Require CBC to restore analog broadcasting: expert

telecom | 11/26/2012 10:33 pm EST

CBC/Radio-Canada should be required to restore analog, over-the-air TV services in regions of more than 100,000 residents, Michael Vormittag, information technology specialist at TD Securities, said Monday. In a presentation...

EU seeking removal of investment restrictions: documents

Media | 11/26/2012 9:59 pm EST

The European Union’s demands in trade negotiations with Canada continue to include the elimination of foreign ownership restrictions for Canada’s telecommunications and book publishing sectors as well as removing reviews under the Investment Canada Act for transactions involving European companies, according to...

Industry Canada releases comments on 2500 MHz

telecom | 11/23/2012 9:00 pm EST

Industry Canada published comments from wireless carriers and other telecommunications companies on the department's proposed auction framework for the auction of 2500 MHz spectrum expected to take place in 2014. The comments, released on the department's website Thursday, are about the rules for the 2500 MHz auction. Those rules are largely...

TTC approves underground wireless contact

telecom | 11/23/2012 8:29 pm EST

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) awarded Broadcast Australia Pty. Ltd. a $25-million contract to build out wireless infrastructure in Toronto’s underground subway system. The TTC initially said it would vote on the...

Data-centric plans pay over long-term, BMO says

telecom | 11/22/2012 10:11 pm EST

New “data-oriented” wireless plans offered by BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. could lead to lower revenues in the near term and higher earnings over the long term, BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Casey said in a research note. In the note released Monday, Casey said the new mobile plans—which offer unlimited voice minutes and text messages as well as shared, metered data plans that can be shared across users’ separate devices—will have a “potentially negative” impact on the companies' wireless revenues as “price-optimizers” consolidate previously separate data plans. Subscribers who incur regular “voice overage” charges will also save money on their monthly bills, he added. Casey said the plans...

Rogers to conduct in-home bandwidth testing

telecom | 11/22/2012 10:01 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. is partnering with U.K. technology firm SamKnows Ltd. to measure the performance of its broadband connections from inside subscribers’ homes. In a release Wednesday, Rogers said it will place a...

Bell to carry V stations

telecom | 11/22/2012 9:58 pm EST

BCE Inc. said it will carry V Interactions Inc.’s over-the-air stations available on its mobile, online, and wireline TV services. In a release Thursday, Bell said it will make V’s French-language, over-the-air stations available through its Bell Mobile TV, Bell Fibe TV On Demand and...

Hurricane Sandy shows cost of storms, resistance of underground fibre

telecom | 11/22/2012 9:36 pm EST

Three weeks after Hurricane Sandy ripped through the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Verizon Communications Inc. and other U.S. telecom providers continue to spend millions of dollars to...

Globalive approves share conversion, ownership change

telecom | 11/22/2012 8:07 pm EST

Globalive Wireless Management Corp., operating in Canada as Wind Mobile, filed foreign ownership applications with the federal government in light of shareholder approval last week for a share conversion in the company, said Simon...

CRTC updates wholesale Internet framework

telecom | 11/21/2012 10:46 pm EST

The CRTC released new rates for service charges related to wholesale Internet access services and said it will allow cablecos Rogers Communications Inc. and Quebecor Media Inc. to offer higher-capacity wholesale connections. In a...

Rogers offering fibre to the home in Toronto, Atlantic Canada

telecom | 11/21/2012 10:35 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc., Canada’s largest cable provider, turned on fibre-to-the-home networks in parts of Toronto and the Atlantic provinces, the company said. “Rogers is implementing a first market roll out of fibre to the home in select regions in Toronto and the Atlantic,” Rogers spokeswoman Carly...

Leave fibre to the home free from wholesale access regs, Bell says

telecom | 11/21/2012 9:35 pm EST

The CRTC should not mandate wholesale Internet access to next-generation fibre-to-the-home networks, said Mirko Bibic, chief legal and regulatory officer at BCE Inc. “The problem with mandated...

Wind hits 510,484 subscribers

telecom | 11/21/2012 6:41 pm EST

Globalive Wireless Management Corp.'s total mobile subscribers rose to 510,484 by the end of the third quarter of 2012, Orascom Telecom Holdings S.A.E. said in an earnings statement last week. For the third quarter ended...

