The CRTC has issued mandatory orders to stop three radio stations, operating under its exempt licensing rules, from broadcasting in British Columbia. South Asian Broadcasting Corporation Inc., licensee of commercial ethnic radio station CKYE-FM in Vancouver, B.C., filed the complaints with the commission on Sep. 11, 2015. It said that the three radio stations were operating as unauthorized commercial ethnic FM radio stations rather than exempt tourist information radio stations. The CRTC determined that in the three cases, two involving Ravinder Singh Pannu—who runs both Surrey Myfm...
OTTAWA — On the same day that a new report was released arguing the CRTC’s role and authority should be reduced in response to technological change, CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais defended the relevance of the commission in the digital age in front of a Parliamentary committee. “The Internet and its wide range of applications and opportunities has changed the landscape and yet Ottawa’s digital policy and legal framework has failed to keep up,” the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) report said. “Regulating how much Canadian content is shown...
OTTAWA — Canada should have a federal “cyber czar” focused on the issue of cyber security, Peter Sloly, the former deputy chief of the Toronto Police Service and an executive...
T-Mobile US Inc. has been ordered to pay a $48-million settlement following an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) into its advertised “unlimited” data plans. In press...
It could be mid-2017 before former Telus Corp. head Joe Natale takes over as CEO at Rogers Communications Inc., according to financial analysts, some of whom said Tuesday that...
Rogers Communications Inc. reported increased third-quarter revenues but lower net profits, in light of cutting its over-the-top (OTT) service Shomi last month. For the three-month period ended September 30, the company...
In an unexpected move, Rogers Communications Inc. has announced Guy Laurence is no longer CEO of the company and will be replaced by former Telus Corp. CEO Joe Natale, a choice analysts responded to positively Monday. “He’s got a great reputation in Canada within the Canadian telecom space. He did a great job at Telus. He knows the space inside and out. From everything I’ve heard, employees like working with him and he’s just generally considered...
Telus Corp. has launched a pilot program intended to make Internet service affordable for single-parent families on government assistance. The company said in a Friday press release the Telus Internet for Good...
Ann Cavoukian, executive director of the Privacy and Big Data Institute at Ryerson University, is founding an international privacy organization, according to a press release Monday. The International Council on...
VMedia Inc. said in a court document it has removed BCE Inc.’s CTV channels from its over-the-top (OTT) skinny basic service pending the resolution of a legal dispute between the two...
The Sudbury, Ont. radio market can’t sustain any more stations, the CRTC said yesterday, citing high unemployment, no projected population growth in the next few years, and below-average profitability of the city’s...
TORONTO — Most Canadian businesses are not prepared for the next wave of digital innovation and there needs to be a collaborative effort to help them adapt, a Cisco Systems...
The breach of millions of Yahoo Inc. email accounts revealed in late September could affect the acquisition of the company by Verizon Communications Inc., Reuters reported. The news service quoted Verizon...
The CRTC has approved a new Native FM radio station in Campbell River, British Columbia, the regulator said in a decision Friday. The station will operate at the 100.7 FM band and will broadcast each week 106 hours of...
BCE Inc. hasn’t demonstrated enough evidence that a court should postpone the implementation of the CRTC’s decision to eliminate simultaneous substitution for the National Football League's (NFL) Super Bowl,...
A new report from OpenMedia says that when it comes to residential wireline Internet service, small Internet Service Providers (ISPs) “have less restrictive data caps and more regions with unlimited data across all packages than their national competitors.” The report, released Thursday, was based on information available on the providers’ websites in July, comparing independent or regional providers like Distributel Communications Ltd. and Teksavvy Solutions Inc. to larger ISPs like BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. Data cap...
OTTAWA — Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains said Wednesday three areas have stood out so far in its Innovation Agenda consultations—talent, the need to work on emerging technologies, and investments in...
TORONTO — A national strategy on Internet of Things (IoT) technology, involving businesses, academia and the government, should be developed in Canada to help the country compete, a conference heard Wednesday. Currently,...
