TAGGED AS TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Non-licensed B.C. radio stations face CRTC hearing

Media | 08/13/2014 5:31 pm EDT

The CRTC said Wednesday it will hold a hearing this fall that considers three radio stations it says are in violation of the Broadcasting Act by operating out of British Columbia's Lower Mainland and having their signals transmitted from the United States back into Canada without a CRTC-issued licence. The operators in question are Radio India (2003) Ltd. and Radio Punjab Ltd. of Surrey, and Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting Inc. of Richmond. The CRTC said in a notice on its website that, based in the information is has, it appears that all three are operating in Canada and having their...

CRTC Radio

Northwestel allowed to dismantle radio-phone service

telecom | 08/13/2014 3:36 pm EDT

Northwestel Inc. has been given permission to dismantle most of its "manual mobile service" sites in the North due to declining usage and increasing difficulty in maintaining the infrastructure. The CRTC said Wednesday in an online notice that it has approved Northwestel's request, which came in June, to withdraw service in 19 out of 25 areas. The service allows users to make telephone calls on fixed or mobile radio equipment through an operator. The CRTC said Northwestel had made the case that equipment for such service had stopped being produced 20 years ago, and there has...

Landline phones Wireless

Wireless code effects include higher prices, slow customer growth: analysts

telecom | 08/12/2014 8:20 pm EDT

More than eight months after its implementation and more than a year after it was announced, effects of CRTC's wireless code include higher prices and slower growth in mobile-service subscribers,...

Bell CRTC Data charges

Kevin Chan representing Facebook in Ottawa

Media | 08/11/2014 9:22 pm EDT

Kevin Chan has been appointed Facebook Inc.'s head of public policy in Canada. Company spokeswoman Meg Sinclair said in an email to The Hill Times that Chan will be based in Ottawa and have an "ongoing dialogue with...

Facebook Internet Privacy

Wireless firms dispute implied power of CRTC

telecom | 08/11/2014 7:51 pm EDT

Canada's wireless firms are disputing the federal government's assertion that the Telecommunications Act implicitly gives the CRTC authority to override existing contracts, as its wireless code will do next year. This...

CRTC Wireless

Telus’ Entwistle says Quebecor doesn’t need ‘advantages’

telecom | 08/08/2014 8:45 pm EDT

Telus Corp. executive chair Darren Entwistle criticised the rules for the upcoming AWS-3 auction, calling it “disconcerting” that Quebecor Inc. can bid on set-aside spectrum but his...

Aws-3 Spectrum Wireless

Pay-per-view could stick around or go the way of the VHS

Media | 08/08/2014 6:08 pm EDT

In 1985, a Los Angeles Times article explained that U.S. TV providers were planning to compete with “the burgeoning home-video business” that had “savaged” them by launching national pay-per-view (PPV) networks, which the Times explained was a “relatively new technology” allowing viewers to order programs much in the same way as “they buy movie theater tickets--or as they rent videocassettes.” Pay-per-view has continued chugging along in the three decades since, even as audiences moved from VCRs to DVDs to on-demand services like iTunes and...

Bell Netflix Ott

Telus profits up on wireless, wireline subscriber growth

telecom | 08/07/2014 7:46 pm EDT

Telus Corp. profits rose by nearly a third from the same period last year on growth in its wireless and wireline divisions, the Vancouver-based telecom company reported on Thursday. The company...

Telus

BCE posts higher profits, blames wireless code for drop in sub growth

Media | 08/07/2014 3:24 pm EDT

BCE Inc. reported higher profits and strong revenue growth at its wireless division in its second quarter report, released Thursday, but blamed the CRTC’s wireless code for a slowdown in...

Bell Wireless

CRTC asking new questions on mobile-TV and wireless data throttling

telecom | 08/06/2014 9:23 pm EDT

The CRTC has issued new interrogatories in its proceeding looking at an undue preference complaint about mobile-TV services, asking BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc.’s...

Bell Rogers Television

CRTC releases figures on wireless wholesale caps

telecom | 08/06/2014 8:54 pm EDT

On Wednesday the CRTC released average domestic retail prices for wireless carriers as part of its ongoing examination of the wholesale wireless market in Canada. The CRTC declined a request from Wind Mobile to make public the...