Rogers says wholesale rate hike justified, based on new technology

telecom | 11/20/2012 4:59 pm EST

A Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) complaint about Rogers Communications Inc.’s proposed new wholesale Internet rates is “without merit” and should be denied “entirely,” Rogers said. This month, CNOC, a group of small Internet service providers (ISPs), complained to the CRTC that new tariffs Rogers proposed for its wholesale Internet access services broke commission rules that specify when incumbent cablecos can increase their rates for small providers that lease wholesale access to the incumbents’ networks. The complaint said Rogers proposed to increase its Internet service speeds for wholesale and retail Internet customers, and that the...

Hearings not the place to mingle with commissioners, Blais says

Media | 11/20/2012 2:32 pm EST

Company officials and other broadcasting and telecom industry stakeholders should not socialize with CRTC commissioners at regulatory hearings, CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais said. “We’ve...

Brazil’s Virtual Health Pet leading in mobile health

telecom | 11/15/2012 10:28 pm EST

Mobile devices are transforming the health sector into a more “patient-centric” model by allowing medical staff to monitor patient health from afar and users to monitor their own health, Sara Diamond, president and vice-chancellor of the Ontario College of Arts and Design (OCAD) University, said Wednesday....

Regulatory decisions should not be ‘crowd-sourced,’ Sasseville says

Media | 11/15/2012 10:08 pm EST

Canadian telecom and media regulatory decisions should not be “crowd-sourced,” said Serge Sasseville, Quebecor’s senior vice-president of corporate and institutional affairs at Quebecor Media Inc. “For some, enlightenment can only come from the people. They advocate a crowd-sourced model of...

CRTC local loop decision good for competition, small ISPs: MTS

telecom | 11/15/2012 9:21 pm EST

The CRTC lowered the rates BCE Inc. can charge small competing telcos for use of its “local loop” lines that connect to consumers' homes. In decision 2012-628 issued Thursday, the...

U.S. tech companies launch site for patent reform

Media | 11/15/2012 7:30 pm EST

Major United States technology companies launched a new website Wednesday to promote patent reform. The website, called Patent Progress, was created by the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), whose members include Microsoft Corp., Google Inc., Yahoo! Inc., Pandora Media Inc., and others. The site will provide information and commentary about patent litigation, patent “trolls and privateers,” the failure of the patent system to promote innovation, and how to reform the system, the website says. “While the patent system may work relatively...

Samsung, Nokia, Apple dominate Q3 sales

telecom | 11/14/2012 10:16 pm EST

Samsung Electronics Co. led worldwide mobile phone sales in the third quarter of 2012, U.K.-based research firm Gartner Inc. said Wednesday. Gartner said in a release that Samsung sold nearly 98 million mobile device units in the third quarter, up from 82.6 million in the same period of 2011. Of total mobile device sales in the quarter, 55 million...

RIM releases free BBM international calling

telecom | 11/14/2012 10:02 pm EST

BlackBerry users around the world can talk to each other for free over an updated BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) app that includes a new voice service, Research In Motion Ltd. said. In a release Wednesday, RIM said the new version of...

Distributel to launch IPTV to compete with incumbents

telecom | 11/14/2012 9:40 pm EST

Distributel Communications Inc., the country’s largest independent Internet service provider (ISP), plans to roll out Internet protocol TV (IPTV) services to compete with the incumbents, Mel Cohen, the company’s president and founder, said in an interview. Cohen said the new service will position Distributel to offer bundled services and...

Videotron grows revenues; Sun Media laying off 500

Media | 11/13/2012 10:34 pm EST

Quebecor Media Inc. reported lower profits despite a rise in third-quarter revenues and subscriber numbers for its telecommunications services, the company said. In a quarterly earnings report released Tuesday, Quebecor said profits for the quarter totalled $18.6 million in the three-month period ended Sept. 30, down $7.5 million from the same period a...

McDonald to retire from Industry Canada

telecom | 11/13/2012 9:58 pm EST

Helen McDonald, Industry Canada's senior assistant deputy minister for spectrum management, will retire from the public service effective Nov. 22, according to an internal email. “It goes without saying that she will be missed, yet we also want to wish her well in her next steps,” John Knubley, deputy minister of the Industry...

CRTC decision on free phone service challenged

telecom | 11/12/2012 9:56 pm EST

GATPE Services filed an application to overturn a CRTC decision that allowed Dellvoice.ca and the Fibernetics Group of Companies to offer free telephone connections in Montreal. In a complaint filed with the commission in March,...

CRTC expedites Primus complaint against incumbents

telecom | 11/12/2012 9:47 pm EST

The CRTC is expediting a complaint from Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. that said Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. are delaying proposed rates for network transport services facing deregulation. The complaint, filed with the...

