T-Mobile pays $17.5M US for 911 outages

telecom | 07/17/2015 6:25 pm EDT

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Friday that it has reached a settlement with T-Mobile U.S. Inc. that will see the carrier paying $17.5 million US for a pair of 911 outages last year. The FCC said in a press...

Switch to IPv6 on as old IP addresses run out

telecom | 07/16/2015 8:00 pm EDT

The Internet has run out of new IP addresses based on the most commonly-used format, and one Canadian expert says service providers in the country are being too slow in making the switch to the newer protocol. Jacques Latour,...

Bell denied appeal in northern 911 case

telecom | 07/16/2015 6:03 pm EDT

BCE Inc. has been denied by the Supreme Court of Canada the right to appeal a 2013 decision by a trial court that found the company had unjustly enriched itself by billing mobile customers in the Northwest Territories for 911...

Telus launches $7-a-day U.S. roaming

telecom | 07/16/2015 5:59 pm EDT

Telus Corp. on Thursday announced a $7-a-day option for U.S. roaming. It said in a press release that the service is called US Easy Roam, and that customers opting for this option will be able to enjoy their regular allotments...

Shaw announces new data centre for Calgary

telecom | 07/16/2015 3:22 pm EDT

Shaw Communications Inc. on Thursday announced that it will have a new "state-of-the-art" data centre in Calgary that will begin operations this fall. It said in a press release the 40,000-square-foot facility will offer business customers options for storing data, cloud operations and related services. "The launch of our new Calgary data centre will allow us to help organizations meet these expanding IT needs by providing fully configurable hybrid solutions that will simplify functions, manage costs and help our customers grow their business," Ron McKenzie, Shaw's...

Big telecoms urge market approach for CRTC in basic-service review

telecom | 07/15/2015 9:29 pm EDT

Canada’s largest Internet service providers told the CRTC it’s not necessary to implement a subsidy system for broadband Internet service, while advocacy groups argued that relying on...

Government plans Spectrum Analytics Centre

telecom | 07/15/2015 6:57 pm EDT

The federal government is planning to create a Spectrum Analytics Centre by 2017, according to a new document on Industry Canada's website. The online document, titled Digital Canada 150 2.0, is intended to be an update of...

White House announces program to bring broadband to poor

telecom | 07/15/2015 5:05 pm EDT

The office of U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced a program to bring broadband Internet to 275,000 low-income households across the country, in partnership with local governments and...

Distributel expands Internet services in Quebec

telecom | 07/15/2015 3:33 pm EDT

Distributel Communications Ltd. is expanding its high-speed cable Internet services to 29 more markets throughout Quebec. Some of new communities covered include Asbestos, Baie Comeau, Chelsea, Drummondville, Trois...

Cogeco Cable earnings boosted by U.S. operations

telecom | 07/15/2015 3:04 pm EDT

Cogeco Cable Inc. reported higher third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, attributing gains largely to its U.S. operations, which benefited from favourable terms when translating U.S. dollars to Canadian. The company said in a press...

Morgan Elliott takes reins of Shaw’s regulatory ops

Media | 07/15/2015 2:48 pm EDT

Morgan Elliott has taken on the job of vice-president of regulatory and government relations at Shaw Communications Inc., according to his LinkedIn profile. The profile indicates Elliott started the job in June. It also indicates that during the same month he left his job as vice-president of government relations at...

Telus sells Blacks website

Media | 07/14/2015 9:04 pm EDT

Telus Corp. said Tuesday that it has reached an agreement to sell the website of the Blacks photography retail operation to Montreal-based photo finishing company Les Pros de la Photo. It said in an emailed statement the sale will close on Aug. 4, at which time the purchasing company will do...

Wearable tech could eliminate need for smartphones: exec

Media | 07/14/2015 8:11 pm EDT

Wearable devices could replace everything in our pockets, eventually wiping out smartphones in five to 10 years, says one wearable-technology company CEO. However, others say functionality, design and...

