Separate spectrum and politics, Connolly says

telecom | 05/02/2013 9:03 pm EDT

Canada’s spectrum management regime should be reshaped to remove politics from the licensing process, said Mike Connolly, former director general of Industry Canada’s spectrum management policy. In a speech at the Canadian Spectrum Summit in Toronto on Thursday, Connolly said Canada’s spectrum regime, in which the federal Industry...

Glassman considers operating fourth wireless carrier

telecom | 05/02/2013 8:39 pm EDT

Newton Glassman, the head of private equity firm Catalyst Capital Group Inc., confirmed he is considering a plan to operate a wireless carrier that would compete with incumbent wireless carriers, The Globe and Mail reported. In...

Allstream launches cloud-based solution for businesses

telecom | 05/02/2013 8:38 pm EDT

MTS Inc.’s Allstream division introduced a new “hosted collaboration” product that provides a hosted and managed unified communications and collaboration solution for Canadian businesses. In a release Thursday, Allstream said the new product would allow Canadian businesses to use Cisco System Inc.’s...

Open up new spectrum bands for backhaul, RABC urges

telecom | 05/02/2013 8:11 pm EDT

Industry Canada should prioritize four bands for mid-range backhaul use to support mobile wireless carriers’ increasing shortage of backhaul spectrum in urban areas, the Radio Advisory Board of Canada (RABC) said. In regulatory documents filed with the Industry Department this week, the RABC said growth in demand for mobile data services warrants...

Brekka, Sanger join TeraGo’s board

telecom | 05/01/2013 9:03 pm EDT

TeraGo Inc. appointed Richard Brekka and Jim Sanger to its board of directors, the company said. In a release Tuesday, TeraGo said Brekka is a managing partner and co-founder of New York, N.Y.-based Second Alpha Partners, a private equity firm that holds shares in the company. He was previously a director on TeraGo’s board from May 2007 through June 2012, the release said. Sanger, who is also a managing partner and co-founder of Second Alpha Partners, previously held managerial positions at Deutsche Bank, Barclays Bank and Verizon Communications Inc. predecessor Bell Atlantic, TeraGo said....

Bell Aliant revenues rise on Internet, IPTV

Media | 05/01/2013 8:44 pm EDT

Bell Aliant Inc. reported operating revenues of $684 million in the first quarter of 2013, rising by $2 million from the same quarter in 2012. Growth in TV, Internet, wireless, and other revenues offset declines in local and long...

‘We loved Charles at Shaw’

Media | 04/30/2013 9:04 pm EDT

The regulatory group at Shaw Communications Inc. found out Monday morning, before going on a panel at a CRTC hearing in Gatineau, Que., that a key member of their team had died. Charles King, 47, worked in Ottawa as Shaw's vice-president of government relations, and had fallen ill with cancer last year for the second time after successfully...

Heins expects ‘tens of millions’ of Q10 sales

telecom | 04/30/2013 8:40 pm EDT

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said he expects the company will sell “several tens of millions” of the new Q10 smartphone. “This is going into the installed base of more than 70 million BlackBerry users ... We are ready from a production perspective,” Heins told Bloomberg in an interview posted on...

New device allows texting from anywhere on Earth

telecom | 04/30/2013 8:40 pm EDT

ROM Communications Inc., a wireless reseller and hardware developer, received commercial certification for a new device that will allow users to send and receive text messages from remote and other locations anywhere in the world, the company said. In a release Monday, ROM, a subsidiary of Kelowna, B.C.-based Total Telecom Inc., said its proprietary...

Wood to leave Wind for Telus

telecom | 04/29/2013 7:36 pm EDT

Telecom lawyer Andrea Wood will leave her role as Wind Mobile’s chief legal officer to become vice-president of legal services for Telus Corp., Telus said. Wind's owner, Amsterdam-based VimpelCom Ltd., is pursuing options to sell the company. Wood, who has served as Wind’s chief legal officer since 2009, will work at Telus under...

MTS expands fibre to Beausejour

telecom | 04/29/2013 7:35 pm EDT

MTS Inc. will begin deploying its fibre-to-the-home network to Beausejour, Man., this summer, and expects the service to be available in the area later this year, the company said. In a release Monday, MTS said its rollout of the fibre network will give residents access to its IPTV service, MTS Ultimate TV, as well as the company’s “newest...

Justice Fish to retire this spring

Media | 04/26/2013 9:38 pm EDT

Supreme Court Justice Morris Fish will retire at the end of the spring session, the court said. In a release Monday, the Supreme Court said Fish informed Justice Minister Rob Nicholson of his intention to retire, effective Aug. 31, after 10 years on the bench. Justice Fish played a role in Supreme Court decisions on several high-profile broadcasting...