Small ISPs file complaint over Rogers pricing for faster wholesale Internet

telecom | 11/12/2012 9:40 pm EST

The CRTC is expediting a complaint from the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) that said Rogers Communications Inc. broke commission rules by raising the price for faster wholesale Internet...

Apple settles all patent disputes with HTC

telecom | 11/12/2012 9:05 pm EST

Apple Inc. settled all patent disputes with Taiwan-based HTC Corp., the companies said Saturday. In a release, HTC and Apple said they reached a “global settlement” covering the “dismissal of all current lawsuits and a ten-year license agreement.” In an op-ed Sunday published on technology news service TechCrunch, Ansel Halliburton, a lawyer with U.S. firm ComputerLaw Group, said he believes the 10-year deal means HTC and Apple reached a patent licensing agreement, with Apple holding the upper hand. “That almost certainly means this deal was not a pure...

Canadian ‘social TV’ viewers rising: SRG

telecom | 11/12/2012 8:36 pm EST

Twenty seven per cent of online Canadians were “social TV viewers” in the second quarter a 2012, Solutions Research Group (SRG) said. SRG said in a release Sunday the number of TV viewers who posted a Facebook comment about a television show while watching it rose to 31 per cent in the second quarter, up from 25 per cent in the same...

BB10’s world debut coming Jan. 30, RIM says

telecom | 11/12/2012 7:21 pm EST

Research in Motion Ltd. will launch its new BlackBerry 10 operating system and two new devices on Jan. 30, 2013, the company said. RIM said in a release Monday it will launch the new devices and operating system at the same time in “multiple countries around the world.” It said details about the new smartphones and their availability will...

Ottawa’s new, consumer friendly CRTC: How we got here

Media | 11/09/2012 9:50 pm EST

It was a rare, even unprecedented event. On a chilly day in Ottawa in February last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Twitter page posted a message about the CRTC. The PM was “very concerned” about the regulator's controversial decision on wholesale usage-based billing, the message said. He had asked...

Wavefront gets funding for market entry missions

Media | 11/09/2012 8:13 pm EST

Commercialization centre Wavefront received funding for a second year through the Government of Canada’s Global Opportunities for Associations program, the company said Thursday. In a release, Wavefront said that through a partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, it designed foreign market entry programs to help...

Smartphone adoption boosts Telus’ revenues, profits

Media | 11/09/2012 7:57 pm EST

Telus Corp. reported rising revenues and profits powered by higher wireless data revenue and consumer appetite for smartphones, the company said in a third-quarter financial statement Friday. Telus said third-quarter revenues rose 5.8 per cent to $2.78 billion in 2012, up from $2.62 billion in the same period a year earlier. The company’s third-quarter profits rose 7.7 per cent to $351 million from $326 million in the same period of 2011. “TELUS' growth was primarily generated by a seven per cent increase in wireless revenue and a 12 per cent increase in wireless EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization], resulting from a 23 per cent increase in data revenue due to continued smartphone adoption,” the company said for the three-month...

CRTC looking at withholding small telco subsidies

telecom | 11/09/2012 7:13 pm EST

The CRTC opened a call for comments on whether it should withhold subsidy payments for small incumbent telecom companies that ignored an order to prepare for the arrival of local competition. In a notice of consultation posted on...

Iristel, Ice Wireless, closer to launching new services

telecom | 11/09/2012 6:33 pm EST

Iristel Inc. and Ice Wireless concluded a trial this week for a new satellite-based telephone and Internet network in Canada's North, the companies said Friday. The companies said in a release that they demonstrated the network Oct. 31 in Iqaluit, Nunavut, at a meeting with the Department of National Defence to discuss...

MTS profits rise, reports larger customer base

telecom | 11/08/2012 10:15 pm EST

MTS Allstream Inc.’s profits reached $40.8 million in the third quarter of 2012, the company said Thursday. In a release, MTS said profits for the three-month period ended Sept. 30, 2012, was up from $37 million in the same...

RIM first in 2011 Canadian R&D spending

telecom | 11/08/2012 10:11 pm EST

Research in Motion Ltd. ranked No. 1 among Canadian companies' spending on research and development in 2011, according to an analysis by firm Research Infosource. The list, released in October, said RIM spent $1.54 billion on...

Microsoft says competitors’ tablets not as compelling as Surface

Media | 11/08/2012 8:52 pm EST

OTTAWA—Microsoft Corp. is not concerned about entering the tablet market now to compete with rival company Apple Inc., said Mario Coculuzzi, director of sales for Microsoft Canada’s Eastern region. At a device demonstration event in Ottawa Thursday, Coculuzzi said in an interview that competitors do not have as...