Bell’s CraveTV to go pure OTT

Media | 07/13/2015 10:28 pm EDT

BCE Inc. will make its CraveTV streaming service available to all Canadians as of Jan 1., 2016, it said in a press release Monday, in what marks a change in strategy for the company. Bell Media president Mary Ann Turcke said in the press release that as “our business model has continued to evolve the time is right to also offer CraveTV as a standalone product.” The service, which was launched in December, is currently available only to customers who subscribe to TV service from Bell and partner providers, including Telus Corp. and Eastlink. “It’s a big change in strategy since [former Bell Media president Kevin] Crull repeatedly said they weren’t going to do this,” broadcasting consultant Kelly Lynne Ashton said in an email. “It’s a necessary change, though, as it’s the only...

No-link rule removed from Pan Am website

Media | 07/13/2015 8:23 pm EDT

The website for the Pan Am Games, underway in Toronto, has had a rule indicating a ban on unauthorized links removed. On Friday, the following quote appeared on the terms-of-use section for the website Toronto2015.org:...

Rules set for next spectrum auction, applications due Aug. 6

telecom | 07/13/2015 7:53 pm EDT

Industry Canada's finalized rules for the next wireless spectrum auction have been published, as four unclaimed licences left over from last year's 700 MHz auction and this year's AWS-3...

Comcast to launch video-streaming service

telecom | 07/13/2015 7:19 pm EDT

Comcast Corp. is launching an Internet-based video streaming service to be available to subscribers of its Xfinity Internet service. The company said in a blog post Sunday that the service, called Stream, will allow customers to...

Carl Wiese to head BlackBerry’s global sales

telecom | 07/13/2015 2:07 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. said Monday that Carl Wiese has been hired as its president of global sales, replacing John Sims who has left the company. The company said in a press release that Wiese comes from spending more than a decade in senior roles at Cisco Systems Inc., most recently as senior vice-president in charge of global sales and getting products to...

Wind expands signal in Toronto subway stations

telecom | 07/13/2015 2:00 pm EDT

Wind Mobile said Monday it has expanded its coverage in stations that are part of Toronto's subway system. The wireless carrier said in a press release it now has the entire downtown loop of Line 1 covered and has added coverage at the Bay station on Line 2, making for a total of 15 stations with cell reception. It said work is continuing to expand its coverage in Toronto's subway station, after announcing last month it had become the first mobile carrier to provide service there....

Digital activists push for free wireless Internet for all

telecom | 07/10/2015 6:50 pm EDT

A movement is underway to make wireless Internet access ubiquitous and free in most urban environments, with people's home routers as the source of these public connections. The people behind...

CRTC wants details on Shomi availability to BDUs, ISPs

telecom | 07/10/2015 4:09 pm EDT

The CRTC is asking Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. for detailed information about how and when they made their streaming service available to other broadcast distributors and...

Wireless price hikes affecting other telecom spending: report

Media | 07/09/2015 8:55 pm EDT

“Sharp” price hikes in wireless service over the past year are prompting people to reduce how much they spend on other telecommunications services, according to a Conference Board of...

CRTC consulting on some Talk TV decisions

Media | 07/09/2015 8:43 pm EDT

The CRTC has opened a consultation on a number of decisions it made as part of its Let's Talk TV review of television services ahead of making official changes to its broadcasting regulations to include them. It is consulting...

CMF provides $14.1M for digital media projects

telecom | 07/09/2015 8:00 pm EDT

Canada Media Fund (CMF) announced Thursday it will provide $14.1 million in funding for 22 digital media projects. CMF said in the press release that the funding was “part of the first round of production support from the 2015-2016 Experimental Stream,” which helps creators develop new content for digital media and software applications....

EU votes down ‘link tax’

telecom | 07/09/2015 5:50 pm EDT

Canadian-based activist group OpenMedia on Thursday congratulated the European Parliament for voting against a proposal that fees be paid by Internet search engines that use text excerpts that promote links to news articles from outlets across the European Union. OpenMedia said in a press release that this proposed "link tax" was part of a...