Ofcom to trial TV white space devices

telecom | 04/26/2013 9:28 pm EDT

Ofcom, the U.K.’s telecom regulator, said it will conduct a trial of TV “white space” devices this fall with an eye to rolling out rural broadband and machine-to-machine technologies on the spectrum next year. In a release Friday, Ofcom said the pilot this fall will invite companies to trial low-powered technologies that operate in...

BCE leads with 26% of residential broadband market: MTM

telecom | 04/26/2013 9:10 pm EDT

BCE Inc. and its subsidiary Bell Aliant Inc. serve more than a quarter of all residential broadband Internet subscriptions across English-speaking Canada, a new report by Media Technology Monitor (MTM) said. MTM, a joint research project between CBC/Radio-Canada and BBM Analytics, said in polling results released Thursday that Bell and Bell Aliant account for 26 per cent of anglophone broadband market in Canada, followed by Rogers Communications Inc. with 18 per cent, Shaw Communications Inc. with 16 per cent and Telus Corp. with 15 per cent. Cogeco Cable Inc. has 4 per cent market share of the anglophone broadband market, while Eastlink (owned by Bragg Communications Inc.) and SaskTel each have 3 per cent and Videotron Ltd. (owned by Quebecor Media Inc.) and MTS Inc. each have 2 per...

Smartphone shipments outnumber mobile shipments: IDC

telecom | 04/26/2013 8:40 pm EDT

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. shipped 70.7 million smartphones in the first quarter of 2013 and led the industry with a 32.7 per cent share of the worldwide smartphone market, research firm IDC said in new data released Thursday. In a release, IDC said Samsung’s 2013 shipments were up from the 44 million units it shipped in the first quarter of...

Mobilicity receives court approval for sale, restructuring

telecom | 04/26/2013 7:00 pm EDT

Dave Wireless Inc. announced a court-approved restructuring process with a sale as an option. The new entrant wireless carrier, operating as Mobilicity, said in a release Friday that it obtained two...

Ontario to table wireless consumer protection bill

telecom | 04/25/2013 9:16 pm EDT

The Ontario government said it will introduce consumer protection legislation creating new rights for mobile wireless consumers in the province. In a release Thursday, the provincial Department of Consumer Services said the bill would make it easier for consumers to understand “the costs and terms” of their wireless service contracts....

Primus brings fibre optic services to Ottawa

telecom | 04/25/2013 9:01 pm EDT

Primus Telecommunications Group Inc. launched new fibre optic services for businesses in Ottawa’s downtown area, the company’s Canadian subsidiary said. In a release Wednesday, Primus said its “Metro Fibre Ring” will provide local businesses with high-capacity bandwidth that is more than 1,000 times faster than a regular...

U.S. not a ‘primary source of revenue,’ Huawei says

telecom | 04/25/2013 6:30 pm EDT

Huawei Technologies Co. backed away from earlier comments by a senior executive who said the company is no longer interested in competing in the U.S. market, Forbes reported. Eric Xu, Huawei’s executive vice-president, said Tuesday at an analyst summit in Shēnzhèn, China, that Huawei is “not interested in the U.S. market any more” after the Chinese telecom equipment supplier had deals blocked due to security concerns related to its relationship with the Chinese government. The U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee issued a report last October that urged American companies to consider “the long-term security risks” associated with dealing with the either Huawei or rival Chinese equipment supplier, ZTE Corp. Huawei spokesman Scott Sykes...

MTS to expand fibre to Stonewall

Media | 04/25/2013 6:26 pm EDT

MTS Inc. will begin deploying its fibre-to-the-home FiON network in Stonewall, Man., this summer and expects the service to be available in the area later this year, the company said. In a release Thursday, MTS said its rollout...

Illico.tv app now on Android

Media | 04/24/2013 10:08 pm EDT

Quebecor Media Inc. subsidiary Videotron Ltd. released an illico.tv on-demand TV application for Google Inc.'s Android platform. In a release Wednesday, Videotron said the launch of the illico.tv Android app follows that...

SaskTel revenues rise on wireless, TV

telecom | 04/23/2013 9:14 pm EDT

SaskTel recorded higher operating income in 2012 driven by increased wireless and TV revenues, the provincial Crown corporation said in its annual financial earnings report Monday. In the report, SaskTel said its operating revenues reached $1.18 billion in 2012, up five per cent, or $56.6 million, from the previous year due to increased smartphone...

Roam Mobility expands Canadian presence

telecom | 04/23/2013 8:50 pm EDT

Vancouver-based telecommunications provider Roam Mobility Inc. reached a Canadian retail presence that spans across more than 400 locations, the company said Tuesday. In a release, Roam Mobility said it now has a retail presence in six Canadian provinces including Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, and is working to expand its retail locations through...

Don’t expect ruling on option deal until 2014: Engelhart

telecom | 04/23/2013 7:12 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. does not expect Industry Canada to rule on its option agreement to acquire “new entrant” spectrum from Shaw Communications Inc. until the summer of 2014, Ken Engelhart, Rogers’ senior vice-president of regulatory affairs, said on a call with analysts. Rogers, Canada’s...

