Private equity firm backs away from Mobilicity financing: Report

telecom | 03/15/2013 6:02 pm EDT

Toronto private equity firm Catalyst Capital Group Inc. filed an application with the Ontario Superior Court to throw out a $75-million loan agreement with new entrant wireless carrier Mobilicity, The...

Peladeau to focus on strategy as Depatie to lead Quebecor

Media | 03/14/2013 9:05 pm EDT

Pierre Karl Péladeau, the 14-year president and CEO of Québecor Media Inc., will relinquish his role as the company’s chief executive and be replaced by Robert Dépatie, now serving as head of Québecor’s telecom subsidiary Videotron Ltd. In a release Thursday, Québecor said...

Toronto’s DNNresearch acquired by Google

telecom | 03/14/2013 8:24 pm EDT

Google Inc. acquired University of Toronto-based technology startup DNNresearch Inc. In a release Tuesday, the university said the startup owned by Geoffrey Hinton, a professor in the department of computer science, and two of...

Devin appointed president of SaskTel International

telecom | 03/14/2013 8:10 pm EDT

Sean Devin was appointed to the position of president of SaskTel subsidiary SaskTel International, the provincial Crown corporation said Wednesday. In a release, SaskTel said Devin brings a “wealth of experience” to the new role, having most recently worked as CEO and principal consultant at Excellerate Consulting, a Saskatoon, Sask.-based...

BlackBerry reports 1M unit sale

telecom | 03/13/2013 9:38 pm EDT

BlackBerry received a single order for one million BlackBerry 10 smartphones, “the largest ever single purchase order in BlackBerry's history,” the company said in a release Wednesday. Waterloo, Ont.-based BlackBerry, formerly called Research In Motion Ltd., launched its Z10 smartphone in Canada on Feb. 5 and will release the device in U.S. markets on March 22 in partnership with AT&T Inc. Analysts have said the success of the new BlackBerry 10 devices, including the Z10 and the not-yet-released Q10, will be pivotal for the company’s ability to rebound from a slide in global market share, with sales falling to 4.3 per cent of smartphone shipments in the third quarter of 2012, according to IDC. BlackBerry also said Wednesday that WhatsApp Inc. launched a version of its popular WhatsApp Messenger application for the...

FCC approves T-Mobile, MetroPCS merger

telecom | 03/13/2013 9:28 pm EDT

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a proposed merger between Deutsche Telekom AG subsidiary T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS Communications Inc., clearing the way for a deal that will combine the United States' fourth- and fifth-largest wireless carriers. The FCC approved the deal Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Justice cleared it...

Telus expands LTE to Woodstock

telecom | 03/13/2013 8:53 pm EDT

Telus Corp. extended its fourth-generation LTE mobile wireless services to Woodstock, Ont., the company said Wednesday. In a release, Telus said more customers in southwestern Ontario would have the faster download speeds following the launch of 4G LTE in the regions of Windsor, Leamington and Brantford. The company said its 4G LTE service now covers...

SaskTel investing $57M in wireless, broadband

telecom | 03/13/2013 8:50 pm EDT

A $57 million investment between now and 2020 will improve wireless and broadband networks in Saskatchewan’s rural areas, SaskTel said. In an announcement Tuesday, SaskTel said the funds would go towards the installation of new fibre equipment to upgrade rural transport capacity to accommodate rural growth in fixed, mobile, voice, video and data...

Gillis officially replaces McDonald at Industry Department

telecom | 03/13/2013 8:43 pm EDT

Kelly Gillis, former assistant deputy minister at Industry Canada, was officially appointed head of the department's spectrum policy branch. Effective Wednesday, Gillis becomes senior assistant deputy minister of Industry Canada's spectrum, information technologies and telecommunications branch, filling a vacancy...

House committee studying broadband across Canada

telecom | 03/12/2013 8:49 pm EDT

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology will study broadband access across Canada. At a meeting on Feb. 26, the committee agreed to devote three meetings to “study broadband and internet access across Canada,” according to the minutes. A meeting took place on March 7 with Scott Smith, director of...

Telus expands LTE to Saint John

telecom | 03/12/2013 8:46 pm EDT

Telus Corp. turned on fourth-generation LTE mobile wireless services in Saint John, N.B., and two other Atlantic Canada cities, the company said. In a release Tuesday, Telus said its launch of LTE services in Saint John follows...

Shaw customers lose millions of emails

telecom | 03/12/2013 8:43 pm EDT

A technical glitch caused the deletion of millions of unread emails destined for Shaw Communications Inc. customers, CBC News reported Tuesday. CBC reported the glitch caused about 70 per cent of Shaw’s customers to be affected and the company sent out a notice to inform its customers on Saturday. In an online letter to customers Monday, Shaw...