Bell CRTC Roaming

Wind Mobile reports subscriber, ARPU growth

telecom | 08/06/2014 8:11 pm EDT

Wind Mobile posted subscriber growth and an increase in average revenue per user (ARPU) in the second quarter, according to a financial filing from co-owner Global Telecom Holding SAE. Wind’s subscriber base grew to 741,000...

Wind mobile Wireless

Analysts, carrier question policy on AWS-3 set-asides

telecom | 08/06/2014 7:21 pm EDT

Analysts are split on the wisdom of Industry Canada’s rules for the upcoming AWS-3 auction, which appear to put valuable spectrum in two provinces out of reach for any carrier. The spectrum rules, detailed on July 28, set...

Aws-3 Bell Mts

Agreement reached on text for EU trade deal, government says

Media | 08/05/2014 8:48 pm EDT

The federal government and the European Union have reached “a complete text” on a free trade agreement, the department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development Canada said. This will allow for “translation and final legal review to commence” on the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement...

BlackBerry finished restructuring process: Reuters

telecom | 08/05/2014 8:32 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. has concluded its restructuring process, Reuters reported Tuesday, quoting an internal company memo. The news service said the memo, sent Friday by CEO John Chen, said: “We have completed the restructuring...

Blackberry Smartphones Wireless

Build-out requirements, regulations, keeping Verizon away: analyst

telecom | 08/05/2014 8:08 pm EDT

Verizon Communications Inc. is not likely to enter the Canadian market, Barclay’s analyst Philip Huang said in a Monday research note, referring to a meeting a U.S. Barclay’s analyst had with Verizon management. Huang said that expansion to Canada was one of the topics discussed at that meeting, and that he believes Verizon is "unlikely to make a major acquisition in Canada." "Management sees important issues related to strategies that embrace geographic expansion to...

Aws-3 Wireless

Bell Aliant posts higher profits after buyout deal

telecom | 08/01/2014 7:10 pm EDT

Bell Aliant Inc. on Friday reported profits in the second quarter of 2014 that were slightly higher than the previous quarter, days after the company said it had reached a deal to become a wholly owned part of BCE Inc....

Bell Bell aliant

Industry Canada approves more Bell-Telus network sharing

telecom | 07/31/2014 9:50 pm EDT

Industry Canada said Thursday it had approved a network-sharing agreement between BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. The department said in a notice on its website that the deal affects the two...

Wireless

CRTC finds Rogers’ treatment of Wind Mobile ‘unjust’

telecom | 07/31/2014 9:45 pm EDT

The CRTC issued a decision Thursday in the first of its two reviews of wholesale wireless roaming in Canada, finding that Rogers Communications Inc. committed “unjust discrimination” in...

Aws-3 CRTC Roaming

Shaw buys U.S. data centre company for $1.2B

telecom | 07/31/2014 5:32 pm EDT

Shaw Communications Inc. said in a press release Thursday it will acquire 100 per cent of Colorado-based data centre provider ViaWest Inc. for $1.2 billion. Shaw said ViaWest, which will operate as a Shaw...

Data centres Shaw

CRTC says public interest ‘paramount’ in paper bill meeting

telecom | 07/31/2014 3:18 pm EDT

The CRTC said in a letter to the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) on Wednesday that “acting in the public interest is paramount” in the regulator's approach to companies charging for paper copies of customers’ bills. The issue first arose when PIAC and the Consumers Association of Canada filed a joint application to the CRTC last year asking the commission to ban the practice, in response to which the CRTC said it would hold a meeting with telecommunications companies on Aug. 28. On Tuesday, PIAC released an open letter to CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre...

CRTC

MTS posts lower profit on wireless weakness

telecom | 07/31/2014 2:19 pm EDT

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. on Thursday posted slightly lower profits in the second quarter of 2014 from the same period last year, with growth in broadband Internet and Internet protocol TV (IPTV) revenues offset by declines...

Iptv Mts Wireless

One year later, could the wireless wars re-ignite?

telecom | 07/30/2014 9:03 pm EDT

Last summer, a conflict between the federal government and Canada’s three biggest wireless carriers, centering over rules around the 700 MHz spectrum auction and the prospect of a large U.S. carrier entering the Canadian...