Bell Aliant increases Internet speeds

telecom | 04/23/2013 7:10 pm EDT

Bell Aliant Inc. increased the speed of its fibre-based, FibreOp residential Internet packages, the company said. In a release Tuesday, Bell Aliant said it increased the download and upload speeds of each of its three FibreOp Internet tiers and rolled out the new speeds to all of its existing customers at no additional cost.  The company, which...

Stoddart looking at Bill C-475

Media | 04/23/2013 12:37 am EDT

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is looking at Bill C-475, a private members bill put forward by NDP MP Charmaine Borg that amends the Privacy Act. The private members bill was read a first time in the House of Commons on Feb. 26, and would require organizations to notify the federal privacy commissioner of any incident where there was...

Sprint looking at Dish bid as FCC reviews Softbank’s

telecom | 04/23/2013 12:27 am EDT

Sprint Nextel Corp. said Monday that it established a special committee to examine Dish Network Corp.’s unsolicited bid to acquire the company, three days after the wireless company asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to proceed with a review of a competing bid by Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp....

Smartphones power Rogers Q1 earnings

Media | 04/23/2013 12:19 am EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. reported higher first-quarter revenues and profits as the company’s wireless data revenues rose on smartphone customer additions, Rogers said in a quarterly financial statement Monday. In a release, Rogers reported $3.03 billion in operating revenues in the three-month period that ended March 31, up 2.85 per cent from $2.94 billion during the same period a year earlier. Operating profit in the quarter of $1.179 billion rose 7.8 per cent from the previous year, when operating profits were $1.094 billion, the company said.  Rogers said first-quarter...

SaskTel completes wireless upgrades

telecom | 04/19/2013 7:43 pm EDT

SaskTel completed 22 wireless “infrastructure enhancement projects” in March to expand the coverage and capacity of its mobile wireless network, the company said. In a release Thursday, SaskTel, a provincial Crown...

Quebecor promotes Beland

telecom | 04/18/2013 9:01 pm EDT

Dennis Béland was appointed to the newly created position of vice-president regulatory affairs for telecommunications at Quebecor Media Inc., Quebecor said Thursday. Béland, who has been with Quebecor since 2004, previously held the position of senior director of telecom regulatory affairs....

TeraGo appoints Martin to board

telecom | 04/18/2013 9:00 pm EDT

Michael Martin was appointed to TeraGo Inc.’s board of directors, TeraGo said Thursday. In a release, TeraGo said Martin has been part of many boards and has more than 30 years of experience in broadband, fibre, wireless and digital communications technologies. Martin has also been a senior executive consultant with IBM Canada Ltd. since 2005,...

Paradis’ four-carrier policy may mean blocking Wind or Mobilicity sale, and new incentives

telecom | 04/18/2013 8:59 pm EDT

Industry Minister Christian Paradis would have to block the sale of Wind Mobile or Mobilicity to an incumbent to maintain at least four wireless carriers in British Columbia, urban Alberta and southern Ontario, according to an analysis of wireless coverage by The Wire Report. Under the...

Rogers acquires Blackiron

telecom | 04/18/2013 8:59 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. acquired Markham, Ont.-based Blackiron Data ULC for $200 million from Primus Telecommunications Group, Rogers said Wednesday. In a release, Rogers said Blackiron is a provider of data centre and cloud computing services with about 4,000 customers. The company is a national, facilities-based provider, Rogers said, with eight data centres spanning Toronto, Ottawa, London, Edmonton and Vancouver. Rogers said the purchase of Blackiron, which reported revenue of  $33.7 million US in 2012, would help Rogers’ business solutions division enhance its suite of enterprise-level data centre and cloud computing services. The company added the acquisition would also help it improve its fibre-based network connectivity services....

VoIP, OTT services to challenge incumbents: ITU report

Media | 04/18/2013 8:58 pm EDT

Traditional broadcast distribution and telecom operators will “lose ground” to over-the-top content providers and voice over IP services over the next four years, a new report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said Thursday. The ITU said in its “Trends in Telecommunication 2013”...

CRTC centralizes decisions, disputes teams

Media | 04/18/2013 3:33 am EDT

A new CRTC “decisions group” will harmonize the look and feel of commission decisions across the broadcasting and telecom sectors and a new alternative dispute resolution and processes group will strengthen its broadcasting dispute resolution team, CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais said in an internal email. In an email Monday, Blais said...

Cliff to lead CRTC comms team

Media | 04/18/2013 3:28 am EDT

Amanda Cliff, director general of Heritage Canada’s broadcasting and digital communications division, will become the CRTC’s new executive director of communications and external relations, CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais told staff in an internal email Monday. Cliff, who will assume the position on April 22, will oversee the...