Corus Entertainment Inc. is making seven of its news talk radio stations available for free internationally on Apple Inc.’s Apple Music streaming service. The company said in...
Rogers Communications Inc. is expanding a service aimed at businesses that brings landline features to mobile. The company, which launched Rogers Unison for small businesses earlier this year, said in a press release Wednesday it...
Telus Corp. said it would sell an Internet of Things (IoT) service that monitors the temperature of food in transit, on a monthly billing basis. The company said in a press release Tuesday that it’s offering the service in partnership with the United States-based Digi International Inc. through the IoT marketplace Telus launched in 2014. The service, called Digi Honeycomb, “provides all the required hardware and software, including hand-held probes and wireless sensors that allow temperature data to be automatically collected, monitored, retrieved and...
United States presidential candidate Donald Trump is looking to consultant Jeffrey Eisenach for advice on telecom policy, according to media reports. Politico reported last week, citing...
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has stopped sales of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. The company said in a statement Tuesday it is “working with relevant regulatory bodies to investigate the recently...
In the days after the CRTC issued a decision that lowered wholesale wireline Internet rates proposed by large Internet Service Providers (ISPs), financial analysts said the large telecoms could...
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has outlined a set of potential new rules governing how Internet service providers (ISPs) deal with the privacy of consumer information. According to information about the proposed...
iHeartMedia Inc.'s free digital radio and music streaming service is now available in Canada, according to a press release from BCE Inc.’s media division. The free app, iHeartRadio, is available on a preview basis...
TORONTO — Rogers Communications Inc. CEO Guy Laurence said Thursday the company will eliminate an “irritant” among its customers by giving them the ability to manage...
The CRTC has set revised interim wholesale rates for high-speed access (HSA) services, criticizing large Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for proposing “unreasonable” rates that were too...
OTTAWA — Raising the level of broadband Internet service for Canadians would go far in levelling the playing field for both media producers and consumers, a House of Commons committee...
The federal privacy commissioner’s office said it has been in touch with Rogers Communications Inc. and Yahoo Inc. regarding the breach of millions of Yahoo email accounts revealed last week, though it declined to comment on more recent revelations of Yahoo spying on user emails. Rogers customers’ email accounts use Yahoo’s email service through a partnership between the companies, formed in 2004. Last week, Yahoo admitted data “associated with at least 500 million user accounts” was stolen from its network in 2014. Valerie Lawton,...
Telus Corp. issued an apology Wednesday after a Tuesday night social media post linking the company to support for the federal government’s recently announced carbon-pricing plan generated backlash...
Rogers Communications Inc. said Tuesday its gigabit Internet service is now available in St. John’s, N.L. The move follows a similar expansion in New Brunswick this summer. Rogers added in a press...
While the general consensus among the industry’s biggest players is that the Wireless Code has been an effective tool over the past three years, it could do with few upgrades, according to submissions made to the CRTC’s review of the regulation. Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. argued a return to three-year contracts is in...
An Ontario Superior Court judge has granted an injunction requested by BCE Inc. forbidding Cogeco Inc. from claiming that it has the “best Internet experience in your neighbourhood.” In a Sept. 26...
BCE Inc. is asking the Ontario Superior Court to grant an interim and permanent injunction to stop VMedia Inc. from delivering Bell's CTV channels on its over-the-top (OTT) service. VMedia began offering the $17.95 skinny basic package to Canadian users of Roku Inc.’s devices last month. Bell says that by including its CTV and CTV Two networks on the service, VMedia is infringing its copyright. In an Oct. 3 application filed with the court, Bell said that its agreement with VMedia allows VMedia to distribute the CTV channels to subscribers of its...
New 5G tests by Telus Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. revealed that the next generation of wireless technology has hit speeds that are 200 times faster than the current LTE standard. The speed tests,...
VMedia Inc. is asking an Ontario court to step in and declare that its recently launched over-the-top (OTT) streaming television service is not infringing copyright, as claimed by BCE Inc., which wants the provider to...
Telecom services affected by a satellite outage in have been restored after an “anomaly” powered down communications Sunday night. Ottawa-based Telesat Holdings Inc., which operates the affected Anik F2...