T-Mobile to provide free roaming in Canada, Mexico

telecom | 07/09/2015 3:33 pm EDT

T-Mobile U.S. Inc. announced Thursday a "Mobile without Borders" upgrade that will remove roaming charges for U.S. customers when using wireless service from Canada or Mexico, and also for customers making calls to these...

Openface to be main WiFi provider in Montreal project

telecom | 07/09/2015 1:44 pm EDT

Openface Internet announced Thursday it will provide the main bandwidth to power a public WiFi project in Montreal. The company, based in Montreal, said in a press release it will provide a 20 Gbps Internet connection, following...

Shoan, government reach deal on confidentiality

Media | 07/08/2015 8:39 pm EDT

CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan and the government, who are battling in court over a finding that he committed workplace harassment, have reached an agreement on keeping the identities of individuals involved in this case private. A third-party investigation commissioned by the CRTC had found that Shoan harassed an employee at the commission. Shoan has been fighting this determination in Federal Court and calling for all the material the CRTC used against him, including an unredacted version of the investigator's report, to be made available to him. The government had said it would provide...

Industry Canada funds Internet service boost in B.C.

telecom | 07/08/2015 8:22 pm EDT

Industry Canada announced Wednesday it is providing $3.34 million as part of a process to expand and improve Internet services to 11,000 homes in British Columbia. It said in a press release that Columbia Basin Trust would...

Radio ratings’ accuracy questioned

Media | 07/08/2015 6:58 pm EDT

A new piece of technology is causing controversy within Canada’s oldest broadcast medium. Over the past months, some radio stations in Canada have quietly begun using a device called Voltair in an attempt to improve their ratings — at least until ratings service Numeris stepped in and told them to stop a few weeks ago. Now Numeris says...

Microsoft restructuring phone business, cuts jobs

Media | 07/08/2015 4:37 pm EDT

Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday it is cutting as many as 7,800 positions primarily as a result of restructuring its phone hardware business. The company said in a press release that this will result in a write-down of about $7.6...

CRTC can’t apply 2 different acts in mobile-TV decision: Bell

Media | 07/07/2015 5:53 pm EDT

The CRTC erred in finding that BCE Inc. gave itself an undue preference with the pricing of its mobile TV product because the Telecommunications Act does not apply to this case, Bell argued in a court document Monday. Bell said the CRTC committed a jurisdictional error in its decision earlier this year, in which it...

Industry Canada announces $41M for small-town Internet projects

telecom | 07/07/2015 4:17 pm EDT

Industry Canada said Tuesday it will spend $35 million to improve or expand Internet service for 8,400 homes in Nunavut, and in a separate announcement said $6 million would go toward doing the same for 14,000 homes in Nova Scotia. It said in one press release that SSi Micro Ltd. would receive the funding to make satellite Internet services with download speeds of at least 3 Mbps available in Nunavut, starting in 2016. Communities affected include Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, Resolute Bay and several others. Another release said Seaside Wireless Communications would receive funding to improve or...

Bell overcharging departing customers, says Quebecor

telecom | 07/07/2015 4:04 pm EDT

Quebecor Inc. has filed an application asking the CRTC to force BCE Inc. to stop charging customers after the date they cancel telecommunications services. An application from Quebecor appearing on the CRTC website Monday said...

TV tangible-benefits spending up 27% last year: report

Media | 07/07/2015 2:32 pm EDT

Companies spent $138.7 million on TV-related tangible benefits in Canada in the 12 months ended Aug. 31 last year, marking a 27 per cent increase from a year earlier, according to TV-industry research...

Messaging traffic to grow 70% in next 4 years

Media | 07/07/2015 2:24 pm EDT

The volume of online and mobile messaging will increase 70 per cent over the next four years, Juniper Research Ltd. said Tuesday. The research group said the number of emails, instant messages, social media posts, and text...