Throttling complaints climb

telecom | 04/17/2013 9:03 pm EDT

The CRTC received 17 complaints related to Internet service providers’ throttling practices in the three-month period that ended March 31, up 55 per cent over the previous quarter, the commission said. In a throttling complaint status report posted on its website Wednesday, the CRTC said it received 12 complaints about throttling practices in the final quarter of the 2012 calendar year, and 51 total throttling...

MTS union objects to conciliation officer

telecom | 04/16/2013 8:19 pm EDT

Team-IFPTE Local 161, representing more than 1,200 managers working for MTS Inc. is “shocked” that the company’s chief negotiator asked the federal government to appoint a conciliation officer, the union said...

Internet Society launches Canada chapter

telecom | 04/16/2013 8:05 pm EDT

The Internet Society launched a Canadian chapter to represent Internet users on net neutrality, accessibility, and other issues, the group said. The Internet Society is an advocacy group for “the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for everyone,” it said in a release Monday, adding that it is “a global cause-driven...

Expect legal fights from new entrants if transfers blocked, analyst warns Paradis

telecom | 04/16/2013 7:06 pm EDT

Canada's new entrant wireless carriers want the freedom to sell their spectrum holdings to incumbent companies and would challenge the government in court if they were blocked from doing so, Scotia Capital telecom analyst Jeff Fan said. “Legal actions could be a real messy situation for IC [Industry Canada]....

Dish makes $25.5b offer for Sprint

telecom | 04/15/2013 8:30 pm EDT

American satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp. submitted an unsolicited bid to purchase U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. for $25.5 billion US in cash and stock, Dish said. In a release Monday, Dish said it submitted an offer to acquire a 68 per cent stake in Sprint for $17.3 billion US in cash and $8.2 billion US worth of stock in a new,...

Pre-orders for Galaxy S IV begin

telecom | 04/15/2013 8:28 pm EDT

Canadian wireless carriers started taking pre-orders for Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s new Galaxy S IV smartphone, BCE Inc., Telus Corp., Rogers Communications Inc. and Quebecor Media Inc.-owned Videotron Ltd. said Monday. In separate announcements, Bell, Rogers, Telus and Videotron said customers could purchase the device, unveiled by Samsung a month ago, for $200 on a three-year contract. Bell and Telus said they would also offer the device for $700 without a contract, while Videotron said its no-contract price would be $650. Incumbent carriers Bell, Rogers and Telus said customers who pre-order the smartphone online or in their stores could receive the device by April 27. In-store availability would begin May 3, the companies said....

Industry Canada never intended incumbents to get set aside spectrum: Paradis

telecom | 04/15/2013 2:42 pm EDT

The federal Industry Department did not intend for incumbent telecom carriers to have access to wireless spectrum that was reserved for new entrants in the 2008 spectrum auction, Industry Minister...

SaskTel offers Canada-wide LTE coverage

telecom | 04/12/2013 9:02 pm EDT

SaskTel's fourth-generation LTE customers will now have the ability to roam nationally, the company said Thursday. In a release, SaskTel said its LTE network would be expanded to the communities of Estevan, Moose Jaw, North...

Northwestel asks CRTC to revisit wholesale connect rates

telecom | 04/12/2013 8:45 pm EDT

Northwestel Inc., a BCE Inc. subsidiary, is asking the CRTC to revisit a decision in February that reduced the company's wholesale connection rates by 70 per cent, said Paul Flaherty, chief...

Sandvine reports profit on higher sales

telecom | 04/12/2013 7:22 pm EDT

Waterloo, Ont.-based network technologies company Sandvine Inc. reported $25 million US in revenue for the first quarter of 2013 and profit of $1.7 million US, the company said. In a quarterly earnings statement Thursday for the company's first quarter, Sandvine said the results "represent record first quarter revenue." “The first...

BlackBerry says report on Z10 return rates false, misleading

telecom | 04/12/2013 7:20 pm EDT

BlackBerry said it plans to ask the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ontario Securities Commission for reviews of a “false and misleading report” about the return rates of the company's new Z10 smartphone. "Sales of the BlackBerry Z10 are meeting expectations and the data we have collected from our retail and carrier partners demonstrates that customers are satisfied with their devices," BlackBerry chief executive Thorsten Heins said in a statement Friday. "Return rate statistics show that we are at or below our forecasts and right in line with...

U.S. proposes Broadcasting Treaty focused on ‘true signal piracy’

telecom | 04/12/2013 7:17 pm EDT

The United States proposed that a new Broadcasting Treaty deal with “true signal piracy” to avoid the layering rights on digital content. WIPO members met in Geneva, Switzerland, this week to discuss a working document for a new Broadcasting Treaty that includes a reference to online signals, a sticking point...

Telus in talks to purchase Mobilicity: report

telecom | 04/12/2013 6:37 pm EDT

Telus Corp. is in talks with DAVE Wireless Inc., which operates as Mobilicity, to purchase the new entrant wireless carrier for between $350 million to $400 million, The Globe and Mail reported Friday. New entrant Public Mobile Inc. has also hired an investment bank for a possible sale, the newspaper reported. Telus is in talks to purchase “all...