Users of Reddit Inc.’s website have largely railed against differential pricing in a discussion initated by the CRTC, with an overwhelming number of comments on the social platform expressing...
The final results of a CRTC study of broadband Internet service confirm its preliminary conclusions from March, which found that the majority of broadband wireline Internet services sold to Canadian homes meet or exceed their...
While CraveTV should have an easier time competing in the over-the-top (OTT) space now that Shomi will cease operation, Netflix Inc.’s offering still leaves doubt about the profitability...
The Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) is recommending that telecommunications networks be included in the federal government’s definition of infrastructure to help spur their expansion and development....
An American film production company is looking to identify 12 Canadians it says infringed its copyright by file-sharing its content. In a statement of claim filed with the federal court on Tuesday, Cell Film Holdings LLC said it...
GATINEAU, Que. — The first national video relay service (VRS) for hearing-impaired Canadians launched Wednesday, with the CRTC and companies involved in the project saying they’ll keep an eye on how much bandwidth it uses. The service was presented at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que. Wednesday morning. It will allow hearing-impaired Canadians to enter a video conference with a trained interpreter at a call centre, who will then communicate...
The department of Canadian Heritage will have to disclose who sat down with Minister Mélanie Joly as she fleshed out the consultation plan for her Canadian content review, following a query by NDP MP Pierre Nantel....
BlackBerry Ltd. will “end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners,” the company said in a press release Wednesday. It also said that it signed a licensing agreement...
Iristel Inc. and its subsidiary Ice Wireless are rolling out a northern ehealth initiative in partnership with an Ontario-based health products company. In a Tuesday press release, Iristel said that it was teaming...
OTTAWA — Companies who are not already proactively complying with the federal government’s transparency reporting rules are running out of time before the Office of the Privacy...
Rogers Communications Inc. said Monday the company is buying Tillsonburg Broadcasting Company Ltd., which operates the Country 107.3 and Easy 101 radio stations in southwestern Ontario. "Continuing to grow our presence in Southwestern Ontario is a focus for Rogers Radio, and it will be our goal to continue to serve the community and listeners in these markets with the same high level of quality programming,” Julie Adam, senior vice-president of Rogers Radio, said in a press release. “We are strong believers in the future of radio, and this...
Shomi, the joint Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. over-the-top (OTT) video service, will shut down on Nov. 30, the service...
New regulations that would require telecom companies to tell the CRTC if they’re going to disconnect another company from their network are unnecessary, according to the majority of interveners who submitted feedback to the CRTC’s call for comments on disconnection practices. Most contracts between carriers or...
Shaw Communications Inc. is “the one player in the industry who is very well positioned” regardless of the direction the Liberal government takes on wireless policy,...
In a University of Victoria study ranking Canadians’ trust of various brands, all the telecom providers included were at the bottom of the list. The Gustavson Brand Trust Index,...
Even among those who support differential pricing practices such as zero rating and sponsoring data, there isn’t a consensus as to how they should be regulated by CRTC, according to additional...
Lawyers are asking a Quebec court to allow a class action lawsuit against companies that they allege are violating the province’s consumer protection laws by requiring customers to take the...
The CRTC has issued a consumer alert letting customers of Téliphone Navigata Westel Communications Inc. (TNW) know they may be disconnected in November. It said in...
OTTAWA — Researchers at the University of Ottawa say the preliminary results of a small mystery shopper test found some wireless providers are leaving some potential customers ill-informed about...
The CRTC will consider 11 applications for radio stations in the Edmonton area next week. It will hold a four-day hearing starting Sept. 27, the commission said in a press release Friday. The hearing will consider applications “to operate new ethnic commercial AM and FM radio stations, as well an application for a new French Language community radio station to serve Edmonton.” The commission will also consider another application in Brandon, Man. in the non-appearing phase of the hearing. ...
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner said Thursday that 62 per cent of the health devices it examined as part of a global sweep didn’t “adequately explain how personal...
