CCTS reports fewer complaints, more wireless code breaches

telecom | 04/02/2015 2:37 pm EDT

While overall complaints about telecommunications services have continued to decline, according the first-ever mid-year report from the Commissioner of Complaints for Telecommunications Services...

News channels face funding challenges after CRTC decision

Media | 04/01/2015 8:22 pm EDT

Canada’s national news channels face new obligations from the CRTC even as the regulator is taking away their place on basic cable, raising questions about their future finances. Last month, as...

IBM to build IoT division

Media | 04/01/2015 3:27 pm EDT

International Business Machines (IBM) Corp. said Tuesday it will invest $3 billion US over the next four years to establish an Internet of Things (IoT) unit. It said in a press release it will use its cloud-based platform to help business clients better integrate data from IoT devices and other...

Shaw names Vito Culmone as CFO

Media | 04/01/2015 2:20 pm EDT

Shaw Communications Inc. said Tuesday it has named Vito Culmone as its executive vice-president and chief financial officer. The appointment is effective June 1, the company said in a press release. Culmone’s most recent...

CRTC proposes changes for licence renewals

Media | 03/31/2015 8:39 pm EDT

The CRTC is proposing changes in the way it deals with broadcast-licence renewals, such as getting rid of reminder letters for each licensee and removing the requirement that it publish a notice of consultation for every licence renewal. In a notice of consultation published on its website, the regulator said the proposal would “streamline” its procedures and make them more “convenient for applicants,” while it would maintain the ability to publish notices of consultation under “appropriate circumstances.” The commission is accepting comments on this...

Rogers rolls out VoLTE

telecom | 03/31/2015 8:16 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. said Tuesday it has launched voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) service for customers who own LG Corp.'s G3 Vigor smartphone. Roger said in a press release that the Vigor is “Canada's first VoLTE-enabled device” and added that “more VoLTE-ready devices are...

Bell facing $350M lawsuit over IPTV technology: report

telecom | 03/31/2015 7:05 pm EDT

BCE Inc. is facing a patent lawsuit for $350 million plus future royalties and penalties related to technology used for distributing IPTV service, the Financial Post reported. An article published on...

Telecom and broadcasting converge as legislation remains separate

Media | 03/31/2015 5:38 pm EDT

A case involving BCE Inc.’s mobile-TV service that’s currently winding its way through the Federal Court of Appeal is just one example of how the lines between telecommunications and...

Mobile-app market ‘maturing,’ says Gartner

Media | 03/31/2015 3:49 pm EDT

The mobile-app market "may be reaching a plateau," research company Gartner Inc. said in a press release Tuesday. The company said, based on research on U.S. and German consumers, it found that interest in apps is still high, though people are reaching the point where they are satisfied with the apps they already...

National alert system gets underway

Media | 03/31/2015 3:46 pm EDT

A national emergency alert system became operational on Tuesday, according to officials speaking on behalf of the company that will operate the infrastructure behind it. A spokesperson for public relations company High Road,...

CMF raises annual budget by $7.2 million

Media | 03/30/2015 8:38 pm EDT

The Canadian Media Fund said Monday it will have $375.2 million to fund television and digital-media productions in the 2015-16 fiscal year. That's up $7.2 million from the $368 million it announced was the budget for the...

Cogeco Cable brings TiVo service to Quebec

Media | 03/30/2015 6:09 pm EDT

Cogeco Cable Inc. said Monday it is now offering its TiVo Inc. service to customers in Quebec. Cogeco Cable Canada CEO Louise St-Pierre said in a Monday news release that the service ensures “there will always be something...

CRTC will not reconsider status of Rogers’ home-based wireless

telecom | 03/30/2015 4:40 pm EDT

The CRTC on Monday turned down a request by Wightman Telecom Ltd. to reconsider a decision made last year to confirm that a service Rogers Communications Inc. offers on its mobile network as a substitute for home- or office-based phone access is in fact a wireless service and not a local exchange. Wightman, which provides...