Shaw to fight for spectrum sale to Rogers for competitive reasons, analysts say

telecom | 03/12/2013 8:26 pm EDT

Shaw Communications Inc. will fight to sell its AWS spectrum to Rogers Communications Inc. instead of a new entrant carrier, industry analysts say. Shaw, which acquired AWS “set aside”...

SaskTel expands LTE

telecom | 03/11/2013 10:08 pm EDT

SaskTel completed 22 fourth-generation LTE “network infrastructure enhancement projects” last month to address consumer demand for more network capacity and coverage, the telecom provider and provincial Crown corporation said. In a release Monday, SaskTel said its February infrastructure projects included the construction of new towers in Regina, Saskatoon, Stoughton and Southend, Sask., and the deployment of “other options” where towers cannot be built. “These include installing carrier antennas to increase coverage strength inside of buildings, streetlights, rooftops, wooden and stealth poles, as well as installing new cellular sites such as towers or COWS (cellular on wheels) in various locations,” the company said. SaskTel, which launched LTE at the end of January, said it will invest about $400...

Bill C-55 progressing to become law by April 13 deadline

telecom | 03/11/2013 9:16 pm EDT

The Conservative government's new wiretapping bill, C-55, is moving through Parliament to pass into law by an April 13 deadline. 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 bill due to public concerns over online surveillance....

U.K. auction of 4G spectrum raises one-third less than forecasted

telecom | 03/11/2013 7:42 pm EDT

The United Kingdom's auction of spectrum for fourth-generation mobile wireless services last month raised a total of 2.34 billion pounds, about a third lower than what the government had...

Canadian smartphone plans cheaper than U.S.

telecom | 03/08/2013 9:19 pm EST

Monthly smartphone plans are about 24 to 27 per cent cheaper in Canada than in the United States, said a new report from Scotia Capital. The report issued Thursday, called “Canadian Wireless Myths and Facts,” by Scotia Capital analyst Jeff Fan, said Canada has a healthy wireless market that benefits consumers and carriers with lower...

Department expected to rule on Shaw-Rogers spectrum transfer before Sept: Analyst

telecom | 03/08/2013 7:59 pm EST

Industry Canada is expected to issue a decision before September on Rogers Communications Inc.'s bid to buy Shaw Communications Inc.'s AWS “set aside” spectrum, Scotia Capital said...

700 MHz auction hopefully over by Dec. 25: Lemay-Yates

telecom | 03/08/2013 7:55 pm EST

Industry Canada's 700 MHz auction, now scheduled to start Nov. 19, will “hopefully conclude before Christmas” 2013 and a departmental rule change on the disclosure of information will affect bidding strategies, Johanne Lemay, co-president of Lemay-Yates Associates Inc., said in a research note Thursday. Lemay wrote that Industry Canada, which on Thursday issued its final auction rules and format, changed its proposed rules related to the information revealed to bidders at the end of the auction clock phase, which will affect bidding strategies. “This change will increase the uncertainty on the outcome of the auction and limit the ability of bidders to submit risk-free non-winning sealed bids whose sole effect would be to push up the base prices paid by...

Illico.tv experimental, risk-taking, Blais says

telecom | 03/08/2013 7:52 pm EST

Quebecor Media Inc.'s illico on-demand subscription service is an example of “experimentation and risk-taking” in the broadcast sector, CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais said, as the regulator considers a competition complaint against the service from Astral Media Inc. In a speech Friday at the Prime Time conference in Ottawa, hosted by the...

Spectrum auctions should focus on policy, not profits: PIAC

telecom | 03/07/2013 8:10 pm EST

Efforts to maximize revenues should take a back seat to concerns about competition and other policy objectives during wireless spectrum auctions, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)...

Department consulting on rules for spectrum transfers, applies to Rogers-Shaw deal

telecom | 03/07/2013 3:30 pm EST

OTTAWA—Industry Canada will consult on proposed new rules to regulate the transfer of spectrum licences in advance of a Nov. 19 auction of 700 MHz spectrum, Industry Minister Christian Paradis...

Wind subscribers pass 590,000

telecom | 03/06/2013 9:42 pm EST

Wind Mobile increased its Canadian subscriber base by 15 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2012, reaching 590,000 subscribers, Wind owner Orascom Telecom Holdings S.A.E. said. In a fourth quarter financial statement released...

New private members’ bill targets cellphone theft

telecom | 03/05/2013 11:04 pm EST

Wireless carriers “welcome” a new private member’s bill that would make it illegal to change a cellphone’s device identifier, Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) spokesman Marc Choma said. Bill C-482, tabled Tuesday by NDP MP Mike Sullivan, would make it illegal to remove device...