700 mhz Aws-3 Bell

American private equity firm reportedly interested in Wind Mobile

telecom | 07/30/2014 7:54 pm EDT

Providence Equity Partners Inc., an American private equity firm, is interested in a stake in Wind Mobile, according to a Tuesday report from Bloomberg based on unnamed sources. Providence was...

Aws-3 Bell Spectrum

Free cruise sales company pays $20k for unwanted calls

telecom | 07/30/2014 4:55 pm EDT

Travel package sales company Suitelife Vacations Club paid a $20,000 fine to the CRTC for violating the national Do Not Call List (DNCL) and promised to change its telemarketing practices in the...

CRTC

Yukon looking to implement territory-wide 911 service

telecom | 07/30/2014 4:21 pm EDT

The Yukon government is working with Northwestel Inc. to expand the 911 emergency call service to include every community in the territory, according to a Part 1 application sent to the CRTC on July 28. Currently 911 service is...

CRTC

CRTC chooses Clear Sky radio application for Cranbrook

telecom | 07/29/2014 8:47 pm EDT

The CRTC has approved an application by Clear Sky Radio Inc. for a new radio station in Cranbrook, B.C., and denied an application by Newcap Inc. for a radio station in the same market. The CRTC said...

CRTC Radio

Government accuses Chinese of National Research Council hack

telecom | 07/29/2014 8:11 pm EDT

The National Research Council (NRC)’s “IT infrastructure” suffered a “cyber intrusion” recently, said the Treasury Board of Canada in a press release Tuesday. According to the release, a “highly sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored actor” was responsible for the hacking. The...

PIAC asks CRTC to reconsider paper billing decision

telecom | 07/29/2014 7:40 pm EDT

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC) have released an open letter to CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais regarding the CRTC’s decision to hold a meeting with...

CRTC

Blackberry buying German encryption specialists

telecom | 07/29/2014 3:44 pm EDT

Blackberry Ltd. announced Tuesday that it is buying Secusmart GmbH, a German company that specializes in communications security and encryption. The companies had an existing partnership, providing smartphones to governments and large businesses featuring Secusmart technology that provides separate disk space for encrypted communications and storage. On Monday, a spokesperson for Germany’s interior ministry told the National Post that Blackberry devices were the only ones that meet their government’s standards for security. "We are always improving our security solutions to...

Blackberry Smartphones

Lower prices for AWS-3 auction ‘attractive’ for new entrants: analyst

telecom | 07/28/2014 9:37 pm EDT

The minimum opening bids for the entirety of the available spectrum in the upcoming AWS-3 auction total $162.45 million, with a $97.45 million minimum for the blocks set aside for smaller carriers, Industry Canada said Monday as it launched a consultation on its proposed auction framework. In a Monday research...

Greg Larnder joins TeraGo

telecom | 07/28/2014 5:45 pm EDT

Internet provider TeraGo Inc. announced in a news release today that Greg Larnder is joining the company as vice-president of sales on Aug. 5. Larnder served as national sales director at Microsoft Canada from 2012 to 2013, TeraGo said in the release, after service as a vice-president for more than...

Internet

Xplornet pledges 100% rural broadband coverage by 2017

telecom | 07/28/2014 4:46 pm EDT

Rural Internet provider Xplornet Communications Inc. said in a news release Monday that it will bring broadband to 100 per cent of Canada’s rural population by 2017. The company, which claims...

CRTC Internet Lte

TV providers divided on set-top ratings system

Media | 07/25/2014 7:50 pm EDT

Canada’s biggest television providers are divided over the future of audience measurement via the next generation of set-top boxes. As part of their submissions in the CRTC’s ongoing Let’s Talk TV consultation,...

Bell Cable CRTC

Complaint filed on Telus prepaid customer policy

telecom | 07/25/2014 7:26 pm EDT

Two groups have filed a complaint with the CRTC against a Telus Corp. regarding its policy that requires prepaid wireless customers with a balance of over $300 to acquire 30-day plans or add-ons. The complaint, filed July 17 and posted on the CRTC website Friday, was submitted by the National Pensioners Federation, which represents seniors, and the DiversityCanada Foundation, which works on the behalf of “the disadvantaged, the vulnerable, and the marginalized.” According to the Part 1 application, Telus established a new policy on Oct. 20, 2013 that requires prepaid customers...