Rogers bundles Spotify with Fido

Media | 03/30/2015 4:19 pm EDT

Customers of Rogers Communications Inc.’s Fido subsidiary will receive free access to Spotify AB’s premium music-streaming service for two years, the company said Monday. “Plug in and escape, anytime, anywhere, and listen to anything you're into,” Rogers said in a press release. Spotify’s premium service usually costs $9.99 a month and allows users to listen to music off-line with no ads or restrictions on the songs customers can play and when they can play them, according to Spotify’s website. Rogers spokeswoman Michelle Kelly said in an email that data used in Spotify streaming will count against data caps. Also, Sony Corp. confirmed in a blog post Monday that Spotify is now available on PlayStation 3 and 4 gaming consoles, and is intended to replace a service called Music Unlimited.  The...

House committee to study wireless exposure guidelines

telecom | 03/27/2015 8:35 pm EDT

The House of Commons health committee agreed Thursday to study its guidelines regarding human exposure to signals transmitted to and from wireless devices. The minutes of a meeting held Thursday show the committee approved a...

Internet taxes, web blocking proposed in Quebec

Media | 03/27/2015 2:23 pm EDT

A government committee in Quebec is recommending the province study the idea of applying a tax on residential Internet service for the purpose of supporting cultural industries. It's among 71 recommendations from the Quebec...

Proposed BDU code inconsistent with unregulated OTT: consultant

Media | 03/26/2015 9:04 pm EDT

The CRTC’s proposed new code of conduct for television service providers is at odds with the commission’s stance that it won’t regulate over-the-top (OTT) services, according to...

Shaw asks CRTC to reconsider wholesale Internet rates

Media | 03/26/2015 6:28 pm EDT

Shaw Communications Inc. has filed a review-and-vary application with the CRTC in an attempt to get higher prices for providing wholesale Internet access to third-party providers. Earlier this month, the CRTC ordered Shaw to...

HP opens new security centre in Ontario

telecom | 03/26/2015 4:03 pm EDT

Hewlett-Packard Co. announced Thursday that it has opened a new security operations centre in Mississauga, Ont., to help businesses defend themselves from security threats. The centre provides “security management services” to businesses and is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the company said in a release. “Enterprises are struggling to defend themselves against increasingly organized and highly motivated cybercriminals,” Bruce Pearce, HP Canada’s vice-president of enterprise services, said in the release. “The HP Canadian Security Operations...

Facebook adds Canadian apps to Messenger platform

telecom | 03/26/2015 2:41 pm EDT

Facebook Inc. announced Wednesday that its Messenger app is being opened up as a platform for other other apps, and at least two Canadian companies have signed on to provide their services. “Messenger Platform brings even...

Bell concedes costs request in early phase of mobile-TV appeal

Media | 03/25/2015 9:09 pm EDT

BCE Inc. is not seeking costs from the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) in the early part of the appeals process in relation to a CRTC decision to force it treat data used in its mobile-TV...

CRTC fines Plentyoffish $48K under anti-spam laws

telecom | 03/25/2015 3:29 pm EDT

The CRTC said Wednesday the dating website operators Plentyoffish Media Inc. has paid a $48,000 fine for violating Canada’s anti-spam legislation. The commission said in a release that, acting on complaints from Canadians,...

Blais makes statement on alleged CTV news interference

Media | 03/25/2015 2:10 pm EDT

CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais on Wednesday issued a statement warning about the seriousness of "manipulating news coverage" in the wake of a report that a prominent BCE Inc. executive did...

IPTV gains are slowing as cable losses continue: Boon Dog

Media | 03/24/2015 8:43 pm EDT

An Ottawa consulting company says IPTV services aren’t absorbing the exodus of cable customers at the same rate as they used to. TV-industry consulting company Boon Dog Professional Services...

SOCAN moves into new headquarters

Media | 03/24/2015 5:00 pm EDT

The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) said Tuesday it has moved into new headquarters, though it has stayed in Montreal. SOCAN said in a press release that after 25 years in a downtown office...