Samsung’s U.S. patent damages reduced

telecom | 03/05/2013 2:28 am EST

P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }A:link { } A U.S. federal court judge clawed back damages Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. must pay to rival smartphone manufacturer Apple Inc. following a patent lawsuit last summer, Reuters reported. In a ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said she reduced damages Samsung owes Apple from $1.05 billion US to...

Android Canadian market share doubles BlackBerry’s

telecom | 03/04/2013 10:35 pm EST

BlackBerry’s share of the Canadian smartphone market fell more than seven percentage points during the last six months of 2012 as Canadians bought rival Google Inc. and Apple Inc. smartphones, according to new data from comScore Inc. In its “Canada Digital Future in Focus 2013” report released Monday,...

CRTC to review essential services this year

telecom | 03/01/2013 10:17 pm EST

The CRTC denied an Allstream Inc. application to delay the deregulation of BCE Inc.'s competitor digital network backhaul services, but agreed to the company's request to move up the commission's review of its “essential services” framework, the commission said Thursday. In a January application, MTS Inc.'s Allstream...

Municipalities, wireless association, issue higher standards for antenna siting

telecom | 02/28/2013 3:40 pm EST

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the Canadian Wireless Telecommunication Association (CWTA) released a new wireless antenna siting protocol to address public concerns about new wireless antennas in their communities. The organizations said in a release that the new 35-page protocol establishes a more comprehensive notification and consultation process for the installation of antenna sites in Canada as rising wireless data consumption and smartphone use creates a need for more antennas. The Wire Report reported last year that residents often oppose new tower sites in their communities, saying that they are ugly, obstruct views, affect the flight paths of migratory birds,...

Cisco looks at investing in Canada

telecom | 02/27/2013 8:44 pm EST

Cisco Systems Inc. is considering investing some of its $46.4 billion US cash reserves in Canada after United States legislators failed to reduce taxes on repatriated profits, John Chambers, the company's CEO, said in an interview with Financial Times. In an interview Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Chambers told FT that the...

CRTC lowers Northwestel’s wholesale rates for transport links

telecom | 02/26/2013 9:13 pm EST

A CRTC decision that lowered Northwestel Inc.’s wholesale backbone access rates will improve competition in Northern Canada, Yellowknife-based satellite Internet provider SSi Micro Ltd. said. In a decision Monday, the commission reduced Northwestel’s wholesale backbone rates on a final basis. Backbone services...

More foreign investment needed in telecom, tech: Paradis

telecom | 02/26/2013 9:07 pm EST

Industry Minister Christian Paradis called for more foreign investment in Canada’s information, communications and technology sectors in a speech at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Spain. In the speech Tuesday, Paradis said Canada, though successful, “is not an island," and he remains focused on a...

M2M alliance to demo ‘worldwide’ SIM

telecom | 02/26/2013 8:38 pm EST

An alliance of machine-to-machine operators that includes Rogers Communications Inc. and Wind Mobile parent company VimpelCom Ltd. will demo a new “technical capability” to enable a “worldwide” SIM card for connected devices, Rogers said Monday. In a release, Rogers said the group created a SIM card that works worldwide using a...

Bell takes aim at cablecos with discounts to wholesale Internet

telecom | 02/26/2013 7:47 pm EST

Incumbent telco BCE Inc. is offering wholesale discounts to pursue a bigger slice of the $300-million wholesale Internet market and cut into competing cablecos' growing Internet market share, small ISPs and telecom experts said. Small Internet service providers (ISPs), which lease wholesale network access from the incumbents to provide their own retail Internet services, told The Wire Report in interviews that Bell offered discounted rates to small ISPs in an effort to restore a shrinking wholesale business in advance of CRTC wholesale rate adjustments. Those new rates, released by the...

Mozilla to launch mobile OS

telecom | 02/26/2013 1:25 am EST

Alcatel Mobile Phones, LG Corp. and ZTE Corp. are developing mobile phones to run on Mozilla’s new Firefox OS mobile operating system, the open-source software group said. In a release Monday, Mozilla said the devices will launch in at least nine countries this summer, including Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Venezuela. Mozilla said it will announce other markets where the...

Samsung releases work-play smartphone feature

telecom | 02/26/2013 1:10 am EST

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. unveiled a new Samsung Knox smartphone business feature at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. In a release Monday, Samsung said it partnered with Centrify Corp. to provide enabling...

Paradis meets with telcos in advance of final 700 MHz rules

telecom | 02/26/2013 12:44 am EST

Industry Minister Christian Paradis held a series of meetings with telecom companies over the past two months to discuss the 700 MHz auction rules and other industry issues. According to interviews...