Cogeco profits fall year-over-year

telecom | 04/11/2013 9:16 pm EDT

Profits for Cogeco Cable Inc. reached $56.5 million in the second quarter of 2013, down from $81.5 million in the same period a year earlier, the company said Wednesday. In a financial earnings report, Cogeco said profit for the...

BlackBerry Q10 available this month

telecom | 04/10/2013 8:56 pm EDT

BlackBerry’s second new BB10 smartphone, the keyboard-enabled Q10, will be available in Canada at the end of April, Canadian wireless carriers said. Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. will be the first to...

Small wireless players look at new association following CWTA exit

telecom | 04/10/2013 7:53 pm EDT

The departure of three new entrants from the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) may lead to the formation of a new entrant wireless association, said chief regulatory officer at Wind Mobile Simon Lockie. DAVE Wireless Inc.-owned Mobilicity, Public Mobile Inc., and Wind, owned by Amsterdam-based...

Glentel moves $3m in tower assets to SBA

telecom | 04/10/2013 5:53 pm EDT

Glentel Inc. said it sold some of its wireless tower assets to SBA Communications Corp. Glentel, based in Burnaby, B.C., said in a release that the transaction is worth about $3 million, and that it has agreed to “sell additional tower business assets to SBA, with an expected close by June 30, 2013.” Glentel announced the sale of the...

CRTC says new website will emphasize consumer access

Media | 04/09/2013 9:21 pm EDT

The CRTC's efforts to revamp its website will focus on consumer access over concerns from industry, Paulette Leclair, the commission’s director of public affairs, said in an interview. Home to the public records for...

Telus launches 4G LTE in North Bay

telecom | 04/09/2013 5:49 pm EDT

Telus Corp. turned on its fourth-generation LTE mobile wireless services in North Bay, Ont., the company said Monday. Telus noted its 4G LTE network now covers more than 70 per cent of the Canadian population in about 170 markets...

Comwave launching high-speed Internet across Canada

telecom | 04/09/2013 5:21 pm EDT

Third-party voice-over-IP provider Comwave is launching high-speed Internet services across Canada, the company announced last week. In a release last Friday, Comwave, based in Toronto, said its Internet service plans will be unlimited. Comwave said in the release that its home phone with Internet bundles start at $50 per month and include six months of free home phone service. The company’s high-speed Internet is now available in Ontario and Quebec, the release said, and it has plans to roll out nationally in the summer. Darryl Singer, director of marketing and digital at Comwave, said by email Tuesday that the company’s network is leased DSL but that it will have access to a cable network in the second quarter of 2013. Yuval Barzakay, president and CEO of Comwave, said in...

Shaw acquires Enmax Envision

telecom | 04/08/2013 10:07 pm EDT

Shaw Communications Inc. entered an agreement to acquire Enmax Envision Inc., a subsidiary of Enmax Corp., for about $225 million, Shaw said Monday. In a release, Shaw said Envision is Enmax’s high-speed data communications...

TekSavvy lowers DSL Internet prices

telecom | 04/05/2013 8:49 pm EDT

Independent Internet service provider TekSavvy Solutions Inc. has rolled back the price of its residential, DSL Internet packages to reflect lower wholesale costs under the CRTC’s capacity-based billing decision released in February, the company said. Tina Furlan, TekSavvy’s director of marketing and communications, said in a telephone...

Canadians avoiding apps, online services, citing privacy: poll

Media | 04/05/2013 7:57 pm EDT

Canadians are avoiding some mobile applications, websites and online services due to privacy concerns, said a new survey commissioned by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. In a release Thursday, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner said a telephone survey of 1,513 Canadians conducted from Oct. 25 to Nov....

Facebook unveils Home app

Media | 04/05/2013 7:56 pm EDT

Facebook Inc. launched a new mobile application, called “Home,” that is designed to replace a smartphone’s locked screen and home screen with a Facebook “cover feed” that features photos and status updates from the phone user’s friends. In a release, Facebook said the app, which works on phones running Google Inc.’s Android operating system, is designed to be “a window into...

Cogeco boosts residential Internet caps

telecom | 04/05/2013 3:45 pm EDT

Cogeco Cable Inc. said it will give its Internet customers more monthly Internet capacity after it upgraded its residential Internet packages. In a release Thursday, Cogeco said subscribers to its Express 5 and Express 10 Internet packages will receive an extra 5 GB of capacity per month, increasing their monthly data caps to 30 GB and 65 GB, respectively. Subscribers to the company’s Turbo 14 package will receive 90 GB of monthly data, representing a rise of 10 GB, while subscribers to its Turbo 20 package will now have a 125 GB monthly cap, rising 25 GB. The cap for the company's Ultimate 40 Internet package rose 50 GB, bringing it to 225 GB per month, and its Ultimate 60 package rose by 25 GB to 325 GB per month....