Canadian carriers to join international database to track stolen phones

telecom | 11/08/2012 5:43 pm EST

OTTAWA—Canadian wireless carriers will join an international database to help identify stolen or lost wireless devices before they are activated on their networks, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) said. CWTA president and CEO Bernard Lord said at a news conference Thursday that all Canadian...

MTS and SaskTel reach roaming agreement

telecom | 11/07/2012 10:07 pm EST

MTS Allstream Inc. reached a roaming agreement with SaskTel that “immediately” improves its HSPA+ wireless coverage in Saskatchewan, the company said Wednesday. In a release, MTS said its customers now have access to...

Online streaming doubles bandwidth consumption: Sandvine

Media | 11/07/2012 10:01 pm EST

The increasing popularity of “real-time entertainment” caused average North American monthly Internet use to double over the past year, Sandvine Inc. said in a report released Wednesday. Sandvine said its "Global Internet Phenomena Report" for the second half of 2012 found that the average amount of...

Lift foreign ownership and control rules for broadcasting, Katz says

Media | 11/07/2012 9:47 pm EST

Leonard Katz, the CRTC's former vice-chair of telecom, says the federal government should step back from legislating Canadian control of the country's telecom and broadcasting systems. Katz, 61, whose last day with the commission was Oct. 12 following a five-year term as the vice-chair, said in a phone interview with The Wire Report that it's no longer necessary to be concerned about Canadian ownership and control requirements of broadcasting and telecom systems. In broadcasting,...

CRTC trial project monitored end-user bandwidth

telecom | 11/07/2012 2:26 pm EST

A CRTC pilot project that placed measurement devices in end users' homes to determine their available bandwidth speeds could help Internet service providers (ISPs) more quickly resolve network problems, CRTC manager of network technology Stephan Meyer said Tuesday. In a speech at the Canadian ISP Summit in Toronto, Meyer said the commission placed...

Small ISPs urged to get organized, apply pressure for better rates

Media | 11/07/2012 2:23 pm EST

TORONTO—Independent Internet service providers (ISPs) should work together to pressure the CRTC to lower wholesale Internet access costs and ensure they can offer IP-based broadcast distribution services, broadcasting and telecom consultant George Burger said. In a speech Monday at a conference called the Canadian...

MTS rolls out fibre-to-the-home service

Media | 11/06/2012 8:45 pm EST

MTS Allstream Inc. launched its MTS Fion fibre-to-the-home network in Neepawa, Man., the company said Monday. MTS said in a release the new fibre optic network will bring high-speed Internet and MTS' IPTV service, Ultimate...

CRTC wholesale Internet review to evaluate cost pricing model: Blais

telecom | 11/06/2012 12:25 pm EST

An upcoming review of how the CRTC determines wholesale Internet pricing will consider whether measuring incumbent telcos' costs is always the best way to determine wholesale pricing, CRTC Chair...

ONTC workers pushing to transfer Ontera to port authority

telecom | 11/05/2012 7:56 pm EST

A group representing employees at the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) is pushing to keep provincial Crown telecom provider Ontera under public administration. In March, the Ontario government announced a process to sell the individual business lines of the ONTC, a provincial government Crown corporation. The assets include northern telecom subsidiary Ontera, which has about 30,000 home phone and Internet customers and provides data services to business customers. The provincial government had asked companies and individuals interested in buying Ontera to submit qualifications by Oct. 22 to demonstrate “experience, expertise, financial strength and capacity to operate Ontera.” The government will next ask qualified candidates to submit bids for the telco and...

Rogers upgrades Internet service speeds

telecom | 11/05/2012 6:30 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. is upgrading service speeds for its retail Internet packages, the company said. The company said in a release Monday that it is doubling the speed for its “Ultimate” package from up to 75 Mbps to up to 150 Mbps, which will include a monthly data cap of 250 GB. Rogers said customers who have not yet received the...

Cogeco cable subs, profits, decline

Media | 11/02/2012 8:18 pm EDT

Cogeco Cable Inc.'s revenues rose 7.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012 to $356.7 million as profits declined year-over-year, the company said in a quarterly and year-end financial statement Friday. The company said...

Smart wearable devices to become a consumer market by 2014, experts say

telecom | 11/02/2012 7:18 pm EDT

Expanding wireless network capacity and other new technologies are enabling growth for the “smart wearable devices” market, such as glasses, watches and healthcare monitoring tools,...