U.S. kids prefer video content on mobile devices: survey

Media | 07/06/2015 8:18 pm EDT

A new study conducted by Miner & Co. Studio. suggests watching regular cable TV is declining among kids in the United States, who would prefer to watch their favourite shows on a smartphone or...

Government provides $2M to upgrade Internet in Quebec

telecom | 07/06/2015 5:26 pm EDT

Industry Canada said Monday that it is providing $2 million to bring faster Internet service to residents in the Quebec region of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. It said in a press release it would provide $2 million to two Internet...

International Datacasting names co-CEOs

Media | 07/06/2015 4:23 pm EDT

International Datacasting Corp., the Ottawa-based maker of broadcasting technology, said Monday that Chris Barrett and Steeve Huin have been appointed co-CEOs of the company. Barrett and Huin replace Doug Lowther, who will be...

Ontario farmers want better Internet access, says group

telecom | 07/06/2015 3:22 pm EDT

Most Ontario farmers have issues with the quality of their Internet connections and more than 90 per cent feel the Internet is important to their livelihoods, according to a provincial farming...

Broadcaster challenges 2-year-old CRTC decision in court

Media | 07/03/2015 7:27 pm EDT

ADR.TV said Friday that it has applied to Federal Court for a judicial review of the CRTC's decision in August 2013 not to grant it mandatory carriage on basic TV packages in Quebec past Aug. 31...

Government files to censor details in Shoan case

Media | 07/03/2015 5:06 pm EDT

The federal government has filed a notice of motion in Federal Court to keep certain details under wraps in the judicial review CRTC Commissioner Raj Shoan is seeking of a process that found he committed workplace harassment. A notice filed by the Attorney General of Canada on Monday said a representative would appear in a Toronto courtroom next Tuesday to argue that certain evidence in this case not be made public. That evidence includes an unredacted version of a report from a third-party investigator that found Shoan had harassed Amanda Cliff, the CRTC's executive director of...

CRTC postpones deadline for wholesale-Internet tariff process

telecom | 07/03/2015 4:09 pm EDT

The CRTC said Friday it has moved the deadline for comments in its review of wholesale high-speed Internet tariffs by two weeks. It announced in May it would review the application process and...

Rogers buyout of Mobilicity closes

Media | 07/02/2015 10:43 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. said in a press release late Thursday afternoon that its acquisitions of Mobilicity and wireless spectrum from Shaw Communications Inc. have received all necessary approvals and are now closed. Both...

Netflix hires another lobbyist for Canada

Media | 07/02/2015 7:07 pm EDT

Netflix Inc. has hired Environics Communications Inc. to lobby the Canadian government on its behalf, The Lobby Monitor reported this week. It has three new filings under Environics, represented by three different Ottawa-based...

Telus makes NFB content available through Optik

Media | 07/02/2015 4:51 pm EDT

Telus Corp.’s Optik TV customers will now have access more than 1,000 National Film Board of Canada (NFB) films on their TV via a new app. Telus announced Thursday in a press release that the NFB app is now available to...

Government repeals wireless roaming caps

telecom | 07/02/2015 3:00 pm EDT

The federal government has complied with a CRTC request by repealing caps imposed last year on how much wireless carriers can charge each other for domestic roaming. A notice in the Canada Gazette said that subsections 239(2) and 240(2) of Economic Action Plan 2014 Act came into force Wednesday, the objective of which was to “repeal the legislated cap on domestic wholesale roaming rates in the Telecommunications Act, following the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decision on wholesale roaming rates.” In that decision, the CRTC said it would begin...

‘Arbitrary’ limits in Industry Canada transparency guidelines: critics

telecom | 06/30/2015 8:49 pm EDT

Industry Canada’s new guidelines for transparency reports released by telecom companies put unnecessary limits on how information should be reported, according to two academics with expertise in...