EDC financing Telefonica’s BlackBerry order

telecom | 04/05/2013 3:34 pm EDT

Export Development Canada is loaning Telefónica S.A. 200 million euros to order smartphones and services from BlackBerry, Canada’s export credit agency said. EDC, a Crown corporation, said in a release Thursday that the loan of about $260 million will help Telefónica procure BlackBerry’s “smartphones, services and...

Wind Mobile calls for ‘right of first offer’ for new entrants on spectrum transfers

telecom | 04/03/2013 11:15 pm EDT

Industry Canada should introduce regulations on spectrum licence transfers that give small wireless players first right to purchase the spectrum, Wind Mobile said in a regulatory filing with the department. The policy would mean that when spectrum licences are available for purchase from another...

Accelero hires Ottawa firm to lobby on spectrum regulations

telecom | 04/03/2013 8:39 pm EDT

Naguib Sawiris' investment firm Accelero Capital, which is making an offer to purchase Wind Mobile, hired an Ottawa consulting firm to lobby the federal government on spectrum regulations, according to the federal lobbyist registry. Sawiris, formerly a major investor in Wind Mobile before it was taken over by...

Cogeco completes acquisition of Peer 1

telecom | 04/03/2013 8:35 pm EDT

Cogeco Cable Inc. completed its acquisition of Peer 1 Network Enterprises Inc., Cogeco and Peer 1 said Wednesday. They completed an acquisition of all Peer 1’s common shares at a price of $3.85 per common share, resulting...

Comwave pays $100,000 in telemarketing fines

telecom | 04/03/2013 8:03 pm EDT

Comwave Telenetworks Inc. paid a penalty of $100,000 for violations of the CRTC’s telemarketing rules, the regulator said. In a notice on its website Wednesday, the CRTC said Comwave, which is affiliated with Comwave Telecommunications Inc., paid the fee to the federal government after the commission issued a notice of violation for making calls...

Etelesolv expands to Calgary

telecom | 04/03/2013 7:45 pm EDT

Etelesolv, a Canadian telecom and IT management company headquartered in Montreal, opened a new office in Calgary, the company said Tuesday. In a release, Etelesolv said the opening of the Calgary office is part of a plan to establish a global presence. “Driven by intense demand of Canadian businesses, the Central-Western location will allow...

Two companies pay $80,000 in telemarketing fines

telecom | 04/02/2013 8:52 pm EDT

Ontario Consumer Credit Assistance and Quick Connect Solutions paid penalties of $69,000 and $11,000, respectively, for violations of the CRTC's telemarketing rules, the regulator said. In a notice on its website, the CRTC...

BlackBerry reports profit, sells 1m Z10s in Q4

telecom | 03/28/2013 9:06 pm EDT

BlackBerry reported $94 million US in fourth-quarter profits driven by cost-cutting measures and the shipment of more than one million Z10 smartphones, even as its overall sales continued to fall, the company said Thursday. In a fourth-quarter financial statement, BlackBerry reported worldwide shipments of 6 million smartphones and 370,000 PlayBook...

Accelero only foreign player in four bids for Wind: industry sources

telecom | 03/28/2013 8:48 pm EDT

Accelero Capital, an investment firm owned by former Wind Mobile investor Naguib Sawiris, is the only foreign bidder so far for the Canadian new entrant carrier, among two bids from incumbent telcos and another from Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., industry sources said. The sources said Anthony Lacavera, Wind’s founder and outgoing chairman, has a relationship with Accelero and is involved in its bid for Wind Mobile. Industry sources familiar with the process said there are four serious...

C-55 receives royal assent

telecom | 03/28/2013 6:39 pm EDT

Bill C-55, an Act to Amend the Criminal Code, received royal assent Wednesday, passing into law before an April 13 deadline set by the Supreme Court. Bill C-55 was introduced in the House of Commons on Feb. 11 after the government announced it would not proceed with its lawful access legislation due to public concerns over the possibility of online surveillance. The new bill responds to a Supreme Court decision last...

Teachers’ buys Australian telecom companies

telecom | 03/28/2013 6:35 pm EDT

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan reached an agreement to acquire 70 per cent of three Australian telecommunications companies from Leighton Holdings Ltd., Teachers’ said Wednesday. In a release, Teachers’ said full value of the acquisition of the three companies, Nextgen Networks, Metronode and Infoplex, is valued at $885 million...

Rogers customers more likely to use smartphones: poll

telecom | 03/27/2013 9:00 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc.’s wireless customers are more likely to own a smartphone than customers of other incumbent wireless carriers BCE Inc. and Telus Corp., Media Technology Monitor (MTM) said in new survey results. In a report titled “Mobile Phones” released Wednesday, MTM, a joint-research project between CBC/Radio-Canada and...

