally waylaid by it being too much of...
OTTAWA — The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) is hoping to build on what it calls a successful round of lobbying the federal government a year ago to have its concerns and ideas integrated into the rural broadband program. Representatives from about 28 members of the alliance representing smaller, independent telecoms from across the country were in Ottawa for close to 50 meetings Tuesday with members of Parliament, departmental and ministerial staff, CEO Jay Thomson said in an interview Monday evening at a Parliament Hill reception kicking off the CCSA’s...
The number of anglophone Canadians who have smartphones climbed up to 80 per cent in the fall of 2016 from 77 per cent a year earlier, according to a new report from Media Technology Monitor (MTM). At the same time, the...
BCE Inc. is looking to shed up to 85 jobs in Manitoba due to redundancy following its acquisition of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. “We are offering a voluntary retirement program that provides eligible employees with the...
The CRTC’s offices in Gatineau, Que., remained shut down for a second day Tuesday due to flooding in the area, according to the commission’s website. Among the releases the regulator was scheduled to issue...
Canadian viewers will get to watch a National Football League (NFL) game that will be played out of London, England, this fall after Verizon Communications Inc. purchased the streaming rights to the game. The one-game...
OTTAWA — The future of wireless spectrum in Canada won’t be about who holds the largest amount of it, but rather who wields it in the...
BCE Inc. believes the company currently has a “good working relationship” with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), according to a note from Barclays Capital analyst Phillip Huang, written following meetings...
The sale of a stake in Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. would help the crown corporation when it comes to adopting new technologies, according to Desjardins Capital Markets...
The former deputy national security advisor to the prime minister has been appointed to a position in the department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), effective Monday. David McGovern will become...
There is little evidence to suggest there is a lack of competition in so-called wholesale wireline service area gaps, given that cable facilities already exist in those areas, incumbents argued in comments to the CRTC. The companies responded this week to a Part 1 application from the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC), which is asking the regulator to allow small providers to get wholesale access to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) infrastructure under the current aggregated regime...
Rogers Communications Inc.’s Nitin Kawale is leaving his position as president of the company’s enterprise business division. “Nitin Kawale has decided to move on from Rogers and focus on his philanthropic and community activities,” Sarah Schmidt, Rogers’ director of...
Raj Shoan, the CRTC’s regional commissioner for Ontario who was fired again just four days after a return to his post, said he will be heading back to court to challenge the second...
Granting the Competition Bureau additional powers to compel businesses to provide information for market studies “could result in significant costs for Canadian businesses,” according to...
A new report from broadband equipment maker Sandvine Corp. says about six per cent of households in North America “currently have a Kodi device configured to access...
Canada’s big three wireless providers have not spoken with the minister for Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. about the potential partial sale of the company, even though last week he said he met with a major telecom, according to a Tuesday Regina Leader-Post report. SaskTel Minister Dustin Duncan has “literally not met—or even popped into a meeting with someone else from his office” with BCE Inc., Telus Corp. or Rogers Communications Inc., a statement from Premier Brad Wall’s office said, according to article. Wall’s office did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Last week,...
The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) will force a new perspective on net neutrality and zero-rating, a report from the Montreal Economic Institute argues. “The development of the Internet of Things will bring to the...
Connected cars “raise significant privacy concerns,” Vincent Gogolek, executive director of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, told a Senate committee Tuesday....
OTTAWA — Members of a House of Commons committee studying Canada’s national security framework said they weren’t compelled to increase the ability of law enforcement to obtain...
Raj Shoan, the once-former CRTC commissioner, returned to work Monday, following a 10-month gap in his role as the regional representative for Ontario. As Shoan put it in a statement issued over the weekend, his tenure was...
Saskatchewan's minister for Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. said last week the government met with a major Canadian telecom company to discuss a partial sale of the...
A U.S. appeal court said Monday it won’t reconsider an appeal of the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) net neutrality rules. In July 2016, CTIA-The Wireless Association asked the court to...
Shaw Communications Inc. wants to sell its ViaWest data centre division, according to a Reuters report, a move analysts had been predicting would help it focus on its wireless business. Shaw bought the...
Artificial intelligence is a tool telecoms will increasingly use to manage networks and enhance various products, but its susceptibility to hacking will also pose big security-related concerns,...
Raj Shoan was denied procedural fairness when he was fired from his job as the CRTC’s regional commissioner for Ontario last summer, three years into a five-year term, a Federal Court justice has found, sending the decision back to the governor-in-council for reconsideration. In an 82-page decision Friday, judge Cecily Strickland granted Shoan’s application for judicial review of his dismissal, which was handed down in June 2016 by the governor-in-council (GIC) on...
OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said she found a receptive audience for her message of cultural diversity on digital platforms among the executives of the digital media giants she...
The Ontario government said it will support the latest technologies in the coming years, with funding for artificial intelligence and 5G networks included in its 2017 budget. Finance Minister Charles Sousa tabled Ontario’s...
A $15,000 fine imposed on VOIS Inc. Thursday marks the first time the CRTC has fined a telecom under the Telecommunications Act for not complying with a regulatory requirement “not related to...
Small Internet service providers (ISPs) and advocacy groups are asking the CRTC to put in place protections regarding the quality of service they and their customers receive when buying wholesale...
Good customer service goes hand-in-hand with price as a popular reason customers pick their wireless service provider, according to a new J.D. Power study released Thursday. When asked why they selected their wireless carrier, 40 per cent of respondents in the 2017 Canadian Wireless Customer Care study cited “good customer service” as well as “price” as their reason, putting both just behind the 41 per cent who made their selection because the carrier “offered good service plan options,” according to a press release. The most satisfied customers...
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will introduce a proposal next month for a new plan to replace the existing Open Internet order, also referred to as Title II, Chairman Ajit Pai said Wednesday. Speaking at an...
BCE Inc. will introduce a new television service aimed at customers who have been turning away from traditional TV to online alternatives, president and CEO George Cope said on a conference call with analysts discussing the...
Shaw Communications Inc. and Corus Entertainment Inc. will close three Shaw local TV stations in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, and redistribute the annual funding to Global News...
Canada has become the world’s sixth-largest market for recorded music, according to a new report from the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The group’s 2017 Global Music Report said...
Atlantic Canada is gaining a second Internet exchange point (IXP), in Moncton, N.B., the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) announced in a Wednesday press release. The Moncton...
Global cyber security spending is expected to reach almost $135 billion by 2022, but that will be dwarfed by losses due to security and data breaches, according to a new report by Juniper Research....
The CRTC is asking for input on the $750-million fund for improving broadband service it first announced in December as part of its basic service decision. The project will be funded by repurposing the existing local service...
Telus Corp. announced Monday a new investment of $80 million in its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network in Quebec. It said in a French-language press release that the investment would affect almost 20 communities in...
Canadian satellite companies are asking Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) to ensure a level playing field with their international competition when it comes to the licensing of non-geostationary satellite orbit systems (NGSO), while foreign companies argue cumbersome licence requirements could rob Canadians of the benefits of the new services. The comments were among the responses to an ISED consultation paper intended to consider license requirements for NGSO...