700 MHz auction by end of 2013: Paradis

telecom | 02/22/2013 8:40 pm EST

The federal government is committed to holding an auction for 700 MHz spectrum licences by the end of the year, Industry Minister Christian Paradis said in a television interview on CBC Wednesday. “We are committed to go...

Nearly half of Canada on smartphones: Poll

telecom | 02/22/2013 6:08 pm EST

Nearly half of Canadians now own a smartphone, according to a new poll by Ipsos Reid. In survey results released Thursday, Ipsos said its Mobil-ology poll found that 47 per cent of Canadians now report using a smartphone, up from 34 per cent in 2011. Ipsos said tablet use among Canadians rose in 2012 to reach 21 per cent, up from 10 per cent a year...

Decision drops Bell’s wholesale Internet rates 53%; Rogers’, Shaw’s, Quebecor’s rise

telecom | 02/21/2013 10:47 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor Media Inc. can charge more for their wholesale Internet services while BCE Inc.’s wholesale Internet rates will fall in Ontario and Quebec, according to a CRTC decision that reviewed the companies' rates. In a series of...

Ofcom releases mobile spectrum results

telecom | 02/20/2013 10:03 pm EST

Everything Everywhere Ltd. (EE), Telefónica S.A., Vodafone Ltd., Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., and a BT Group plc subsidiary will pay a combined 2.34 billion pounds for 250 MHz of airwaves following a U.K. mobile spectrum...

Telus launches network reporting app

telecom | 02/20/2013 9:50 pm EST

Telus Corp. launched a new app for customers to report network issues, the company said Wednesday. In a release, Telus said the app will allow users to provide “on-the-go” feedback about Telus’ network and...

MTS may hold on to Allstream for time being, analysts say

telecom | 02/20/2013 9:41 pm EST

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MTS) may hold on to its Allstream Inc. asset as its business improves, leading to better offers for the division in coming years, analysts say. MTS, whose subsidiaries include MTS Inc. and Allstream Inc., said last September that it was undertaking a “wide-ranging strategic review” of its Allstream telecom business, suggesting the asset may become available to potential buyers. The company said at the time that the loosening of federal ownership restrictions for telecommunication companies presented a “logical opportunity to consider a full range of alternatives that could be undertaken to further enhance Allstream’s growing competitiveness.” Allstream, MTS' business services division, provides IP services to large,...

Bell Aliant to pass 22,000 more homes

telecom | 02/20/2013 9:03 pm EST

Bell Aliant Inc. will spend $12 million to build out its fibre-to-the-home network to eight more New Brunswick communities in early 2013, the company said Tuesday. In a release, Bell Aliant said the build will bring its fibre network past an additional 22,000 homes and businesses in the New Brunswick municipalities of Dalhousie, St. Stephen, Beresford,...

SOCAN fights ringtones case, launches counterclaim for unpaid royalties

telecom | 02/20/2013 6:50 pm EST

Copyright collective the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is fighting a Canadian mobile carriers' lawsuit for the return of $15 million in ringtone royalties. Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp., Quebecor Media Inc., and BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Mobility filed the lawsuit with...

Canaccord drops BB10 shipment estimate

telecom | 02/19/2013 9:59 pm EST

Canaccord Genuity analyst Mike Walkley dropped his February shipment estimate for BB10 smartphones from 1.75 million to 300,000. In a research note Monday, Walkley said “store surveys” conducted by Canaccord in Canada...

Telus expands LTE to Charlottetown

telecom | 02/19/2013 9:46 pm EST

Telus Corp. expanded next-generation LTE mobile services to Charlottetown, P.E.I., Telus said. In a release dated Feb. 12, Telus said Charlottetown was the latest Canadian city to gain access to its LTE network, and said additional communities would get LTE service in the months ahead. Telus said that it has spent more than $30 billion since 2000 to...

Smartphone design affects coverage: Report

telecom | 02/19/2013 9:40 pm EST

Smartphone design and the quality of a device’s antenna often determines the quality of an end-user’s network coverage, says a report from Danish consulting firm Strand Consult. John Strand, CEO of the Copenhagen-based firm, said in a phone interview mobile users who experience problems with wireless coverage tend to blame the carrier's network. “People believe it’s the network and they don’t realize it’s the phone because there’s no debate about these things,” he said. Strand issued a research note in January based on a study released in November 2012 and conducted by Prof. Gert Frølund Pedersen at Aalborg University in Denmark. The report, titled “Limit values for Downlink Mobile Telephony in Denmark,” demonstrated...

CRTC to rule on CBB rates

telecom | 02/16/2013 1:32 am EST

The CRTC will release decisions next week on a series of complaints about its capacity-based wholesale Internet billing regime, the commission said. In a notice posted on its website late Friday, the commission said it will release decisions on eight separate review and vary requests relating to its November 2011 decision that established the capacity-based billing regime and the rates each incumbent Internet...