Small ISPs take the lead on gigabit Internet in Canada

telecom | 03/23/2015 9:04 pm EDT

Small Internet service providers are taking the lead on providing gigabit Internet service in Canada, in contrast to the United States where Internet giant Google Inc. is pioneering efforts to bring...

SaskTel introducing ‘simplified’ bills in May

telecom | 03/23/2015 8:20 pm EDT

Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. announced Monday it has launched a new billing system for its wireless customers. The new system presents SaskTel customers with a bill that is more “streamlined” and “simplified,” the company said in a press release. Now, users who hit $50 in data...

Cordova was never meant to be permanent Wind CEO: source

telecom | 03/23/2015 8:06 pm EDT

When Pietro Cordova was introduced as Wind Mobile's new chief executive officer in October, it was not presented as an interim role, yet that was always the plan, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. On Monday, Wind announced that Alek Krstajic, the former CEO of Public Mobile, was taking over the CEO position from Cordova. It also said Anthony Lacavera would become honorary chairman, with Rob MacLellan taking over the official chairmanship. Cordova's appointment as CEO came in the wake of an agreement that saw Wind bought out from majority owner, Dutch-based VimpelCom...

Court dismisses Bell’s motion for stay in mobile-TV case

Media | 03/23/2015 7:37 pm EDT

The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed a motion by BCE Inc. to extend the deadline by which it has to comply with a CRTC ruling on its mobile-TV service. Bell had asked the court for a...

PIAC calls for affordability standards in telecom

telecom | 03/23/2015 7:14 pm EDT

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) released a report on Monday that calls on Canada to legislate the requirement that all Canadians have access to "affordable" telecommunications services. PIAC said in its...

Eastlink to cover early-cancellation fees for new subs

telecom | 03/23/2015 2:39 pm EDT

Eastlink will provide up to $200 to buy out the contracts of new customers switching to its wireless services from competing providers, the company said in a press release Monday. The company said in...

Telecoms will adjust to pick-and-pay regime, analysts say

Media | 03/20/2015 9:10 pm EDT

Financial analysts reacting to the CRTC’s new pick-and-pay rules say they don’t expect the decision to have a major impact on the industry, though the broadcasting side of the business is...

Wireless carriers appeal ringtone decision

Media | 03/20/2015 6:39 pm EDT

Four of Canada's biggest wireless carriers are fighting a recent Federal Court decision that found that although a tariff charged for cellphone ringtone downloads is invalid, the carriers that paid it are not owed their money back. A March 16 notice from Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc., Telus Corp. and Quebecor Inc., filed with the Federal Court of Appeal, indicates that the carriers are appealing the part of the ruling from earlier this month that found the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) was not "unjustly enriched" by receiving money...

Smartphones’ dominance among connected devices to grow: IDC

telecom | 03/20/2015 4:39 pm EDT

Smartphones already represent the majority of devices shipped globally for connecting to the Internet, and their market share  will continue to grow in the coming years, International Data Corp. said Friday. IDC issued a press release that showed out of 1.84 billion so-called smart connected devices shipped last...

Quebecor Media buys bigger piece of TVA

Media | 03/20/2015 4:34 pm EDT

Quebecor Media Inc. said Friday it has upped its stake in TVA Group Inc. to more than 68 per cent from about 51 per cent. Quebecor Media, which is three-quarters owned by Quebecor Inc., said in a press release it bought 17.3...

Channel unbundling to have ‘unintended consequences,’ says consultant

Media | 03/19/2015 7:34 pm EDT

GATINEAU, Que. — While the public will generally back the CRTC's decision to require TV service providers to offer pick-and-pay to customers by the end of next year, they don't understand the full consequences for the Canadian TV industry, one media consultant said in the wake of Thursday's announcement....

Glentel sales up more than 30%

telecom | 03/19/2015 4:25 pm EDT

Glentel Inc., a retailer of mobile products and services, said Thursday that its fourth-quarter revenue was up 32.8 per cent from a year earlier to $533.1 million, though its quarterly profit declined to $830,000 from $8.3...