CRTC Wireless

U.K. to institute “notice-and-notice” copyright regime

telecom | 07/25/2014 5:43 pm EDT

The U.K. has scrapped the copyright enforcement approach set out in its 2010 Digital Economy Act in favour of a regime similar to Canada’s. Those who share and download pirated content will...

Bell files another complaint about condo access

telecom | 07/25/2014 4:59 pm EDT

BCE Inc. has filed a complaint against Plazacorp Investments Ltd. and Rogers Communications Inc., asking for access to one of Plazacorp’s Toronto condo buildings, a month after the CRTC closed a similar complaint...

CRTC Internet Television

World tablet shipments up 11% in second quarter

telecom | 07/24/2014 6:37 pm EDT

World tablet shipments were up 11 per cent in the second quarter compared to a year earlier, International Data Corp. said Thursday. It said in a press release that preliminary data shows that total shipments were 49.3 million in...

Apple Smartphones Tablets

PIAC says up to $600M annually at stake in paper-billing issue

telecom | 07/23/2014 9:06 pm EDT

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) says up to $600 million a year is at stake as the CRTC gets set to meet with telecommunications companies to discuss the practice of charging customers to...

CRTC Internet Landline phones

Blackberry announces hosted BES10

telecom | 07/23/2014 1:34 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. announced Wednesday that the BlackBerry Enterprise Services 10 (BES10) platform is now available from third-party providers as a hosted service. BES10 is the enterprise management software bundle for...

Blackberry Smartphones

Inaction against VPN usage ‘may speak volumes’: lawyer

Media | 07/22/2014 9:35 pm EDT

Users of Netflix Inc.’s Canadian feed who feel like watching a few episodes of 30 Rock, Louie or Les Revenants will find themselves out of luck. But in a world where Canadians know these shows...

Wind launches account-management app

telecom | 07/22/2014 9:10 pm EDT

Wind Mobile has launched an app that allows customers to manage their Wind account, including the ability to view their account balance, pay bills, monitor their phone usage and change their plan, among other options. Wind said...

Wind mobile Wireless

Government to spend $305M on rural broadband by 2017

telecom | 07/22/2014 6:25 pm EDT

Industry Canada said Tuesday it would spend $305 million by 2017 to extend broadband Internet access to rural and remote communities, echoing a commitment made in the federal budget this year. The “Connecting...

Internet

Rogers cuts VP positions, middle management

Media | 07/22/2014 5:20 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. has cut "several hundred middle management positions" and reduced the number of people working at the level of vice-president and above by 15 per cent, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday. Patricia Trott said in an email the reductions represent a restructuring of the company related to its plan, announced in May, to overhaul the company's operations to improve customer loyalty. "These decisions are never easy," Trott said. "The goal is to become a more nimble, agile organization with much clearer accountabilities. Savings will be...

Cable Landline phones Rogers

Wireless broadband penetration falls short in Canada: OECD

telecom | 07/22/2014 5:18 pm EDT

Data released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development on Tuesday shows Canada falls well short of the average of economically advanced countries in terms of wireless-broadband...

Fibre optics Internet Smartphones

French-language Christian radio station approved for Ottawa

Media | 07/22/2014 5:15 pm EDT

The CRTC has approved a broadcast licence for a French-language FM radio station in Ottawa that will play Christian music. The commission said on its website that it has approved the application made...

CRTC Radio

Pierre Gagne steps down as Cogeco’s CFO

telecom | 07/21/2014 6:18 pm EDT

Cogeco Cable Inc. announced Monday that Pierre Gagne has stepped down as the company's chief financial officer. The company said in a press release that he left because of "personal reasons." No replacement was named, nor was a timeline or process for finding a new chief financial officer immediately specified. Canaccord Genuity analyst...

MTS expands LTE network in Manitoba

telecom | 07/21/2014 4:45 pm EDT

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. said Monday it has expanded its LTE network to Swan River, Man., which is about 500 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. MTS said in a press release the service will provide download speeds of up to...

Lte Mts Wireless

Northwestel allowed to charge extra for standalone Internet

telecom | 07/21/2014 4:31 pm EDT

The CRTC said Monday it has granted Northwestel Inc. permission to charge extra to customers who subscribe to its Internet service without its landline phone service. The commission added that it has yet to determine whether Northwestel's proposed surcharges — $20 for residences and $30 for businesses — are appropriate. Northwestel had argued that a previous decision from the CRTC ruling out extra charges for standalone Internet access had failed to appreciate that costs for providing this kind of access in "high-cost service areas" cannot be recouped through...