Quebecor Inc.’s chief financial officer Jean-François Pruneau said Thursday the company is content to wait to sell the 700 MHz spectrum it picked up in 2014 and...
BCE Inc. has filed a new motion petitioning the Federal Court of Appeal to hear its case against the CRTC decision banning simultaneous substitution during the Super Bowl. In a notice of motion...
Canada’s biggest telcos told investors Wednesday that they are seeing growth in wireless data usage on the first of a two-day conference hosted by CIBC World Markets. BCE Inc....
Desjardins Capital Markets analyst Maher Yaghi said that the CRTC’s plan for wholesale access to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks should theoretically “create an environment in which ISPs have better control over their cost structure, leading to improved competition.” The CRTC issued its decision Tuesday, which sets out an implementation plan for mandated wholesale access by smaller Internet service providers (ISPs) to incumbents’ FTTH networks. Yaghi noted that “we are still in a wait-and-see mode on this issue until we see the final CRTC...
Jeffrey Elliott, TableRock Media CEO, is the new chairman of Interactive Ontario, the association announced Tuesday. Elliott, a long-time member of the board of directors, was elected...
Adoption of skinny-basic television has been low because consumers demand more content, BCE Inc. president and CEO George Cope told an investors’ conference on Tuesday. “Subscriptions for...
The CRTC has missed an opportunity to foster innovation among telecom competitors as it moves forward in the implementation of mandated wholesale access by smaller Internet service providers (ISPs) to...
MONTREAL — Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron said Tuesday it will begin to test 5G technologies as part of a new project, in a move that appears to be part of an increasing push...
Certain events leading into 2017 could spell increased pressure on telecommunications companies, but there’s “not much to be excited about” otherwise, according to Canaccord Genuity....
The CRTC will host a public discussion on differential pricing practices for Internet data plans on Reddit Inc.’s website, the regulator said Monday. The commission said in a notice it...
The former CEO of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) could not have been wrongfully dismissed since her employment contract was already up, the board of directors argued in court documents responding to a lawsuit by Alyson...
Carriers are capitalizing on demand for Apple Inc.’s new iPhone with heavy discounts on older models, according to Barclays Capital. Despite a $400 price tag for the 32GB iPhone on a two-year...
Reponses filed with the CRTC last week by consumer, advocacy and industry groups indicate that all parties support the CRTC’s preliminary view on Quebec’s Bill 74, which would block access to unauthorized gambling websites. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), OpenMedia, the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) and the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA)—parties that often find themselves at odds on issues in front of the CRTC—all filed responses with the commission indicating they were in agreement. On Sept. 1, the CRTC...
After 13 weeks off from the Parliament Hill routine, MPs returned en masse to Ottawa Monday for the start of the House of Commons’ fall session, where the stage is set for forward...
Canada’s position among countries with mobile broadband subscriptions dropped last year, going from the 47th spot in 2014 to 66th place in 2015, according to a new International Telecommunication Union (ITU) report. In its...
The digital divide for low-income Canadians will continue to grow unless there’s a national plan to address making communications services affordable and available for that demographic, said a...
Rogers Communications Inc. is taking to Twitter Inc.’s social media service to allow its customers to connect with its support representatives. The partnership, announced in a Thursday press...
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) said it has its first two participants for a national program that will measure the quality of local Internet. Citizens of the Annapolis Valley, N.S., and Stratford, Ont., will be able to test their Internet connection and “contribute to a comprehensive Internet performance datatest for their community,” CIRA said in a Thursday press release. The program is intended to get communities primed for the digital economy by helping municipal leaders get insight and analysis on where to focus their “resources in...
The need for upload speed is growing among Canadian consumers and businesses, though it’s too early to tell whether there’s real demand for symmetrical Internet plans that some companies have begun offering, according...
Telus Corp. has joined forces with a legal software provider to help those who work in the profession modernize their practices, the company said. In a Tuesday press release Telus said it was collaborating with the...
Toronto-based Comwave Networks Inc. will fork out $360,000 for misleading ads that represented its Internet and home phone services as “unlimited,” the Competition Bureau said Tuesday. In a press...