Text messages are private communications, Supreme Court says

telecom | 03/27/2013 8:58 pm EDT

Cached copies of text messages stored by wireless providers are “private communications” and deserve the same legal protections as other electronic communications, the Supreme Court of Canada said. In a decision Wednesday, the Supreme Court agreed to a Telus Corp. application to quash a “general...

Fongo says it’s bidding for Wind Mobile

telecom | 03/27/2013 8:52 pm EDT

Fongo Inc., which owns a mobile application offering free voice and text messaging services, said it is biding to acquire new entrant carrier Wind Mobile. The Waterloo, Ont.-based company said in a release it is offering $1 and a 49 per cent stake in Fongo in exchange for Wind Mobile, owned by VimpelCom Ltd. As part of the proposal, it could take on Wind's debt, which is in the millions of dollars. “I hereby publicly offer to buy Fongo for $1 and half my sandwich,” Simon Lockie, Wind’s chief regulatory officer, said in response to the offer in a Twitter message Wednesday. “Hopefully the story gets picked up before I get too hungry to deliver.” Canaccord Genuity analyst Dvai Ghose said in a research note last week that VimpelCom is soliciting bids for...

Tories consulting on possible rules for foreign wireless equipment

telecom | 03/27/2013 8:14 pm EDT

The Conservative government is “reviewing” possible rules on the use of foreign-made wireless networking equipment, Bloomberg reported. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that the government is consulting with industry about the possible rules, and that the talks arise from general security concerns and not from any...

Bell Aliant extends fibre to 13 more communities

telecom | 03/27/2013 7:49 pm EDT

Bell Aliant Inc. is investing $7 million to bring its FibreOP fibre Internet and TV service to 13 additional Nova Scotia communities, the company said Wednesday. In a release, Bell Aliant said the $7 million would connect 12,500 premises to its fibre-to-the-home network and bring the service to the communities of Cambridge, Windsor West, Falmouth,...

Wireless carriers need lower licence fees, Lord says

telecom | 03/27/2013 1:37 pm EDT

The federal government should align the administrative fees it charges wireless carriers with similar fees charged in other G8 countries, Bernard Lord, president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), told a House of Commons committee. In a prepared statement Tuesday at an industry committee meeting to look at...

Rogers expanding LTE to 44 markets

telecom | 03/27/2013 1:31 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. will introduce fourth-generation LTE wireless service in 44 markets this spring and bring its total to 95 markets by the end of 2013, the company said.  In a release Tuesday, Rogers said the 44 markets include Saint John, N.B., Medicine Hat, Alta., and Sault Ste. Marie, Guelph, Muskoka and Collingwood, Ont., as well as...

Bell challenges CBB rates for business services

telecom | 03/27/2013 1:26 pm EDT

BCE Inc. and subsidiary Bell Aliant Inc. asked the CRTC to overturn parts of its capacity-based billing decision that reduced how much the companies could charge wholesale customers using their network infrastructure to offer...

Cope’s performance payout raised in 2012

Media | 03/27/2013 1:12 pm EDT

BCE Inc. president and CEO George Cope earned $11.09 million in total compensation in 2012, up 15.4 per cent from $9.62 million a year earlier, BCE said in a securities regulatory filing.  Much of the higher pay was due to “short-term incentive” payouts related to the company’s performance, BCE said in a management proxy circular...

Apple devices ‘close the gap’ on Samsung

telecom | 03/27/2013 1:05 pm EDT

Apple Inc. “closed the gap” with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s 21.2 per cent worldwide mobile device market cent share in the fourth quarter of 2012 as iPhone 5 and iPad Mini shipments brought Apple to 20.3 per cent, research firm IDC said in data released Tuesday.  “On a revenue basis for the fourth quarter, Apple...

Google’s DNNresearch acquisition to help with voice search

telecom | 03/26/2013 8:08 pm EDT

Google Inc.’s acquisition of Toronto technology startup DNNresearch Inc. could help the company perfect its voice search technology on mobile devices and computers, analysts said. In a release on March 12, the University of Toronto said DNNresearch, owned by Geoffrey Hinton, a professor in the department of computer...

New area codes available in Toronto area

telecom | 03/25/2013 9:25 pm EDT

Two new area codes became available Monday for use in the Greater Toronto Area, the Telecommunications Alliance said. In a release, the Telecommunications Alliance said the 437 and 365 area codes can now be used in and around Toronto. The group—created to advertise the introduction of new area codes and comprised of BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and Quebecor Media Inc. subsidiary Vidéotron Ltd.—said new area codes will also be made available in Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island “in the upcoming months.”...

Mobile device library to open for app testing

Media | 03/22/2013 7:07 pm EDT

Wavefront, a wireless commercialization and research centre, is teaming up with the Centre de Recherche Informatique de Montréal to launch Quebec’s first library of mobile devices, Wavefront said Thursday. A release said the Wavefront Device Library will officially open April 9 and will give mobile developers access to more than 1,000...