ISP claims first residential gigabit service in Canada

telecom | 03/19/2015 3:53 pm EDT

Urban Communications Inc. said Thursday it has launched the first gigabit Internet service for Canadian residential users. The company said in a news release the service will cost $49 a month for...

Telus buys EMR provider Medesync

telecom | 03/19/2015 1:57 pm EDT

Telus Corp. announced Thursday it has completed its acquisition of Medesync, an electronic medical records (EMR) provider. The purchase will add a web-based interface to Telus’ EMR system in Quebec, the company said in a...

Sony launches video-streaming service in U.S.

Media | 03/18/2015 8:33 pm EDT

Sony Corp. said Wednesday it has launched a new online video-streaming service in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. PlayStation Vue streams video from the Internet though PS3 or PS4 gaming consoles, Eric Lempel, vice-president...

Four small TV providers to offer CraveTV

Media | 03/18/2015 7:11 pm EDT

BCE Inc.’s media division said in a press release Wednesday that its streaming service, CraveTV, is now available to customers of four small TV providers in Ontario. Bell Media said Hay Communications Co-operative Ltd.,...

Court sets TekSavvy costs at $21K in Voltage dispute

telecom | 03/18/2015 2:20 pm EDT

On Tuesday a Federal Court judge set the cost for TekSavvy Solutions Inc. to hand over subscriber information to Voltage Pictures LLC at $21,557.50, the last major point of contention in a dispute over illegal filesharing. The ISP had originally asked for more than $300,000 to provide the film production company with names linked to IP addresses on more than 2,000 subscribers who allegedly infringed on Voltage’s copyright by illegally downloading and sharing its films. The decision sets the cost at around $10 per subscriber request, more than the $1 Voltage was seeking but well below...

Competition Bureau says no Google decision coming Wednesday

Media | 03/18/2015 1:54 pm EDT

The Competition Bureau on Wednesday disputed a report that a decision on an investigation it has been conducting into Google Inc.'s search and advertising businesses could be coming later that...

Nintendo to produce games for mobile devices

Media | 03/17/2015 6:26 pm EDT

Nintendo Co. Ltd. said Tuesday that it was launching to joint venture with DeNA Co. Ltd. to produce video games for smartphones and tablets. Nintendo said it would work with DeNA, a company involved in mobile games and Internet...

Radio stations with history of non-compliance seek renewal

Media | 03/17/2015 5:28 pm EDT

The CRTC said Tuesday it is reviewing applications for licence renewals from three radio stations that have been cited in the past for not complying with licence terms. The commission said in a...

CRTC announcement on ‘choice’ scheduled for Thursday

Media | 03/17/2015 3:42 pm EDT

The CRTC said it will be announcing a decision on Thursday afternoon related to its review of the television industry that focuses on "measures to maximize choice for Canadian television viewers." It's expected that the decision will address whether consumers have the right to pick their own channels in TV...

Rogers’ communications on NSA radar: report

telecom | 03/17/2015 3:02 pm EDT

The U.S. National Security Agency monitored the flow of traffic within Rogers Communications Inc.'s corporate network in recent years, according to a Globe and Mail report. An article posted online Tuesday said the paper obtained a 2012 presentation by a U.S. intelligence agent labelled "top secret" that includes Rogers and Royal Bank of Canada among 15 companies the agency targeted in an attempt to map their internal communications. The Globe said the document did not indicate details uncovered about the companies' communications, nor did it say why the NSA was looking at them. There was an indication within the documentation that it had been shared with Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the article said....

Broadcasters seeking compensation for 600 MHz changes

telecom | 03/17/2015 2:30 pm EDT

Broadcasters participating in a consultation on moving 600 MHz spectrum from its role of carrying television signals to mobile usage are intent on avoiding the kind of costs borne by the industry as a result of the 2011 conversion...

Major providers’ broadband subs exceed TV subs for first time

Media | 03/16/2015 8:48 pm EDT

The number of Canadian broadband subscribers among the major publicly traded telecom service providers exceeded television subscribers for the first time in 2014. Data compiled by The Wire Report shows the overall number of TV subscribers at these companies, as recorded at the end of their last fiscal years, fell by almost...