CRTC Internet Landline phones

Verizon Wireless reward program starts Thurs.

telecom | 07/21/2014 3:27 pm EDT

Verizon Communication Inc.'s wireless unit said Monday that a program that allows customers to earn points for discounts by performing routine functions with their wireless account begins Thursday. Verizon Wireless said in a...

Privacy Wireless

Allstream to provide telecom network for Rexall

telecom | 07/21/2014 2:37 pm EDT

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc.'s Allstream unit on Monday said it has been chosen by the Rexall chain of drugstores to provide a telecommunications network for its 448 stories across Canada. Allstream said in a press release...

Internet

Marty Beard named BlackBerry COO

telecom | 07/21/2014 2:31 pm EDT

BlackBerry Ltd. on Monday said it has made Marty Beard its new chief operating officer. The company said in a press release Beard was most recently chairman and CEO of LiveOps Inc., a maker of cloud-based applications for...

Blackberry Smartphones Wireless

SaskTel renews PPV licence, independent committee still required

telecom | 07/18/2014 6:42 pm EDT

Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. was granted a renewal of its licence to operate a national pay-per-view service, the CRTC said Friday, though it was denied a request to eliminate the...

CRTC Iptv Sasktel

Rogers’ Internet speed improves further: Netflix

Media | 07/18/2014 4:54 pm EDT

Over two months, Rogers Communications Inc. has gone from being dead last in Netflix Inc.'s ranking of Canadian Internet service providers' speeds to being sixth out of 16 with an average speed that has nearly doubled. In the latest ranking, released Monday, Netflix said Rogers had an average Internet speed of 2.95...

André Bérard leaves Bell’s board

telecom | 07/17/2014 9:14 pm EDT

André Bérard has retired from the board of directors of BCE Inc. and Bell Canada, the company said in a press release Thursday. The release said that Bérard has been a director on the board since January...

Bell

Netflix-Disney deal expected to hit movie channels, BDUs

Media | 07/17/2014 9:11 pm EDT

A deal between Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co. that will see Walt Disney Studios’ movies appear on Netflix’s Canadian streaming service as soon as eight months after they hit...

Cable CRTC Internet

Facebook tests direct-purchase feature

Media | 07/17/2014 7:34 pm EDT

Facebook Inc. said in an online posting Thursday that it has begun testing a feature that allows users to purchase certain products without leaving the Facebook site. The social network operator said the function works...

Facebook Internet Privacy

Telus to provide WiFi at Ottawa CFL stadium

Media | 07/17/2014 6:01 pm EDT

The Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, which owns the CFL's Ottawa Redblacks, said this week it has reached a 10-year deal with Telus Corp. to provide, among other things, free WiFi at the Redblacks' home stadium. OSEG said in a posting on the Redblacks' website Monday that Telus is the "official communications supplier" for TD Place, the team's newly renovated stadium. Bernie Ashe, OSEG's chief executive, said in the release that visitors to the stadium, which also hosts the North American Soccer League's Ottawa Fury FC, will be able to "exchange...

Smartphones Sports content Wifi

Microsoft cuts 18,000 jobs as it integrates Nokia unit

Media | 07/17/2014 2:00 pm EDT

Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it is cutting 18,000 jobs, most of them related to integrating the cellphone division of Nokia Corp., the acquisition of which closed in April. In a letter to employees,...

Smartphones Wireless

WiFi hotpots coming to homes near you

telecom | 07/16/2014 9:14 pm EDT

Telecommunications providers are discovering an untapped resource in their quest to provide customers with more opportunities to get online, and that resource is other people's homes. Service providers in the United States...

Cogeco Internet Wifi

Rogers changes privacy policy due to customer ‘concern’

telecom | 07/16/2014 9:10 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc.’s decision to change its privacy policy to require law enforcement agencies to provide a warrant or court order to obtain subscriber information was made partly due to...

Videotron offers faster Internet speeds at similar prices

telecom | 07/16/2014 6:27 pm EDT

Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron said Wednesday it has revamped its high-speed Internet plans to offer, in some cases, double the speed at a similar price. The company said in a press release it was...