HBO Go may become standalone OTT service: Pepler

telecom | 03/22/2013 6:38 pm EDT

HBO’s HBO Go online streaming service, owned by Time Warner Inc., may be made available to Internet customers who do not subscribe to a cable TV service, Reuters reported Thursday. Richard Pepler, HBO’s chief...

Videotron launches ‘simplified’ mobile pricing

telecom | 03/21/2013 8:46 pm EDT

Videotron Ltd. launched five new “all-inclusive” price plans for its wireless services as part of an effort to “overhaul” its mobile packages and “simplify the customer experience,” the company said. In a release Wednesday, the Québecor Media Inc. subsidiary said its new plans range from $20 per month for a...

C-55 wiretapping bill moves to Senate

telecom | 03/21/2013 8:40 pm EDT

The Conservative government’s new wiretapping bill, C-55, was tabled in the Senate, debated at second reading, and referred to committee on Thursday after passing the House of Commons Wednesday. The new bill responds to a Supreme Court decision last year and aims to enable law authorities to capture, when necessary and without a warrant, phone...

FCM calls for connectivity strategy for the North

telecom | 03/20/2013 9:42 pm EDT

Inadequate communications systems in Canada’s North must no lead to the failure of more important services such as emergency, health, education, housing and industry services, said Daniel Rubinstein, policy and research analyst with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). At a meeting Tuesday of the House of Commons industry committee, which is conducting a study on broadband access in Canada, Rubinstein said the federal government should develop a strategy with multi-year funding for communications network development in the North. “The need for a holistic strategy is extremely important, as existing federal subsidies for existing [information communication technology] services are set to expire in 2016,” Rubinstein said. He said the government should commit...

Lazaridis launches quantum tech fund

Media | 03/20/2013 9:32 pm EDT

BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis launched a new $100-million investment fund to foster innovation in quantum technologies. The fund, called Quantum Valley Investments, said in a release Tuesday that it “will provide...

Let distributors experiment with online, on-demand TV, Bell tells CRTC

telecom | 03/20/2013 9:10 pm EDT

BCE Inc. division Bell Media is not concerned about potential competition issues from Quebecor Media Inc.'s new illico Club Unlimited service online as broadcast distributors experiment with...

Galaxy to launch new satellite Internet

telecom | 03/20/2013 7:50 pm EDT

Galaxy Broadband Communications Inc. will launch a new satellite beam next month to support broadband Internet services in northeastern Canada, the company said Wednesday. In a release, Galaxy said the new beam, scheduled to launch April 15, will expand its SkyData services to northern Ontario, northern Quebec and western Newfoundland and Labrador....

Access launches 100 Mbps Internet

telecom | 03/20/2013 7:45 pm EDT

Access Communications Co-operative Ltd. released Internet service in Regina with speeds of up to 100 Mbps, the non-profit cooperative said. In a release Monday, Access Communications said its new Internet service includes packages with speeds of 20, 50 or 100 Mbps, up from a previous top-tier speed of 10 Mbps. It said the new services are available in...

CRTC consulting on telemarketing rules

telecom | 03/20/2013 7:33 pm EDT

The CRTC is asking consumers and telephone advertisers to participate in a “comprehensive review” of its rules for unsolicited telemarketing. In a notice of consultation Wednesday, the CRTC said it is seeking comments...

National security rules could apply in a bid for BlackBerry: Paradis

telecom | 03/20/2013 7:10 pm EDT

Industry Minister Christian Paradis said he wants BlackBerry to remain a “Canadian champion” and that national security interests could prevent a foreign takeover of the company, Reuters...

House committee issues intellectual property report

telecom | 03/18/2013 10:44 pm EDT

The House of Commons industry committee issued recommendations to the government that included further study to “grow innovative Canadian companies to keep valuable intellectual property in Canada and close the productivity gap with our competitors.” The industry committee had studied intellectual property since May 2012, hearing from 50...

Tories provide $100,000 for Waterloo investment network

Media | 03/18/2013 10:04 pm EDT

A $100,000 federal government investment in the Golden Triangle Angel Network will help new startup businesses in the Waterloo, Ont., region, Gary Goodyear, the federal minister of state for FedDev Ontario said. In a release Monday, FedDev Ontario said the investment will help the angel network expand as it seeks to...

Providers to explain non-compliance with commissioner

telecom | 03/18/2013 9:59 pm EDT

The CRTC has launched a “show cause” proceeding for telecommunications providers that failed to sign up for oversight by the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS). In a notice of consultation issued Monday, the CRTC said telecom service providers not in compliance with the CCTS, which works to resolve customer complaints, are Missisauga, Ont.-based Adeste and Voipgo; Brantford, Ont.-based Broadline; iTalk in Richmond Hill, Ont.; Vancouver-based Imagen; and TFF in Los Angeles, Calif. The CRTC said it has initiated a show cause proceeding, calling on the companies to demonstrate why the regulator should not order the disconnection of the providers for failure to comply with CCTS requirements. The companies are required to file responses by April...