CRTC dismisses Bell’s complaint against Rogers’ hockey app

Media | 03/16/2015 8:32 pm EDT

The CRTC has dismissed a complaint by BCE Inc. against Rogers Communications Inc.’s GamePlus service, ruling that Rogers could offer the NHL hockey app exclusively to its own customers because the content wasn’t produced primarily for traditional television. The regulator said in the decision that the CRTC...

CNOC asks for dismissal of Bell appeal of mobile-TV decision

Media | 03/16/2015 6:08 pm EDT

The Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) filed papers with the Federal Court of Appeal Monday asking that BCE Inc.'s appeal of a CRTC decision banning the way it bills for mobile-TV...

Comwave approved for TV service

telecom | 03/16/2015 4:52 pm EDT

The CRTC approved a new TV service from Comwave Networks Inc. on Monday. The regulator said in a decision that a licence would be granted as soon as Comwave has indicated it is prepared to start operations, which must...

Rogers settles with Competition Bureau on texting proceeding

Media | 03/16/2015 3:58 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. and the Competition Bureau announced Monday that they had reached an agreement to end legal proceedings against the carrier in relation to so-called premium texting services...

BlackBerry division releases high-security tablet

telecom | 03/16/2015 3:36 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. on Saturday announced that its Secusmart division had released a new tablet meant for operations in which special security standards are required. The device is called the SecuTablet, BlackBerry said in a press...

Wind spectrum sale to SaskTel prevented: report

telecom | 03/13/2015 2:54 pm EDT

A proposed sale of spectrum in Saskatchewan from Wind Mobile to Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. was cancelled because of a negative reaction by federal government officials, the Financial Post reported. An article...

New VOD rules’ effect on Shomi, CraveTV unclear

Media | 03/12/2015 5:01 pm EDT

OTTAWA — The CRTC introduced a new category for video-on-demand services Thursday that allows them to offer content exclusive to certain TV service providers and operate under the digital-media exemption order, as long as they also offer that content online to all Canadians, though the consequences for Shomi and CraveTV remained unclear. In response to an interview question from The Wire Report about how the decision would affect Shomi and CraveTV, CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said in an interview: “I think it would be premature to suggest that we know how it would apply.” Blais said that prior to Thursday’s decision, VOD services in Canada could operate under a licence, which carries obligations including those around Canadian content expenditures, and...

Canadian telecoms fall short on transparency rating report

telecom | 03/12/2015 4:45 pm EDT

A new report from two university professors who research digital privacy says major Canadian ISPs score an average of just two out of 10 when it comes to transparency and protecting consumers’...

Global LTE connections doubled last year: industry group

telecom | 03/12/2015 3:40 pm EDT

The number of LTE connections worldwide reached nearly half a billion last year, according to wireless industry association 4G Americas. The group said in a Thursday release that data gathered by...

IDC downgrades tablet forecast for 2015

Media | 03/12/2015 2:54 pm EDT

International Data Corp. has lowered its forecast for tablet and 2-in-1 hybrid shipments in 2015 following previous figures that showed the first ever year-on-year decline for this market in the fourth quarter of last year. IDC...

Ericsson report finds one-third of consumers polled have or want wearables

Media | 03/11/2015 9:18 pm EDT

A new report from Ericsson AG suggests Apple Inc.’s upcoming Apple Watch could address a market that's far larger than what current wearable sales would indicate. In a worldwide study of...

Granting Bell stay in mobile-TV case would hurt competitors: CNOC

Media | 03/11/2015 8:57 pm EDT

Competitors will be harmed if BCE Inc. is not forced to comply with an April deadline in a CRTC directive to stop exempting its mobile-TV app from data caps, according to the Canadian Network Operators Consortium. CNOC said in a document filed with the Federal Court of Appeal on March 5 that a stay, which would allow Bell to continue to exempt mobile-TV streaming from data charges, would affect the “business case” of competing services that count against a user’s data cap....