CMF to go on cross-country consultation

Media | 06/30/2015 6:33 pm EDT

The Canadian Media Fund (CMF) said Tuesday it will be going across the country for a consultation process this fall. It said in a press release that the consultation process will include several components, including focus groups...

CRTC revises third-party phone billing practices

telecom | 06/30/2015 4:32 pm EDT

The CRTC on Tuesday issued several changes to standards around billing that takes place on behalf of third parties by incumbent landline phone service providers. Phone companies are mandated to provide billing services primarily...

Cisco to buy cloud security company OpenDNS

Media | 06/30/2015 2:22 pm EDT

Cisco Systems Inc. announced Tuesday it is planning to acquire OpenDNS, a security systems company with offices in San Francisco and Vancouver.   Cisco said in a press release that it will buy the company for $635 million US...

Kelvin Shepherd stepping down from MTS

telecom | 06/29/2015 8:59 pm EDT

Kelvin Shepherd is retiring as president of Manitoba Telecom Service Inc., paving the way for Jay Forbes to take on the roles of both chief executive and president, the company said Monday. Forbes became CEO at the start of this...

Telecom leaders sell IoT services to increasingly savvy market

telecom | 06/29/2015 8:14 pm EDT

Over the past year, there has been a key change in the Internet of Things (IoT) market, as customers have become more aware of the technology and what it can do for them, according to officials from...

Telcos losing advantage over cablecos in TV: analyst

telecom | 06/29/2015 2:50 pm EDT

Cable companies are “poised to level the playing field” against telephone incumbents in the area of TV service as they launch more advanced technological services of their own, Barclays Capital analyst Phillip Huang...

Hexoskin shirts available through Best Buy

Media | 06/26/2015 8:20 pm EDT

Hexoskin, a Montreal-based maker of shirts that capture biometric information about people, said this week that its products were to become available on the Canadian website of Best Buy Co. Inc. as of Friday. The company said in...

Johanne Bélisle appointed CEO of CIPO

telecom | 06/26/2015 5:58 pm EDT

Industry Minister James Moore announced Friday the appointment of Johanne Bélisle as the next CEO of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). Bélisle has been the assistant deputy minister for various departments for the Quebec region since 2007, and currently is the Quebec region's assistant deputy minister for employment and social development Canada, Industry Canada said in a press release. “I would like to welcome Johanne Bélisle in her new role as chief executive officer of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Her almost 30 years of...

Free WiFi launched in Old Montreal

Media | 06/26/2015 2:52 pm EDT

The City of Montreal has started deploying free WiFi in parts of Montreal, according to a notice on its website. It said the service launched in Old Montreal and some surrounding areas on Thursday after getting funding from the...

Bell says its gigabit service marks ‘major shift’ in telecom

telecom | 06/25/2015 9:14 pm EDT

BCE Inc. is leveraging its fibre-to-the-home network to launch a new gigabit Internet service, making it the first large telecommunications company in Canada to offer such connections. It will launch first in Toronto, where 50,000 homes and businesses will have “first access” to the Gigabit Fibe service this...

TV-Internet connections rising: MTM

Media | 06/25/2015 8:10 pm EDT

New data from Media Technology Monitor (MTM) indicates growth in connections between television sets and the Internet. MTM, a project of CBC/Radio-Canada, said in a report released Thursday that 42 per cent of anglophone...

Smaller wireless carriers cry foul on interim-tariff filings

telecom | 06/25/2015 7:24 pm EDT

Wind Mobile, Quebecor Inc. and Eastlink are asking the CRTC to require incumbent wireless carriers to re-file documents relating to interim tariffs and conditions for domestic roaming access. As part...