CCTS to ‘name and shame’ carriers that break the code, Maker says

telecom | 02/16/2013 1:08 am EST

GATINEAU, Que.—The Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) is prepared to “name and shame” wireless carriers that break provisions of a future wireless code of conduct, complaints commissioner Howard Maker said Friday. “The name and shame power is typically thought of in...

Mohamed to leave Rogers as mobile, Internet businesses continue to grow

Media | 02/15/2013 11:49 pm EST

President and CEO of Rogers Communications Inc., Nadir Mohamed, will retire in January 2014 to usher in a “new generation of leadership,” Rogers said Thursday. In a release, Rogers said...

Higher revenues, earnings powered by data, Telus says

telecom | 02/15/2013 5:48 pm EST

Telus Corp. reported higher fourth-quarter annual earnings and revenues powered by increased data consumption and growth in its Optik TV business, the company said. In a quarterly financial report released Friday, Telus said its operating revenues grew to $2.85 billion in the three-month period ended Dec. 31, 2012, up six per cent over $2.69 billion...

MTS wireless revenues grow on data services

telecom | 02/15/2013 12:56 pm EST

MTS Allstream Inc.'s revenues fell six per cent to $413.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, the Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MTS) subsidiary said Wednesday. In a release, the company said revenues were down from $439.4 million in the same period in 2011. MTS, whose subsidiaries include MTS Inc. and Allstream Inc., said in the release that...

Limits on wireless contract length would be costly, unpopular, Bell says

telecom | 02/15/2013 12:50 am EST

GATINEAU, Que.—Restrictions that would prevent wireless carriers from offering three-year contracts would lower Canadians' access to technology and would be “anti-consumer,” BCE Inc. said Thursday. “I hope ... that you begin to appreciate that the initial reaction to say, 'remove the...

Eastlink to launch wireless service Friday

telecom | 02/13/2013 10:48 pm EST

Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink subsidiary will launch its wireless network on Friday, Natalie MacDonald, vice-president of regulatory affairs at the company, said Tuesday. “We are excited to launch our service...

Wireless code should apply to existing contracts: Mobilicity

telecom | 02/13/2013 10:36 pm EST

The CRTC’s proposed wireless code of conduct should be applied “retroactively” to customers who are already under contract when the code comes into place, new entrant carrier DAVE Wireless Inc. said Wednesday. “The federal wireless code must apply retroactively to all new and existing contracts for...

Telco innovation threatened by delayed returns on network investment, ITU says

Media | 02/13/2013 7:25 pm EST

A “generational gap” between telcos and over-the-top service providers is threatening to stifle innovation in a “radically altered” telco sector, the International Telecommunication Union said in a new report. In a report called “The Outcomes: An Industry in Transformation” released Monday, the ITU said one of its primary observations from presentations and workshops at its October 2012 Telecom World conference in Dubai found that telcos are locked in a state...

Lawful intercept to reappear in other government bills, regulations, experts say

telecom | 02/13/2013 5:43 pm EST

A so-called Internet surveillance bill that was scrapped by the government this week will be “chopped up" into elements that will appear in other bills and regulations, industry experts say. In a blog post on Monday, Chris Parsons, a network expert and doctoral candidate at the University of Victoria, said...

Bring-your-own-device market encouraged by incumbent discounts

telecom | 02/13/2013 3:57 pm EST

GATINEAU, Que.—Competition for wireless customers in the “bring your own device” market is intensifying as Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. offer discounted plans for customers with their own devices and Rogers Communications Inc. is looking at doing the same, company officials told CRTC commissioners at a hearing...

Bird resigns from Vecima’s board

telecom | 02/13/2013 3:22 pm EST

Reg Bird has resigned from Vecima Networks Inc.’s board of directors due to health reasons, Vecima said Monday. In a release, Vecima said Barrie Baptie, a former Telus Corp. executive vice-president of technology and operations, will take over the role of lead independent director. Baptie has been a member of the company’s board since 2004,...

Telus opposes calls for caps on bills, mandatory text and voice overage alerts

telecom | 02/12/2013 1:04 pm EST

A proposed rule that wireless carriers be required to alert consumers as they approach monthly voice and text message limits to avoid “bill shock” would be impractical to implement and impossible in some cases, Telus Corp. said. In a draft code of conduct released in January, the CRTC proposed that carriers be...