Android surges with 75% of Q3 smartphone shipments

telecom | 11/02/2012 3:31 pm EDT

Three out of four smartphones shipped in the third quarter of 2012 were running on Google Inc.'s Android mobile operating system, the International Data Corporation (IDC) said. In a release Thursday, IDC said global Android smartphone shipments reached 136 million units in the quarter, accounting for 75 per cent of the 181.1 million devices shipped...

Increase in backhaul supply expected to lower telco costs

telecom | 11/01/2012 9:10 pm EDT

Industry Canada's plan to make more spectrum available for backhaul services is expected to lower wireless carriers’ costs related to expanding their networks' footprints and capacities, industry insiders and experts said. Industry Minister Christian Paradis said at a conference in Ottawa Tuesday that the...

CRTC to issue draft wireless code for carriers

telecom | 11/01/2012 8:42 pm EDT

CRTC staff will develop a draft code in advance of a week-long hearing to establish a national code of conduct for wireless carriers, the commission said. In a notice posted on its website Thursday, the commission said staff will...

Denison joins BCE board

Media | 11/01/2012 8:33 pm EDT

BCE Inc. appointed David Denison to its board of directors, the company said Thursday. Denison, a chartered accountant with a degree in mathematics and education from the University of Toronto, previously served as the president and CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and president of...

Bell Aliant applies for exemption in local N.L. markets

telecom | 11/01/2012 8:30 pm EDT

BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Aliant Inc. applied to the CRTC for exemptions from local wireline regulation in the local markets of Bishop’s Falls, Botwood, Gander and Grand Falls, N.L. In an...

Inmarsat providing Canadian Navy with data, voice services

telecom | 11/01/2012 8:21 pm EDT

London-based Inmarsat plc said it will provide email, Internet, data and voice communications to 29 Canadian naval vessels through an agreement with Shared Services Canada. Inmarsat, a global mobile satellite communications provider with a fleet of 10 satellites, said in a release Thursday that Canadian Navy vessels will have access to the communications services, called FleetBroadband, while at sea. The new service became operational in October. “Since Inmarsat introduced FleetBroadband in 2007, it has been deployed on more than 30,000 commercial and government vessels worldwide,” the release said. The company said government customers have “priority access” to Inmarsat’s satellite network resources. The service is guaranteed for pre-defined geographic...

BCE reports highest quarterly rise in IPTV subs

Media | 11/01/2012 4:29 pm EDT

BCE Inc.'s fibre IPTV customer additions grew the highest ever for a three month period during the third quarter of 2012 with 42,973 net subscriber additions, the company said. Bell said its fibre-based Fibe TV customer...

C-12 up for debate at second reading

Media | 10/31/2012 8:41 pm EDT

The House of Commons could debate the Conservative government’s bill to amend the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) as early as this week. Bill C-12, formally called the Safeguarding Canadians' Personal Information Act, was scheduled to come up for debate Wednesday, according to the House of Commons...

North’s Internet service gaps could be solved in ’12 months’: Telesat

Media | 10/31/2012 7:35 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Internet service gaps in Canada’s North could be solved within 12 months if the CRTC and all levels of government came together on a funding strategy, Daniel Goldberg, president and CEO of satellite provider Telesat Canada, said Tuesday. “We have the capacity to solve this...

TV white space open for unlicensed use: Paradis

telecom | 10/30/2012 9:31 pm EDT

Industry Canada will allow unlicensed use of the TV “white space” spectrum that formerly served as buffer zones between over-the-air television signals in the 700 MHz band, Industry Minister Christian Paradis said Tuesday. In a speech at the International Institute of Communications conference in Ottawa, Paradis said the decision will...

Bell Aliant passes 100,000 IPTV subs

telecom | 10/30/2012 9:13 pm EDT

Bell Aliant Inc.’s Internet protocol TV (IPTV) service has more than 100,000 subscribers after adding 12,300 net customers in 2012’s third quarter, the company said in a financial statement Tuesday. The BCE Inc. subsidiary said in a release it had 107,400 IPTV subscribers at the end of September 2012, 74 per cent of which subscribed to the company’s FibreOP fibre-to-the-home TV service. The company said it added 14,200 FibreOP TV customers in the quarter as some using its older fibre-to-the-node TV service migrated to the newer service. The company said revenues from its IPTV services reached $21.4 million in the three-month period that ended Sept. 30. This was an increase of $9.9 million over the same period a year earlier, the release said. It added that quarterly...