Netflix Inc. argued that data caps are an “unnecessary constraint on advanced telecommunications capability” in a filing with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)....
Telus Corp. will offer free WiFi to customers of Toronto taxi company Associated Toronto Taxicab Co-operative Ltd., following a similar partnership with a cab company in Vancouver established last year. Telus said in a press...
Former CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan won’t be reinstated while awaiting appeal of the order-in-council that removed him from his position, a Federal Court judge ruled Friday. According to...
The Urban Alliance on Race Relations (UARR) and the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) have written to Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly to ask her to look into allegations of...
The CRTC received nine Internet traffic management practices (ITMP) complaints in the three months ended June 30, bringing the yearly total (since July 1, 2015) to 33. The quarterly number of complaints was the same as the...
Shaw Communications Inc.’s acquisition of Wind has potential for wireless success in Western Canada similar to that of Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron in Quebec, according to RBC Capital Markets’ Drew McReynolds. In a research note published Friday, McReynolds used the Quebec-based company’s wireless efforts since 2010 as a benchmark against which Shaw might find room to thrive as a wireless carrier. McReyolds said in the note that he expects Shaw-Wind to launch a “Shaw-branded wireless service in order to maximize bundling and business market opportunities....
A union representing Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. employees has launched an advertising campaign calling for Premier Brad Wall to abandon any idea of selling the telecom. In a press release Thursday,...
GATINEAU — On the final day of a two-day hearing, consumer groups told a CRTC panel that the regulator should set standards for how companies present information about their skinny-basic packages, while CRTC commissioner...
Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink unveiled its new TV Everywhere offering Thursday, Eastlink Stream, offering a one-stop-shop for television subscribers to access content from multiple networks and over-the-top (OTT)...
GATINEAU — A CRTC panel pressed Canada's largest TV service providers on whether they were doing enough to bring attention to new skinny-basic services, raising concerns that higher-tier...
Investment company Globalive Capital has sold small telecom Yak Communications to Distributel Communications Ltd., Globalive said in a press release Wednesday. In separate deals, it also sold business telecom services provider OneConnect and hospitality industry-focused division Canopco to enterprise-focused ISP Accelerated Connections Inc., it said. "Yak Communications, OneConnect Services and Canopco are positioned well for future growth and we believe that under new ownership, all three brands will continue to provide the same high standard of service and innovation to...
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has given Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. its approval for its proposal to take the company private. In a Tuesday press release, Mark Redmond, Sirius XM Canada president...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced Wednesday a new platform for businesses to manage cloud applications. The Rogers Business App Market is billed as an online portal “where small business can purchase,...
Promotions offering customers extra data as part of back-to-school promotions by Canada’s largest three wireless carriers will help drive upgrades by customers, according to a research note by Barclays Capital analyst...
Much of the divide between the two leading candidates for the U.S. presidency is that one has articulated policies on technology and innovation while the other has not, according to a new report by Information Technology and...
OTTAWA — Last week’s decision from a Federal Court judge setting aside an investigation and decision that former CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan committed workplace harassment should weigh heavily in his favour for...
As the CRTC is set to look into the implementation of its skinny basic TV package rules by industry, telecoms are arguing the proceeding is largely premature, given that the commission’s skinny...
GATINEAU — As of June 30, about 177,000 TV subscribers had a skinny basic package, according to information given to media at a CRTC technical briefing Friday. That was four months after the CRTC mandated that TV providers...
A Federal Court judge has overturned a 2015 CRTC decision that former commissioner Raj Shoan harassed a senior staff member, ruling he was denied procedural fairness in the investigation leading up to the decision. In...
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is recalling its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone in multiple markets, including Canada, after reports that batteries were catching fire. In a statement posted to its website Friday, the company said there had been 35 cases reported globally as of Sept. 1. “In response to recently reported cases of the new Galaxy Note7, we conducted a thorough investigation and found a battery cell issue,” the statement said. The company has stopped sales of the device and will replace customers’ existing devices with new ones, it added. Koh Dong-jin,...