Patrick Pichette retiring from Google

Media | 03/11/2015 6:03 pm EDT

Patrick Pichette, the Canadian chief financial officer of Google Inc., said in a web post Tuesday he will retire in the coming months to spend more time travelling with his wife Tamar. Pichette, who is from Montreal, according to...

Mobile-device video viewing doubled in 2014: Ooyala

Media | 03/11/2015 5:56 pm EDT

The amount of video watched on smartphones and tablets doubled in 2014, according to a sub-sample used for Ooyala Inc.'s quarterly index. The online-video management company said in a report released Wednesday there had been...

Quebecor reports Q4 loss, major gains in wireless

Media | 03/11/2015 2:50 pm EDT

Quebecor Inc. on Wednesday reported a net loss for the fourth quarter resulting largely from non-operational factors, while indicating major gains in its wireless operations' revenue and subscriber base. The company said in a...

Telus announces $100M for fibre connections in B.C.

Media | 03/10/2015 9:10 pm EDT

Telus Corp. is spending $100 million to provide access to a fibre optic network to 90 per cent of the homes and businesses in the British Columbia communities of Kelowna and West Kelowna, it said Tuesday. It said in a press...

RBC expects challenge from tech giants over mobile payments: report

Media | 03/10/2015 8:25 pm EDT

The chief executive of the Royal Bank of Canada says his company is on a “collision course” with technology giants such as Apple Inc. and Google Inc. as the act of making payments with...

MTS lobbies senior federal officials

telecom | 03/10/2015 7:35 pm EDT

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. CEO Jay Forbes met with three cabinet ministers and the head of Canada’s telecommunications regulatory body over the last five weeks, according the federal lobbying registry. MTS chief...

RuralCom turns to Israeli provider for expanded coverage

telecom | 03/10/2015 1:55 pm EDT

RuralCom Corp., a Vancouver-based carrier operating a mobile network in parts of northern British Columbia and the Yukon, said Tuesday it has chosen Israeli-based Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. to be...

IBM opens cloud centre near Montreal

telecom | 03/10/2015 1:51 pm EDT

International Business Machines (IBM) Corp. announced on Tuesday the opening of a new cloud centre in Drummondville, Que., near Montreal. IBM said in a press release it is part of a $1.2-billion US effort to expand its global...

Mobilicity backers’ case against government can proceed: report

telecom | 03/09/2015 9:00 pm EDT

The $1.2-billion lawsuit launched against the federal government by original backers of Mobilicity can proceed, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled Friday, according to a report in the Globe and Mail. The case was launched in September by New York-based investment firm Quadrangle Group LLC and John Bitove's Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Investments Inc., who claimed the government lured Mobilicity into Canada's wireless market with promises that were later reneged upon, such as that spectrum from the 2008 AWS auction would be allowed to be sold to wireless incumbents after a five-year moratorium expired. The decision to let the suit proceed comes after the government...

Interim 911 service in Yukon cancelled

telecom | 03/09/2015 7:39 pm EDT

The Yukon government has cancelled an interim 911 service that would have allowed residents to dial 911, instead of a seven-digit phone number used by some responders, to reach all emergency personnel. The CRTC approved the...

Apple releases details on watch, exclusive HBO streaming service

Media | 03/09/2015 7:15 pm EDT

Apple Inc. unveiled new details about its upcoming Apple Watch on Monday, saying the wearable device will be available on April 24 in Canada and eight other countries. The watch will have 18 hours of...

Ringtone tariff ruled invalid, but SOCAN can keep money

Media | 03/09/2015 6:34 pm EDT

A tariff on downloaded ringtones for cellphones has been declared invalid, but the wireless carriers who challenged it were denied the $12 million in paid royalties they were seeking back from the...

Is broadcasting heading for more litigious environment?

Media | 03/09/2015 5:00 pm EDT

BCE Inc.’s appeal of a CRTC decision to ban the use of simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl in future years could be a sign of more conflict and court challenges to come as the...