Tories to kill Bill C-30, Nicholson says

telecom | 02/11/2013 11:58 pm EST

The Conservative government will not go ahead with its so-called Internet surveillance bill, C-30, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Monday. "We will not be proceeding with Bill C-30, and any attempts we will have to modernize the Criminal Code will not contain the measures in C-30, including the warrantless mandatory disclosure of basic subscriber information, or the requirement for telecommunications service providers to build intercept capabilities within their systems," Nicholson told reporters on Parliament Hill. He said any changes to the Criminal Code "will not contain those" measures. Nicholson said the government chose not to proceed with the bill, which was stalled in the House of Commons and officially called the Protecting Children from Internet...

BB10 phones won’t be released in Japan: Report

telecom | 02/11/2013 11:53 pm EST

BlackBerry does not plan to release its new BB10 devices in Japan, according to news reports.   “Japan is not a major market for BlackBerry and we have no plans to launch BlackBerry 10 devices there at this...

Provincial wireless laws unconstitutional: Legal opinion

telecom | 02/09/2013 4:26 pm EST

Provincial laws governing mobile service contracts are “outside the constitutional jurisdiction of the provinces,” a legal opinion commissioned by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and BCE Inc. says. In the legal analysis sent to the CRTC Friday and obtained by The Wire Report, Heenen Blaikie LLP...

Three-year wireless contracts too long, consumers say in poll

telecom | 02/09/2013 4:01 pm EST

A majority of mobile subscribers in Canada say three-year contracts for wireless services are too long and should be limited to two years or less, according to a new poll commissioned by consulting firm Lemay-Yates Associates Inc. The firm’s report to be released this week, titled “Key Metrics and Consumer...

North needs backhaul, not wireless infrastructure, small competitors say

telecom | 02/08/2013 8:14 pm EST

The CRTC should require Northwestel Inc. to improve the availability and cost of its Internet backhaul infrastructure, not its last-mile wireless services, the company’s smaller competitors said in regulatory documents this week. In an intervention filed with the commission Wednesday, SSi Micro Ltd. said the CRTC...

Woodhead fills Hennessy vacancy at Telus

Media | 02/08/2013 7:08 pm EST

Telus Corp.'s Ted Woodhead has been promoted to the position of senior vice-president of federal government and regulatory affairs, filling the vacancy left by former Telus official Michael Hennessy.  Woodhead, formerly the vice-president of telecom policy and regulatory affairs, told The Wire Report in an email that he was promoted in...

RIM holds ‘white glove’ marketing events to demo new BB10 devices

telecom | 02/08/2013 2:52 pm EST

OTTAWA--BlackBerry, formerly RIM Ltd., is holding a series of “white glove” events around the world to showcase its new BB10 devices to government and business customers and generate word...

Competition Bureau supports regs for shorter wireless contracts, free device unlocking

telecom | 02/07/2013 10:48 pm EST

The CRTC should introduce rules to prevent wireless carriers from hindering customers who want to switch providers and require carriers to provide clearer service and pricing...

BlackBerry appoints two new board members

telecom | 02/07/2013 9:11 pm EST

BlackBerry has appointed Richard Lynch and Bert Nordberg to its board of directors, the company said Thursday. In a release, BlackBerry said Lynch previously held the position of executive vice-president of Verizon Communications...

BCE revenues rise on wireless, media; fibre footprint grows to 3.3M homes

Media | 02/07/2013 9:04 pm EST

BCE Inc. reported a fibre footprint of 3.3 million homes by the end of the 2012 fiscal year and higher wireless revenues driven by smartphone sales. Canada’s largest communications company on Thursday reported year-end and fourth-quarter earnings for the 12 and three-month periods ending Dec. 31, 2012. The company said it added a net 48,234 Fibe TV subscribers in the fourth quarter, up from 27,967 in the same period a year earlier, as it continued to roll out its fibre-to-the-node TV...

BB10 launch best ever in Canadian sales, RIM says

telecom | 02/07/2013 10:35 am EST

Thornsten Heins, president and CEO of RIM Ltd., said Feb. 5 was the “best day ever” in sales for the launch of a new BlackBerry smartphone in Canada. “In fact, it was more than 50% better than any other launch...

SaskTel ‘impeding competition,’ Vecima says

telecom | 02/07/2013 10:12 am EST

Rural Internet service provider YourLink Inc. asked the CRTC to order SaskTel to upgrade its Ethernet backhaul lines to handle more Internet capacity. In a complaint filed with the commission Jan. 31, YourLink, a Vecima Networks Inc. subsidiary, said SaskTel was “impeding competition” in rural Saskatchewan...

Text messaging remains key to wireless carriers’ business, analysts say

telecom | 02/07/2013 9:58 am EST

Text messaging revenues may have fallen in the past few years though the services will continue to be key to wireless carriers’ business plans as free messaging apps become more popular on smartphone devices, analysts said in interviews. Since November, incumbent carriers Telus Corp., BCE Inc. and Rogers...