Data charges Fibre optics Internet

Apple, IBM team up to target enterprise business

telecom | 07/16/2014 3:19 pm EDT

Apple Inc. and International Business Machines (IBM) Corp. have entered a partnership that will integrate IBM’s “big data and analytics capabilities” with Apple’s iPad and iPhone products. The companies said in a press release Tuesday that this will involve “a new class of more than 100 industry-specific enterprise solutions including native apps, developed exclusively from the ground up,” and well as optimizing IBM’s cloud services for Apple’s iOS operating system, among other products and services. “Apple and IBM’s shared vision...

Apple Blackberry Smartphones

Bell asks for confidentiality in wholesale review

telecom | 07/15/2014 9:05 pm EDT

BCE Inc. has asked that some of its responses to questions about business arrangements with other carriers be kept confidential as part of the CRTC's review of the wholesale wireless market. The CRTC sent out a letter Monday...

Bell Wireless

IoT spending to almost quadruple by 2018: report

telecom | 07/15/2014 6:27 pm EDT

Spending on Internet of Things (IoT) technology in Canada in 2018 will be almost four times what it was last year, according to a new report from International Data Corp. The report, commissioned by Telus Corp., said spending on...

Data centres Internet Iot

Cogeco to provide telecom services to Laurentian Bank

telecom | 07/15/2014 6:15 pm EDT

Cogeco Cable Inc.’s data services subsidiary will manage Laurentian Bank’s “corporate telecommunications program,” the company said in a press release Tuesday. Michel Racine, vice-president of real estate...

Cogeco Data centres

Montreal’s Aldea capitalizes on sports’ international appeal

Media | 07/15/2014 4:00 pm EDT

MONTREAL — Over the past month, 32 soccer teams played 64 matches in Brazil while millions around the world tuned in. As those transmissions were reaching their destinations around the globe, many of those signals were monitored through an unassuming office building near the Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport in...

Bell Aliant expands fibre network in Quebec

telecom | 07/15/2014 3:39 pm EDT

Bell Aliant Inc. is expanding its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network to seven Quebec communities, the company said Tuesday. The company will spend about $70 million to extend its FibreOP service to Alma, Saint-Félicien,...

Bell aliant Internet

Lower-end telecom plans get biggest rate hikes: report

telecom | 07/14/2014 9:35 pm EDT

Telecommunications companies increased prices most, proportionally, over the last year for those subscribing to the lowest-end wireless, broadband-Internet and home-phone plans, according to a report...

Aws-3 CRTC Internet

CRTC approves Telus pay-per-view service

Media | 07/14/2014 5:58 pm EDT

The CRTC has approved a licence application by Telus Corp. to operate a pay-per-view service, the commission said Monday. A letter from Telus to the CRTC to support the application in October last year said the pay-per-view...

Iptv Television Telus

Bell ordered to pay PIAC’s costs in payphone proceeding

telecom | 07/11/2014 3:42 pm EDT

BCE Inc. was ordered by the CRTC to cover almost $15,000 in legal fees for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) in relation to a complaint about excessive charges by a third-party service provider with respect to operator-assisted calls at payphones. The legal costs were incurred by PIAC and an advocacy group it was...

Bell sponsors Ukrainian TV channel application

Media | 07/10/2014 8:30 pm EDT

BCE Inc. is sponsoring an application from TV Media Planet Ltd. to have a Ukrainian television channel approved for distribution in Canada. The application appeared on the CRTC's website Thursday. An attached letter from TV Media Planet said the channel, 1+1 International, is a version of one of the most popular channels in Ukraine called Studio 1+1. The international version, it said, is intended for Ukrainians living abroad, and is currently available across Europe, the United States and Israel, among other places. It said the language of its programing, which includes entertainment,...

CRTC Television

Cogeco partners with TiVo, ditches IPTV plans

telecom | 07/10/2014 7:21 pm EDT

Cogeco Cable Inc. has abandoned a multi-year project to establish an Internet protocol-based TV platform in Canada and will instead launch a service in partnership with TiVo Inc. that its CEO says gives it "all of what we...

Cable Cogeco CRTC

Dish tells FCC to block mergers on ‘serious competitive concerns’

telecom | 07/10/2014 4:14 pm EDT

On Wednesday Dish Network Corp. expressed its opposition to two major mergers in the U.S. telecom market in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission. In the letter, Dish urged the American regulator to put a stop to the deals between Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc., valued at $45.2 billion US, and AT&T...