Feds fund fibre Internet expansions in Ontario

telecom | 06/25/2015 5:45 pm EDT

Industry Canada on Thursday announced that it will provide funding to bring fibre-based Internet services to more than 800 homes in and around Durham, Ont., and 2,500 homes in the area of Kenora, Ont. A press release said about $1.8 million will be provided to Eccentric Artists Technical Services Ltd., a local Internet service provider, to help install and connect the homes in Durham. The second release about $2 million will be provided to BCE Inc.’s subsidiary Bell Alliant to install services in Kenora. The expansions are part of the $305-million Connecting Canadians program that was...

New OTT options tempting TV consumers: study

Media | 06/25/2015 4:18 pm EDT

A new study from Digitalsmiths, a subsidiary of TiVo Inc., shows almost 60 per cent of TV-service customers in Canada and the U.S. are spending more than $100 US a month for their subscriptions, and about one in four are...

CRTC revokes licences for 5 aboriginal radio stations

Media | 06/25/2015 3:59 pm EDT

The CRTC said it was yanking the broadcast licences of five aboriginal radio stations, all operated by a company called Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc., for years of non-compliance with licence conditions and radio regulations. The...

Shaw writes off $55M on abandoned IPTV project

Media | 06/25/2015 3:04 pm EDT

Shaw Communications Inc. on Thursday reported a decline in its quarterly income with much of the drop attributed to a $55-million write-down taken on an abandoned IPTV project. Shaw said in a press release that it started work in...

Weather Network app launched for Apple Watch

Media | 06/25/2015 2:03 pm EDT

Pelmorex Media Inc. announced Thursday the launch of a new Weather Network app for Apple Inc.’s Apple Watch. “The Apple Watch is one of the must-have tech accessories this year and as Canada’s leading weather...

Wearables will increasingly use AI, say techies

Media | 06/24/2015 7:25 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Those in the wearables industry envision the day when their products are taking less direction from humans and doing more thinking for themselves — in other words, incorporating more artificial intelligence...

Fibre Internet customers more satisfied, says market study

Media | 06/24/2015 7:22 pm EDT

The proportion of Canadians connected to the Internet by fibre is rising and these people are more satisfied with their Internet service than others, according to market research data released...

SaskTel announces M2M management portal

telecom | 06/24/2015 4:21 pm EDT

Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. said Wednesday it has launched a machine-to-machine (M2M) management centre, which is an online portal for its business customers to control and monitor devices linked to an M2M...

Rogers-Mobilicity deal sign of ‘benign’ regulatory environment: analyst

telecom | 06/24/2015 11:47 am EDT

Industry Canada’s approval of Rogers Communications Inc.’s bid to buy Mobilicity, as well a deal for Rogers to acquire spectrum from Shaw Communications Inc., signals an improvement in the...

MTS launches single Internet service for home and on the go

telecom | 06/23/2015 9:02 pm EDT

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. launched a new plan Tuesday that integrates home Internet and wireless data service in one package, which analysts agreed is an indication of the ongoing trend toward Internet connectivity becoming telecoms’ core product. The plan, called Total Internet, offers unlimited home Internet service at 10 Mbps and wireless service, its website outlines. Plans start from $60 for one person to $160 for five smartphones, though customers can upgrade the speed for an extra monthly fee. The service also includes access to MTS’ hotspots, a press release noted....

Verizon completes purchase of AOL

Media | 06/23/2015 6:31 pm EDT

Verizon Communications Inc. announced Tuesday that it has completed its acquisition of AOL Inc. The press release stated that “AOL is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Verizon." Verizon had announced in May that AOL...

BlackBerry revenue falls to $658M US

telecom | 06/23/2015 2:40 pm EDT

BlackBerry Inc. reported revenue of $658 million US for its first fiscal quarter ended May 30, down from $966 million US a year earlier. The company said in a press release that hardware accounted for 40 per cent of that revenue,...

Is government easing off on spectrum-transfer policy?

telecom | 06/22/2015 8:59 pm EDT

Speculation that the federal government is poised to approve the acquisition of Mobilicity and its spectrum by Telus Corp. or Rogers Communications Inc. has some observers disagreeing whether this would represent a major departure...