VimpelCom looking to sell African business units: report

telecom | 10/30/2012 9:07 pm EDT

VimpelCom Ltd. is expected to sell its sub-Saharan African business units and Zimbabwe Telecom, which may signal an “eventual” exit from Canada for Wind Mobile, Scotia Capital said in a research note Monday. The Financial Times reported Monday that VimpelCom is preparing for a sale of three business units in...

Lawson Hunter joins C.D. Howe

Media | 10/30/2012 8:34 pm EDT

The C.D. Howe Institute announced the appointment of Lawson Hunter to the position of senior fellow specializing in regulatory and competition policy. In a release Tuesday, C.D. Howe said Hunter has been a long-time associate of the institute and served as counsel in the competition and foreign investment group at Stikeman Elliott LLP. The institute...

Telus not obligated to serve uninhabited communities

telecom | 10/30/2012 8:30 pm EDT

The CRTC approved Telus Corp.'s request to replace three uninhabited British Columbia communities on the list of areas the company must provide broadband services to using regulated deferral account funds. In a decision Tuesday, the commission said it granted Telus’ request to remove Beaver Valley, Mowachaht and Compton Island No. 6 from the...

Huawei says it has ‘significant work’ ahead to build trust in Canada

telecom | 10/30/2012 8:13 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Huawei Technologies Co. had a “tough month” in Canada and has significant work to do build trust in the country, Sean Yang, president of Huawei Canada, said in a speech to telecom industry officials. “It's been a tough month for us here in Canada. The report from the U.S. Congress has not...

Glentel reports rising sales

telecom | 10/29/2012 8:31 pm EDT

Sales for Burnaby, B.C., telecommunications provider Glentel Inc. grew by 17 per cent in the third quarter to reach $174.8 million, the company said Thursday. The company said its sales total for the period ending Sept. 30, 2012, rose from $149.7 million for the same period in 2011. The growth came from the launch of Samsung Electronics Co.’s...

CRTC will not ‘hesitate to intervene’ if market failure or consumers need protection: Blais

Media | 10/29/2012 8:29 pm EDT

The CRTC will not hesitate to intervene with regulatory changes in cases where there is market failure or a need for consumer protection, commission Chair Jean-Pierre Blais said Monday. “We have confidence in the business sector. For the most part, we will get out of your way,” Blais...

Bell ordered to provide rural rollout updates

telecom | 10/29/2012 6:01 pm EDT

The CRTC said it is concerned BCE Inc. may not meet its 2014 deadline to roll out rural broadband services using commissioned-approved deferral accounts. In a letter to the company dated Oct. 26, the CRTC ordered BCE to provide...

Small ISPs happy with new cost disclosure rules for large telcos

telecom | 10/26/2012 8:26 pm EDT

Canada’s telephone and cable companies will have to make more information about their costs publicly available when they propose rates for the wholesale network services they sell to small phone...

Bell, TV workers settle on new collective agreement

Media | 10/26/2012 7:48 pm EDT

Workers with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) voted Thursday to accept a collective agreement with BCE Inc., the union said in a release Friday. Voting took place by 112 members of CEP Local 79M, who were locked out since July 11 and in negotiations with Bell's satellite and fibre television distribution division since April 2011, the release said. The unionised technicians are responsible for the transmission of broadcast signals and the company's video on demand service, the release said. The CEP is now working to create a new, merged union with the Canadian...

Samsung, Apple, RIM lead global smartphone shipments in Q3

telecom | 10/26/2012 7:37 pm EDT

Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. led smartphone shipments during the third quarter of 2012 as RIM Ltd. moved up to rank third and Nokia Co. dropped off the list of top five smartphone...

Microsoft launches Windows 8 Surface as Apple unveils mini tab

Media | 10/26/2012 2:14 pm EDT

Microsoft Corp. released its new Windows 8 operating system for computers and mobile devices. Microsoft said in a release Thursday that, as of midnight Friday, Windows 8 will be available for...

Rogers registers highest customer complaints, CCTS says

telecom | 10/25/2012 9:13 pm EDT

Consumer complaints about Rogers Communications Inc. more than doubled during the past year, ranking the company as the country’s most complained about telecom provider, the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) said in an annual report. The CCTS said in the report released Thursday that...

Shaw, Rogers, focus on sustaining overall wireline customers

Media | 10/25/2012 8:39 pm EDT

Canada's largest two cable companies are trying to offset subscriber losses in their television segments by cutting costs and focusing on growing their Internet customers, the companies and...