Canadian mobile traffic to rise nine-fold by end of 2017, Cisco says

telecom | 02/05/2013 11:07 pm EST

Canadian mobile data traffic will rise by 57 per cent per year for the next four years and reach 1.8 exabytes in 2017 as more phones and machines connect to faster, next-generation networks, Cisco Systems Inc. said in a new report released Tuesday. In Canadian highlights for an annual update of its Visual Networking Index...

Bell Aliant doubles wireline customers in 2012

telecom | 02/05/2013 10:10 pm EST

BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Aliant Inc. added 20,200 new fibre Internet and 17,400 IPTV customers in the fourth quarter of 2012, the company said. In a fourth quarter earnings statement released Tuesday, Bell Aliant, which is 40 per cent majority owned by BCE, said the number of customers using its FibreOp service “more than doubled” during the year. The company said for the fiscal year ended in December 2012, FibreOP Internet customers reached 112,200. Net high-speed Internet customer additions were 4,800 in the quarter, up from 3,400 in the same period of 2011, Bell Aliant said....

Cogeco upgrades Internet packages

telecom | 02/04/2013 8:50 pm EST

Cogeco Cable Inc. launched new Internet speeds for six services in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, the company said Monday. The company increased the upload and download speeds and monthly data caps for its Express 5,...

CRTC rejects Iristel, Ice complaint against NWTel

telecom | 02/01/2013 9:04 pm EST

The CRTC denied an Iristel Inc. and Ice Wireless Inc. request that it order Northwestel Inc. to stop launching new telecom services—and to stop reducing the rates of its existing services—until after a “holistic” review of Northwestel’s regulatory framework, the commission said. In a complaint filed with the commission in...

CRTC rejects Primus complaint on CDN deregulation

telecom | 02/01/2013 8:37 pm EST

The pending deregulation of a series of network transport services will move ahead as scheduled, the CRTC said Friday as it rejected a complaint by Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. The “competitor digital network” services—which allow smaller, third-party Internet service providers (ISPs) to pay for access and expand their...

Tories to phase out CRTC national commissioners, sources say

Media | 02/01/2013 2:55 pm EST

The Conservative federal government will allow the CRTC’s decision-making panel to shrink in size and has told some sitting commissioners that their expiring terms will not be renewed, industry...

Rogers not required to match retail speeds on interconnection points

telecom | 01/31/2013 10:24 pm EST

The CRTC said it will not require Rogers Communications Inc. to upgrade its older, winding down interconnection points for faster Internet speeds, and will allow the company to charge more for faster...

Bell Aliant sells $200M in shares

telecom | 01/31/2013 9:18 am EST

Bell Aliant Inc. will sell $200 million in preferred shares to a syndicate of banks to help repay short-term debt and for other purposes, the company said Wednesday. In a release, Bell Aliant said its subsidiary Bell Aliant Preferred Equity Inc. agreed to sell eight million shares of the company for $25 per share. The banks, which include Scotiabank,...

New entrants would be ‘perfectly rational’ to sell, Aitken says

telecom | 01/31/2013 9:12 am EST

OTTAWA—New entrant wireless carriers choosing to sell their companies to larger players would reflect a “perfectly rational assessment” of the Canadian telecom market, former competition commissioner Melanie Aitken said. Aitken—who left the Competition Bureau in September and who is now co-head of...

Cogeco acquires Peer 1 shares

telecom | 01/30/2013 10:54 pm EST

Cogeco Cable Inc. acquired 96.57 per cent of the outstanding shares of Peer 1 Network Enterprises Inc. and is working to acquire the remaining shares as part of its plan to purchase the network infrastructure company, Cogeco said in a release Wednesday. Cogeco said it received 124,112,692 shares in Peer 1 and will pay $3.85 per share, or about $477.8...

‘RIM’ becomes ‘BlackBerry’ as new Z10 devices launched

telecom | 01/30/2013 8:43 pm EST

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) changed its name to BlackBerry and launched its new BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system Wednesday. “As we launch BlackBerry 10 around the world, now is the right time to adopt the iconic BlackBerry name,” Thorsten Heins, president and CEO of the company, said in a statement. In a release, the Waterloo-based company said its name change was effective “immediately.”  On Wednesday, BlackBerry launched its new Z10 and Q10 smartphones. The keyboardless Z10 will be available on Feb. 5 from carriers BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc.,...

CWTA to update stolen phone program

telecom | 01/29/2013 9:01 pm EST

The CRTC asked the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) for an update by Nov. 1, 2013 on its efforts to combat cellphone theft. In a Jan. 14 letter to CWTA president and CEO Bernard Lord, the CRTC’s chief...