More than 40% of households in U.S. wireless-only

telecom | 07/09/2014 5:55 pm EDT

About 41 per cent of households in the United States had access to only mobile phone services with no landline connection in the second half of 2013, according to a new government report. The Centers for Disease Control and...

Landline phones Wireless

Bell Labs creates 10-Gbps connection on copper lines

telecom | 07/09/2014 5:29 pm EDT

Bell Labs, the research arm of French telecom hardware maker Alcatel-Lucent, announced on Wednesday that it has set a new broadband speed record of 10 gigabits per second over traditional copper telephone lines. In a press...

Cable Fibre optics Internet

Physicians speak out on wireless exposure

telecom | 07/09/2014 5:01 pm EDT

A group of physicians on Wednesday presented Health Canada with a letter asking it to take stronger action to protect people against the effects of radiation from wireless signals, including from cellphone towers and WiFi networks. A letter signed by more than 20 doctors asks the federal health department for: tougher standards on wireless radiation exposure; to do a full literature review as it updates safety guidelines with "less reliance on industry-funded studies"; strategies to minimize exposure to wireless signals in schools or other places where children gather; and produce...

Wifi Wireless

Standalone wearables on the way this year: AT&T

telecom | 07/09/2014 3:22 pm EDT

Wearable technology that can connect to mobile networks on its own, without being tethered to a cellphone, will establish a presence on the market this year, an AT&T executive reportedly said. An article published Tuesday by...

Smartphones Tablets Wearables

Wind looking to offer 3G roaming thanks to price cap

telecom | 07/08/2014 10:06 pm EDT

Now that the federal government’s domestic roaming caps are in place, Wind Mobile is looking to upgrade to 3G for its roaming network by the end of the summer, chief regulatory officer Simon Lockie said on Tuesday. His...

Aws-3 Data charges Roaming

DataWind lists on stock market

telecom | 07/08/2014 2:19 pm EDT

DataWind Inc., a provider of low-cost tablets and Internet plans inthe developing world, said Tuesday it has completed an initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company said in a press release that more than...

Internet Tablets

Government ‘determined to get that fourth national carrier’

telecom | 07/07/2014 1:26 pm EDT

The federal government on Monday announced another auction for wireless spectrum will be held next year and, like previous auctions, it will have rules meant to increase the viability of companies competing against the three incumbents. "They are bound and determined to get that fourth national carrier," Gregory...

Verizon lets Canadian lobbying registration expire

telecom | 07/04/2014 6:14 pm EDT

Verizon Communications Inc. has let its entry on Canada's federal lobbyists' registry expire. The registration for Verizon, represented by Ottawa lobbyist Peter Burn of Dentons Canada LLP, opened Oct. 22 last year and...

Wireless

Cisco top recipient of government funding last year: Globe

telecom | 07/04/2014 6:08 pm EDT

The Canadian arm of Cisco Systems Inc. received the most government funding in Canada of any company last year, according to a list published by the Globe and Mail. The rankings published on the...

Data centres Internet Iot

M2M usage in business almost doubles in one year: Vodafone

Media | 07/04/2014 5:15 pm EDT

Many companies are still trying to find the benefits in adopting the latest in machine-to-machine (M2M) communication technology, yet those that do see significant returns of their investment,...

Internet Iot Wireless

Don’t regulate OTT, Netflix tells CRTC

Media | 07/03/2014 9:03 pm EDT

The CRTC shouldn’t try to regulate Internet-based services the same way it does traditional broadcasting, Netflix Inc. said in an intervention submitted as part of the commission’s review of the future of television. The provider of over-the-top (OTT) streaming video services said the existence of video on the Internet and of TVs that...

Wind Mobile expands in Ontario

telecom | 07/03/2014 8:27 pm EDT

Wind Mobile said Thursday it has expanded into Branford, Ont. It said in a press release that it has opened two retail outlets there. Robert Sauer, a spokesman for Wind, said by email that this coincided with the expansion of Wind's network into Brantford. Wind Mobile's website shows it has network availability in areas in and surrounding Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto and other spots in southern Ontario....

Wind mobile Wireless

Primus Canada names new slate of VPs

telecom | 07/03/2014 4:39 pm EDT

Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. on Thursday named four new vice-presidents that it said will help lead "the transformation of Canada's largest alternative telecommunications service provider." It said in a...