BCE to appeal court’s $137 million judgment for Quebecor

telecom | 03/09/2015 4:48 pm EDT

BCE Inc. says it will appeal to the Supreme Court in a case over satellite-TV piracy in which it was ordered to pay $137 million in damages to Quebecor Inc. and its TVA subsidiary in a decision issued Friday. In handing down the ruling, the Quebec Court of Appeal increased the damages from the $1 million award ordered by the Quebec Superior Court in July 2012. In that decision, the court said Bell didn’t work hard enough to prevent the illegal decoding of its satellite signals between 1999 and 2005 despite having knowledge of the extent of satellite piracy and the technical ability to fight it. Monday’s ruling affirmed that decision and increased the damages to $137 million including court costs and interest, according to a press release from Quebecor on Monday, including...

Bell Media’s Crull takes aim at U.S. channel retransmission

Media | 03/06/2015 10:04 pm EST

OTTAWA — The retransmission of U.S. networks in Canada is the equivalent of Aereo, the service ruled illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, Kevin Crull, president of BCE Inc.'s media...

AWS-3 results provide Wind with ‘secure, clear roadmap for LTE’: Lacavera

telecom | 03/06/2015 2:18 pm EST

Wind Mobile will work to roll out LTE connections on its network by the end of 2016, as long as the technology to take advantage of the AWS-3 spectrum it picked up in this week’s auction is ready, Wind chairman Anthony Lacavera said Friday. The results of the March 3 auction were...

Piracy, Netflix giving ‘false expectations’ about content cost: Crull

Media | 03/05/2015 10:10 pm EST

OTTAWA — Kevin Crull, president of BCE Inc.'s media division, said Thursday that monetization is currently his organization's biggest challenge, given the usage of over-the-top (OTT)...

CRTC fines Compu-Finder $1.1M for spam

telecom | 03/05/2015 5:20 pm EST

On Thursday the CRTC fined Compu-Finder Inc. $1.1 million for sending spam emails to Canadians. The company has 30 days to respond to the notice of violation with a letter or a request for an undertaking, after which it must pay...

Mobilicity might have lost AWS-3 funding: report

telecom | 03/05/2015 2:42 pm EST

Mobilicity might have been unable to raise the funds to bid in Tuesday’s AWS-3 spectrum auction because a $200-million financing deal fell through just minutes before the deadline, according to a report by the Financial...

CRTC cuts Northwestel Internet prices, will launch basic-services proceeding

telecom | 03/04/2015 9:13 pm EST

The CRTC on Wednesday ordered BCE Inc.’s Northwestel Inc. to lower its Internet prices for new and existing customers to address the “disparity” between the cost of Internet in the...

Cogeco approved for wholesale Internet rate cut

telecom | 03/04/2015 7:46 pm EST

While Shaw Communications Inc. has been trying to raise the rates it charges to smaller ISPs to use its network, Cogeco Cable Inc. has been seeking permission to lower rates and received it on Wednesday. The CRTC said Cogeco has...

GSMA adds two M2M groups to IoT SIM standard

telecom | 03/04/2015 3:45 pm EST

The GSMA, an international wireless industry group, announced Monday that two machine-to-machine communications (M2M) standards groups had adopted its embedded SIM specification for devices connected to the Internet of Things...

BlackBerry CEO open to producing another tablet: report

Media | 03/03/2015 7:08 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen said he's open the idea of having the company produce another tablet, according to a report by CNet. "It's not in the works, but it's on my mind," an article published on the website Tuesday reported Chen as saying during an interview from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The article reported Chen as saying he would "want it to be different. I want it to be iconic. Bringing a tablet out for a tablet's sake, it's not the right thing to do." Chen's statement comes in the wake of data from International Data Corp....

BCE asks for extension to public alerting deadline

Media | 03/03/2015 5:40 pm EST

BCE Inc. is asking the CRTC to extend the March 31 deadline for incorporating its Bell Aliant subsidiary’s services into the National Public Alerting System (NPAS). The company said in a Feb. 26 filing posted to the...

Global smartphones sales exceeded one billion in 2014: Gartner

telecom | 03/03/2015 3:41 pm EST

Technology research company Gartner Inc. said Tuesday that annual smartphone sales surpassed one billion for the first time in 2014. The company said in a press release that mobile-phone...