CRTC issues draft code for wireless carriers

telecom | 01/29/2013 8:36 pm EST

A CRTC code of conduct for wireless carriers would not prevent consumers from seeking additional benefits or protections under provincial laws governing carriers’ relationships with subscribers. In an amended notice of...

OpenMedia campaigning against Shaw-Rogers deal

telecom | 01/29/2013 8:27 pm EST

Online advocacy group OpenMedia.ca launched a campaign encouraging Canadians to oppose a $700-million deal for Rogers Communications Inc. to acquire AWS mobile spectrum from cableco Shaw Communications Inc. In a release Monday,...

Rogers says M2M connections to reach 1M this year

telecom | 01/29/2013 6:57 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. said it will provide one million “machine-to-machine” Internet connections and launch a new cloud data analytics product by the end of 2013. In a release Monday, Rogers said it will expand...

Texting continues to rise, CWTA says

telecom | 01/29/2013 1:31 pm EST

Canadians sent more than 24.3 billion text messages in third quarter of 2012, including 174.4 million multimedia messages, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) said Monday. Statistics posted on the CWTA website txt.ca said Canadians sent about 274 million text messages per day by the end of September 2012, up from about 240 million per day a year earlier. It said Canadians sent more than 8.2 billion “person-to-person text messages” in the month of September 2012. The CWTA said Canadians sent an average of 1.9 million multimedia messages daily during the third quarter of 2012, and 610 million text messages using common short code in the three-month period. In September, the CWTA said Canadians sent 23 billion text messages during the first quarter of...

RIM app store to sell music, videos

telecom | 01/28/2013 10:51 pm EST

Research In Motion Ltd.’s updated mobile application store will allow BlackBerry users to rent and download popular songs, movies and TV shows, the company said. In a release Monday, RIM said phones running on its new...

Telus launches LTE in Thunder Bay

telecom | 01/28/2013 10:02 pm EST

Telus Corp. launched its fourth-generation LTE network service in Thunder Bay, Ont., the company said Friday. In a release, Telus said its LTE network covers about 70 per cent of Canada’s population after its Thunder Bay launch. It added that it will roll the service out in additional communities “in the coming months,” and said it...

Bell offers unlimted Internet ‘add-on’ for triple-bundle subs

telecom | 01/28/2013 10:01 pm EST

BCE Inc. will offer a $10 “unlimited” Internet "add-on" option for customers that subscribe to the company’s Internet and television services as well as at least one of its telephone services, the company said Monday. In a release, Bell said it will allow its “triple bundle”...

Telus to move ahead with share conversion

telecom | 01/25/2013 7:57 pm EST

Telus Corp. will move ahead with a court-approved exchange of its non-voting shares for common shares, the company said Friday. In a release, Telus said its shareholders could exchange non-voting shares for common shares on a one-for-one basis, beginning Feb. 4. It said that about 151 million outstanding non-voting shares would be delisted from the New...

Bell, Allstream spar over wholesale Internet services with deregulation coming

telecom | 01/25/2013 7:47 pm EST

BCE Inc.’s efforts to prohibit its wholesale Internet access and transport customers from reselling those services on a wholesale basis will put competing businesses at an undue disadvantage and will lead to a “re-monopolization” of the wholesale market, MTS Allstream Inc. says. The transport links,...

CRTC orders text message 911 services

telecom | 01/25/2013 3:31 pm EST

The CRTC is directing wireless carriers and incumbent telcos to allow their hearing- or speech-impaired subscribers to contact 911 call centres through text messaging, the commission said. In a decision released Thursday, the...

Lenevo looking at opportunities with RIM

telecom | 01/25/2013 5:26 am EST

Lenovo Group Ltd. could be looking to acquire Research In Motion Ltd. as it considers acquisition targets and strategic alliances to bolster its mobile-device business, Bloomberg reported Thursday. “We are looking at all...

Rogers would use Shaw spectrum to quickly expand LTE services, Rogers, experts say

telecom | 01/24/2013 10:08 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. could quickly expand the capacity of its fourth-generation LTE network in lucrative Western Canadian markets to offer faster data speeds for a larger number of subscribers...

Clarity needed in Internet advertising, PIAC report says

telecom | 01/24/2013 6:37 pm EST

Canadian Internet service providers (ISPs) should better inform consumers about factors that affect the performance of their Internet connections and how actual speeds compare to advertised rates, a new report by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) says. In a report released Wednesday titled “Transparency in Broadband Advertising to Canadian Consumers,” PIAC said consumers have high expectations for Internet services that promise download and upload capabilities reaching “up to” a particular speed, but receive little information to gauge whether those advertised speeds are accurate. “While there are a number of technical factors that can affect a consumer’s home Internet performance, very little information is provided to consumers by Canadian...