Internet Landline phones

Telecoms owe money for CRTC proceeding on cancellation notice

telecom | 07/03/2014 4:15 pm EDT

The CRTC said on Thursday both the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the DiversityCanada Foundation are owed costs they incurred to make submissions in a CRTC proceeding on whether wireline...

Landline phones Wireless

Canada’s privacy watchdog looking at Facebook study

Media | 07/03/2014 4:05 pm EDT

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is taking a close look at Facebook Inc. after the social network announced it had manipulated users’ news feeds for a study on emotional responses. “We will be contacting Facebook to seek further details related to this research and have been in touch with some...

Online devices on standby waste billions in energy: IEA

telecom | 07/02/2014 8:07 pm EDT

In a report released Wednesday the International Energy Agency took aim at devices in standby mode, saying they waste billions of dollars worth of electricity each year through the use of inefficient...

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David McLennan joins CMF board

Media | 07/02/2014 7:23 pm EDT

Sierra Wireless Inc. chief financial officer David McLennan has been named to the board of the Canadian Media Fund (CMF), a public-private parternship that provides money for Canadian media producers, the group said in a press release Monday. McLennan has been chief financial officer with Vancouver-based Sierra Wireless Inc. since 2004, according to his biography on the company's website. It said he spent 10 years before that in a variety of senior management positions with BCE Inc....

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Roam Mobility launching LTE for US roaming

telecom | 07/02/2014 7:22 pm EDT

Vancouver-based Roam Mobility Inc. has added LTE data to its roaming plans for Canadians travelling to the United States, the company announced on Wednesday. From July 7, customers who purchase one of the company’s plans...

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Telecoms looking for help to manage flood of big data

telecom | 07/02/2014 7:11 pm EDT

Telecom companies are turning to outside help in order to manage the floods of data coming from smartphones, set-top-boxes and other consumer technology. Canada’s biggest telecoms — BCE Inc., Rogers Communications...

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Rene Schuster named VimpelCom COO

telecom | 07/02/2014 5:48 pm EDT

VimpelCom Ltd., the Amsterdam-based company that is majority owner of Canada's Wind Mobile, on Tuesday named Rene Schuster as chief operating officer. The company said in a press release that Schuster was previously CEO of...

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Rogers wireless home phone not subject to local-exchange rules: CRTC

telecom | 07/02/2014 4:00 pm EDT

The CRTC said Wednesday that it has denied a request from Wightman Telecom Ltd. for Rogers Communications Inc.'s wireless home-phone service to be classified as a competitive local exchange...

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Carriers tell SOCAN it needs to find ringtone money

Media | 07/02/2014 3:00 pm EDT

Canada's major wireless carriers' have dismissed an argument from the collective representing music writers and publishers that if the Federal Court finds the collective owes $12 million in tariffs collected for ringtone...

TV industry at odds on future of over-the-air

Media | 06/30/2014 8:52 pm EDT

BCE Inc. wants to see over-the-air (OTA) transmitters shut down and local stations move to a model it called “local specialty,” under which they would negotiate wholesale fees with cable, IPTV and satellite-TV...

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Most Canadian farmers have smartphone: poll

telecom | 06/30/2014 6:33 pm EDT

About three-quarters of farmers in Canada are smartphone owners, a number that has more than doubled in the last three years, according to a new survey. Farm Credit Canada, a lender to Canadian agriculture industry, said in a...

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Bell asks CRTC to push Cogeco on customer-transfer system

telecom | 06/30/2014 5:49 pm EDT

BCE Inc. has asked the CRTC to force Cogeco Cable Inc. to implement an automated system for facilitating the transfer of customers between different telecommunications companies by the start of next...

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CFIB asks James Moore for help on anti-spam law

telecom | 06/30/2014 5:36 pm EDT

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said in a letter to Industry Minister James Moore Monday that it wants the government to emphasize "education before enforcement" in regard to new anti-spam legislation coming into effect July 1. The CFIB said in its letter that 15 per cent of its membership, which includes more than 109,000 small- and medium-sized businesses, is "fully aware" of the requirements that come with the anti-spam law. It added that 62 per cent have not take any steps toward meeting the new requirements. "We are asking for your help to...

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