Square launches in Canada

telecom | 10/24/2012 9:11 pm EDT

San Francisco-based company Square Inc., which enables credit card payments on smartphones and tablets, launched its service in Canada on Wednesday. In a release, Square said its free Mobile Card Reader plugs into the headphone jack of Apple Inc.’s iPad and iPhone, or Google Inc.-powered Android devices, enabling small business owners to process credit card transactions. The company said its application processes payments at the rate of 2.75 per cent per swipe. The application has more than two million users in the U.S. and processes more than $8 billion US in annualized payments, the release said, adding that Canada is Square’s first international market. “We’re thrilled to introduce Canadian businesses and their customers to the most seamless and enjoyable way to do business,” Alyssa Cutright, vice-president of international for Square, said in a statement. The company said its Square Register app is available for free in the Apple and Google app stores. Square said the app serves as a full...

New WiGig technology to revolutionize wireless in the home, tech experts say

telecom | 10/24/2012 9:06 pm EDT

Emerging WiGig technology will eliminate the need for wires to complete short-range, high-speed file transfers and change the way consumers move videos and other large files between devices,...

Fasken Martineau to merge with Bell Dewar

Media | 10/24/2012 8:14 pm EDT

Law firm Fasken Martineau reached a deal to merge with South African firm Bell Dewar, the company said Wednesday. In a statement issued by Fasken Martineau managing partner David Corbett, the firm said the merger “will create one of the largest law firms operating in Africa” and will give the company “the largest international...

U.K. completes digital transition

telecom | 10/24/2012 8:08 pm EDT

The UK completed its transition to digital over-the-air television Wednesday as Northern Ireland became the last part of the country to turn off its analog transmitters, UK regulator Ofcom said. In a release, Ofcom said Northern...

Internet governance should not move to UN, WITSA says

telecom | 10/24/2012 7:33 pm EDT

The World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) said it is “strongly opposed” to new Internet governance proposals to shift international Internet regulations to the UN's International Telecommunication Union (ITU) or another UN agency. WITSA, which this week hosted the World Congress on Information Technology in...

Rogers revenues rise on wireless; loses thousands more TV subs

Media | 10/24/2012 4:33 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. reported rising revenues driven by its wireless division as the company continued to bleed thousands of cable TV subscribers. For the third-quarter of 2012 ending Sept. 30, the company said net postpaid wireless subscriber additions were 76,000 during the quarter, 2,000 more than the 74,000...

Apple bounce back patent invalidated

telecom | 10/23/2012 8:18 pm EDT

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has invalided an Apple Inc. smartphone patent covering touchscreen "bounce backs" when users scroll beyond the edge of a page, Reuters reported Tuesday. The patent, one of six that...

TTC to vote on $25M subway network contract

telecom | 10/23/2012 7:01 pm EDT

The Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) board of directors will vote Wednesday on a $25-million deal for Broadcast Australia Pty. Ltd. to build a wireless network in Toronto’s subway. In a report posted on the TTC’s website this week, the commission said it selected Broadcast Australia to design and operate the proposed underground...

Global data traffic to grow fourfold by 2016: Cisco

telecom | 10/23/2012 5:55 pm EDT

Global data centre traffic will grow fourfold to reach a total of 6.6 zettabytes annually by 2016, Cisco Systems Inc. forecasted in a report released Tuesday. The report, called the Cisco Global Cloud index, said cloud traffic will be the fastest-growing segment of data centre traffic, growing by a factor of six by 2016. Cisco said in a release that...

Government programs encourage private sector research: Goodyear

Media | 10/23/2012 1:35 am EDT

Gary Goodyear, the minister of state for science and technology, encouraged Canada’s private sector to take better advantage of tools and incentives provided by the federal government that encourage growth in the information and communications technology sector. At the World Technology Information and Services Alliance (WITSA) World Congress on Information Technology in Montreal, Goodyear on Monday said the federal government is focused on increasing private sector spending on research. Goodyear said in an interview that partnerships between the government and private enterprises mean new technologies can be developed “much faster" as the world becomes smaller and more digital. “In order for Canada to succeed, we must engage this new world,” Goodyear said....

Wind not in consolidation talks: Lacavera

telecom | 10/23/2012 1:20 am EDT

Egyptian-based Orascom Telecom Holdings S.A.E., owned by Amsterdam-based VimpelComLtd., said it will hold a shareholders meeting in November to approve a plan to convert its non-voting shares into voting shares in holding company...

RIM to manage mobile wallet SIM card credentials

telecom | 10/22/2012 9:03 pm EDT

Research In Motion Ltd. will manage the “information credentials” embedded in cell phone SIM cards for mobile wallet features in Canada, RIM said Monday. In a release, RIM said it had reached an agreement with EnStream LP—a joint-venture of BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., and Telus Corp.—to manage the bank account and...