Set-asides, caps at issue in upcoming auction of unsold spectrum

telecom | 06/22/2015 8:41 pm EDT

Large wireless carriers are arguing for the elimination of set-asides and spectrum caps in the upcoming auction of unsold AWS-3 and 700 MHz spectrum, while smaller competitors say those measures...

BAE Systems bringing cloud-based security system to Canada

telecom | 06/22/2015 8:05 pm EDT

BAE Systems PLC announced Monday that its cloud-based cyber security system will be brought to commercial organizations in Canada for the first time. The company said in a press release that new offering comes from its recent acquisition of security systems company SilverSky. The company will be offering its new security system, which is designed to defend against large targeted attacks, the release said. BAE said the first products made available under this program will focus on email. Services are offered from the cloud, allowing faster customer access and reduced integration time, while...

Commercial-radio revenue down 0.5%: CRTC

Media | 06/22/2015 4:56 pm EDT

The CRTC on Monday said commercial-radio revenue in Canada was down 0.5 per cent for the 12 months ended last August, describing the trend as “stable from the previous year in spite of competition from satellite, online and...

ITU defines roadmap to 5G

telecom | 06/22/2015 3:37 pm EDT

The United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the intergovernmental body that is responsible for establishing worldwide standards of communication systems, announced Friday it has defined a roadmap for 5G mobile network development. It said in a press release that it has...

Telus to expand fibre network in Edmonton

telecom | 06/22/2015 1:59 pm EDT

Telus Corp. said Friday it will be expanding its fibre-optic network in Edmonton to connect directly to more than 90 per cent of homes and businesses in the city over the next six years. The company said in a press release that...

Carriers ordered to comply in Apple competition case

Media | 06/19/2015 6:29 pm EDT

The Federal Court has ordered wireless carriers to provide information being asked for by the Competition Bureau as it looks into whether Apple Inc. engaged in anticompetitive practices related to sales of its iPhone. BCE Inc.,...

Industry Minister James Moore leaving Ottawa

Media | 06/19/2015 5:53 pm EDT

Industry Minister James Moore said Friday that he will not run in this fall's federal election. Moore said in a statement posted to his personal website that he will finish his term as MP before "going home to British...

SaskTel boosts wireless network capacity in 10 communities

telecom | 06/19/2015 4:44 pm EDT

Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. said in a press release Friday it is expanding the capacity of its wireless network in 10 Saskatchewan rural communities. The company will boost the...

Privacy issues around wearables come into view

Media | 06/19/2015 3:17 pm EDT

As wearable technology moves further into the mainstream, thoughts are turning toward how individual privacy can be protected with such devices that track and transmit information as personal as health data and real-time location....

Intel buys Recon Instruments

Media | 06/18/2015 8:54 pm EDT

U.S. technology giant Intel Corp. has purchased Vancouver-based wearables maker Recon Instruments, the company said in a blog post Wednesday. Recon makes smart eyewear for sporting activities such as cycling and running. Recon...

Bill S-4 passes in House of Commons

telecom | 06/18/2015 7:55 pm EDT

Bill S-4, the Digital Privacy Act, received royal assent and has become law, Industry Minister James Moore said in a press release Thrusday. The bill is an update to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). It was tabled in the Senate more than a year ago. Among other things, it includes fines of up to $100,000 for companies that do not inform customers about personal data breaches and was touted by Industry Canada as a tool to give Canadians more confidence in conducting online transactions. The bill has also had it critics. University of Ottawa law...

Canadian telecom prices remain high in international comparisons: report

telecom | 06/18/2015 7:32 pm EDT

Prices of low-end wireless plans have continued to climb for the second year in a row, while Canada’s rates for broadband, wireless and bundled telecom services remain high compared to other...

CRTC officials battle over travel expenses: report

Media | 06/18/2015 1:57 pm EDT

The soured relations between CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais and Commissioner Raj Shoan extend beyond Shoan's court fight against worker-harassment findings and into arguments over travel expenses, according to a report. The...