Outsider gets access to Rogers’ business-account info

telecom | 03/02/2015 9:41 pm EST

A third party last week got access to information on a number of Rogers Communications Inc.'s medium-sized business accounts, the company said Monday. Rogers spokeswoman Patricia Trott said in an email that, "due to human error," an outside party accessed the email of an enterprise sales associate and, as a...

CRTC sides with small ISPs on Shaw Internet pricing dispute

telecom | 03/02/2015 9:24 pm EST

The CRTC ruled against Shaw Communications Inc.’s proposed new prices for third-party Internet access on Monday, approving interim wholesale broadband rates that are roughly half what the...

AWS-3 auction format to yield quick results

telecom | 03/02/2015 9:20 pm EST

The sealed-bid, single-round format of this week’s AWS-3 auction means the results will be known much quicker than in previous spectrum sales, while at least one analyst says it will also result in cheaper prices that will benefit smaller carriers. In the auction that starts Tuesday, the big three — Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc., and Telus Corp. — can bid on 20 MHz of AWS-3 spectrum across the country, along with Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. and Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. A further 30 MHz is set aside for operating new entrants in each region:...

Google confirms wireless plans in U.S.

telecom | 03/02/2015 8:36 pm EST

Google Inc. will enter the U.S. wireless market, senior vice president of products Sundar Pichai said Monday at the WorldMobile Congress in Barcelona, Spain. He said the service would be small-scale and not meant...

PIAC says 600 MHz proposals could ‘hinder’ OTA

telecom | 03/02/2015 6:17 pm EST

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre said some of the proposals made by Industry Canada regarding 600 MHz spectrum could “hinder the potential” of over-the-air broadcasting in Canada. In a document submitted Feb. 26,...

Broadcasters’ rights trump Super Bowl ad watching: survey

Media | 03/02/2015 4:14 pm EST

A survey done for BCE Inc.'s Bell Media showed most Canadians support broadcasters' rights over the ability to watch U.S. commercials during the Super Bowl. According to polling results released Monday and conducted by Nanos Research for Bell, which holds the Canadian rights to the game, 69 per cent said supporting...

Mitel to buy mobile software provider Mavenir

Media | 03/02/2015 2:50 pm EST

Ottawa-based networking technology company Mitel Networks Corp. said Monday it has reached a deal to purchase Texas-based Mavenir Systems Inc., a provider of software for mobile operators. Mitel and Mavenir said in a joint press...

Apple watch to replace car keys, CEO says

telecom | 02/27/2015 9:02 pm EST

Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook said the company’s new smartwatch is designed to be able to replace car keys and fobs, The Telegraph reported Friday. The British newspaper quoted Cook as saying the watch will also include features...

Google to give mobile-friendly websites more priority

Media | 02/27/2015 7:49 pm EST

Google Inc. said Thursday that it will start giving mobile friendliness more weight in terms of how websites are ranked in Google searches. It said on its Webmaster Central Blog on Thursday that the change will take effect April...

Rogers denies exec called for ban on VPNs

Media | 02/27/2015 6:56 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. said Friday that David Purdy, its senior vice-president of content, did not call on government to ban virtual private networks (VPNs) during a media-industry conference in Toronto on Thursday, despite...

No plans to seek must-offer status for Bloomberg TV

Media | 02/26/2015 10:19 pm EST

One of the executives behind the newly announced Bloomberg TV Canada news channel says that there are no plans to seek a broadcast licence that would compel broadcast distributors to offer the channel to customers. New York-based...

FCC approves open-Internet regulations

telecom | 02/26/2015 10:02 pm EST

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved a set of rules that, among other things, prevents Internet service providers from blocking or throttling traffic, or giving priority to content from an affiliate or any company that's willing to pay to secure "fast lanes" for its content. "These enforceable, bright-line rules assure the rights of Internet users to go where they want, when they want, and the rights of innovators to introduce new products without asking anyone’s permission," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement on the FCC's...