TbayTel to face tough competition from Bell in Thunder Bay, analyst says

telecom | 10/22/2012 7:22 pm EDT

TBayTel will face “serious” competition from BCE Inc. as the competing telco offers third- and fourth-generation mobile broadband services in Thunder Bay, Ont. for the first time, said...

SaskTel increases 2012 wireless capex

telecom | 10/19/2012 8:02 pm EDT

SaskTel increased its 2012 budget for wireless enhancements from $70 million to $100 million, the company said Thursday. In a release to promote the provincial Crown corporation’s wireless infrastructure plans, SaskTel said...

Telus shareholders approve share conversion

telecom | 10/18/2012 7:05 pm EDT

Telus Corp.’s shareholders approved the company’s proposal to convert its non-voting shares into voting shares on a one-for-one basis, Telus said. In a release, Telus said 81.1 per cent of the votes cast at a special shareholder meeting Wednesday favoured the conversion plan, including 62.9 per cent of votes cast by its common shareholders and 99.5 per cent by non-voting shareholders. The plan required the support of at least two-thirds of non-voting shareholders and more than half of voting shareholders to go ahead. Telus withdrew a similar proposal to convert its non-voting shares before a May shareholders meeting after Mason Capital Management LLC, an American hedge fund, increased its cache of Telus voting shares and vowed to block the conversion. The company reduced...

Q9 acquisition completed

telecom | 10/17/2012 8:17 pm EDT

BCE Inc., the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners and Madison Dearborn Partners LLC completed the acquisition of Canadian data centre operator Q9 Networks, the companies said Wednesday. The companies said in June that a $1.1-billion agreement to acquire Q9 had been...

Videotron reports one million bundled subscribers

telecom | 10/17/2012 7:56 pm EDT

More than one million Videotron customers subscribe to at least three of the company’s four services, parent company Quebecor Media Inc. said Wednesday. “Today, more than a million households subscribe to a bundle...

Microsoft Surface available for pre-order

telecom | 10/16/2012 9:24 pm EDT

Canadian consumers can pre-order Microsoft Corp.’s new Surface tablet, according to the company’s sales website. In a notice on the company’s website this week, Microsoft said people in Canada can pre-order 32...

Telus scraps activation fees, pressures Bell and Rogers to follow

telecom | 10/15/2012 9:16 pm EDT

Telus Corp.’s elimination of “activation” and “equipment exchange” fees for new and renewing customers will put pressure on its chief wireless rivals to follow suit,...

Harper announces support for TV5Monde

telecom | 10/15/2012 8:29 pm EDT

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced further support for francophone television network TV5Monde at the 14th Summit of la Francophonie in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Harper said Saturday that Canada’s support in 2013 will help TV5Monde expand its distribution network and implement its transition to digital,...

CRTC amends policy on ‘demarcation devices’

telecom | 10/15/2012 8:22 pm EDT

The CRTC amended a policy requiring incumbent telcos to install free, “jack-ended demarcation devices” outside the homes of customers with single-line inside wires after two BCE Inc. subsidiaries said the requirement would be too costly. The demarcation devices allow customers to identify the source of wireline...

Wind, Telus close to deal on Vancouver infrastructure access

telecom | 10/15/2012 8:02 pm EDT

Telus Corp. and Globalive Wireless Management Corp. said they are “working diligently” towards a deal to allow Globalive to build wireless infrastructure in underground tunnels in...

Japan’s Softbank to acquire Sprint

telecom | 10/15/2012 7:48 pm EDT

Softbank Corp., a Japanese mobile carrier, has reached a deal to purchase Sprint Nextel Corp. for $20.1 billion US with an ownership stake of 70 per cent, the companies said Monday. Softbank's main mobile competitors in the United States will be AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. “This is an audacious deal that could transform or...

B.C. court rejects challenge of Telus share conversion

telecom | 10/15/2012 7:46 pm EDT

The Supreme Court of British Columbia again rejected a Mason Capital LLC challenge of Telus Corp.'s proposal for a conversion of its shares. Telus said in a release that, on Monday, the court confirmed Telus' right to hold a shareholder vote on a company proposal to exchange non-voting shares for common shares on a one-for-one basis. In a decision in September, the B.C. Supreme Court blocked another legal effort by Mason Capital to stop Telus' share consolidation plan. In that decision, the court said Mason, a U.S.-based hedge fund and Telus shareholder, did not have the...