AT&T to be fined $100M US for throttling

telecom | 06/17/2015 8:09 pm EDT

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Wednesday it would fine AT&T $100 million US for slowing down traffic for customers on wireless plans touted as being "unlimited." The FCC said in a press...

Wind offering cellular service in Toronto subway

telecom | 06/17/2015 4:30 pm EDT

Wind Mobile is the first wireless carrier to provide its customers with cellular service in the Toronto subway system, the company said in a press release Wednesday. Wind customers will have immediate “access to cellular...

International Datacasting shareholders reject acquisition

Media | 06/16/2015 8:09 pm EDT

Shareholders of broadcasting-technology maker International Datacasting Corp. have rejected the proposed sale of its key assets to a San Diego-based company. International Datacasting, an Ottawa-based company, said in a press release Friday that 41.5 per cent of votes cast were in favour of the sale to Pico Digital Inc. and 58.5 per cent were against. It said the transaction required approval from at least two-thirds of shareholders. As a result, International Datacasting said the $4.1-million US deal announced in April for Pico Digital to buy International Datacasting's...

PIAC asks CRTC to expand boundaries for number portability

telecom | 06/16/2015 4:00 pm EDT

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) has filed an application with the CRTC asking that boundaries be expanded for which customers can transport their existing phone numbers. In an application...

Modernization Plan network improvements at risk: Northwestel

telecom | 06/16/2015 3:27 pm EDT

Northwestel Inc. is asking the CRTC to reconsider its move in March to eliminate a $20 surcharge the company charges some customers. The CRTC had ruled that Northwestel was no longer allowed to...

60% of mobile data on WiFi by 2019: Juniper Research

telecom | 06/16/2015 2:35 pm EDT

Almost 60 per cent of the data generated globally by smartphones and tablets will be offloaded to WiFi networks by 2019, Juniper Research Ltd. said Tuesday. Juniper said in a press release that more than 115,000 petabytes from...

Competition Bureau seeks info on iPhone pricing from carriers

telecom | 06/15/2015 9:01 pm EDT

The Competition Bureau has filed applications in Federal Court seeking information from wireless carriers about how they set prices for Apple Inc.’s devices. The applications involve BCE Inc.,...

BDUs worried about wording in new cancellation regulation

Media | 06/15/2015 8:16 pm EDT

Canadian TV providers are worried the wording the CRTC proposed to prohibit policies requiring 30-day notice to cancel TV services could be interpreted to apply to the cancellation of individual...

Cellular IoT/M2M connections predicted to quadruple by 2019

Media | 06/15/2015 6:58 pm EDT

The number of cellular Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) connections globally will nearly quadruple between 2014 and 2019, technology research group 451 Research LLC said Monday....

OpenMedia fights ‘link tax’ in Europe

Media | 06/15/2015 4:40 pm EDT

Canadian-based activist group OpenMedia is trying to drum up support against measures in Europe that would introduce fees for search engines and aggregation websites that use text excerpts to promote links to news articles. OpenMedia said in a news release that the European Union is considering a policy for the harmonization of copyright laws across...

Privacy commish criticizes targeted ads on ‘sensitive topics’

Media | 06/15/2015 4:26 pm EDT

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner said in a report Monday that some targeted ads are tracking online behaviour related to “sensitive topics,” such as divorce and pregnancy, without...

Court upholds injunction against Google results for company

Media | 06/12/2015 6:36 pm EDT

The British Columbia Court of Appeal this week upheld an injunction against a certain company turning up in Google searches because the company is alleged to be infringing on the rights of another company, according to report in the Globe and Mail. An article published online Thursday said the court dismissed an appeal from Google Inc. to have an injunction against showing results for Datalink Technologies Gateways Inc. overturned. The story said Datalink, a company operating solely online, was sued by B.C.-based network-equipment maker Equustek Solutions Inc. in 2011 for allegedly...