Facebook won’t make smartphones: Zuckerberg

telecom | 07/27/2012 7:09 pm EDT

Facebook Inc. has no plans to get into the smartphone manufacturing business because it “wouldn’t really make much sense,” Mark Zuckerberg, the company's chief executive, said during a quarterly earnings call...

Cordova joining Wind as COO

telecom | 07/27/2012 7:06 pm EDT

Pietro Cordova will replace Gianluca Corti as chief operating officer of Wind Mobile, the company said Friday. In a release, Wind, which operates in Canada under Globalive Wireless Management Corp., said Cordova will join the new entrant carrier from its Italian counterpart, Wind Telecomunicazioni...

Fido to offer LTE service

telecom | 07/26/2012 3:11 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. will make its fourth-generation LTE network available to subscribers of its discount Fido brand this summer, the company said Thursday. In a release, Fido said subscribers can access the LTE network in and around major Canadian markets starting this summer, including in...

Ten-digit dialing starts in Manitoba Sunday

telecom | 07/25/2012 8:25 pm EDT

New 10-digit dialing requirements will come into effect in Manitoba Sunday as the province adds a new area code next year. As of July 29, Manitoba residents who dial local phone numbers without first entering the provincial 204 area code will be interrupted by a pre-recorded announcement reminding them of the new 10-digit dialing requirement. Those...

Bell Aliant grows IPTV subs to 95,100

telecom | 07/25/2012 6:29 pm EDT

BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Aliant Inc. reported profits of $79 million for the second quarter of 2012, the company said Tuesday. In a release, Bell Aliant said profits fell by $4 million from $83 million during the same period a year earlier. Bell Aliant said its local service and long distance revenues in the quarter declined $17 million (5.4 per cent) and $11 million (11.6 per cent), respectively, compared to the same quarter a year earlier.  Bell Aliant's net high-speed Internet customer additions were 4,300 during the quarter, bringing its total high-speed Internet customers to...

Telus to invest $8.4 million in Atlantic Canada

telecom | 07/25/2012 5:59 pm EDT

Telus Corp. will invest $8.4 million over three years to support “advanced technology” in Atlantic Canada, including fourth-generation LTE wireless services in Halifax, the company said Wednesday. In a release, Telus...

Smartphone additions bolster Rogers’ Q2

telecom | 07/24/2012 9:11 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. added 87,000 new wireless subscribers on postpaid contracts but shed another 20,000 cable TV subscribers during the three-month period ending June 30, the company said in a quarterly financial statement Tuesday. The first of Canada’s three large incumbent telcos to report its second quarter results, Rogers said its...

Telus urges CRTC to dismiss foreign ownership hearing

telecom | 07/23/2012 8:48 pm EDT

A Globalive Wireless Management Corp. request that the CRTC review whether Telus Corp. exceeded the Telecom Act's foreign investment limits is “seriously flawed” and should be dismissed, Telus said in a document filed with the commission Monday. Globalive, owner of new entrant wireless carrier Wind Mobile, asked the CRTC last month to...

Small telcos delay decision, spread ‘propaganda’: Cogeco

telecom | 07/19/2012 7:26 pm EDT

Four small incumbent wireline telcos are spreading “misinformation and propaganda” while delaying the implementation of local competition in their rural Quebec territories, Cogeco Cable Inc. said in a complaint filed with the CRTC. In the application filed Tuesday, Cogeco said small incumbent providers CoopTel,...

Cogeco entering U.S. market with cable acquisition

telecom | 07/18/2012 7:43 pm EDT

Cogeco Cable Inc. has reached a deal to acquire American cable operator Atlantic Broadband Inc. for $1.36 billion US, the company said. Cogeco said in a release Wednesday that Atlantic Broadband ranks as the 14th largest cable operator in the United States with 252,000 basic video customers who receive analog or digital TV. The company also has...

March 2013 deadline to clear 700 MHz band: Industry Canada

telecom | 07/17/2012 8:08 pm EDT

Low-powered radio devices licensed to operate in the 700 MHz band must clear the frequency by March 31, 2013, Industry Canada said in a bulletin posted on its website Friday. Industry Canada said it...

RIM’s Playbook bites into iPad share: report

telecom | 07/17/2012 8:00 pm EDT

More affordable tablets like RIM Ltd.'s PlayBook took part of Apple Inc.’s Canadian market share in the first quarter of 2012, a new report by Toronto-based Solutions Research Group Consultants Inc. (SRG) said. According to SRG’s latest Digital Life Canada report, released Sunday, Apple’s share of the Canadian market dropped for...

Shaw restores services following electrical fire

telecom | 07/16/2012 8:18 pm EDT

Services were fully restored to Shaw Communications Inc.’s Calgary customers following an electrical fire at Shaw Court last week, the company said Saturday. In a release, Shaw said service was fully restored to customers...

Videotron to expand wireline into Bell territory

telecom | 07/13/2012 4:33 pm EDT

Videtron Ltd. has received CRTC permission to expand its local wireline operations into five eastern Quebec exchanges in which Bell Aliant Regional Communications Inc., owned by BCE Inc., serves as the incumbent. In a July 11 letter to Dennis Beland—senior director of telecom regulatory affairs for Videotron’s parent company, Quebecor Media Inc.—the CRTC gave Videotron permission to expand its competitive local carrier services into the Bergeronnes, Les Escoumins, Sacre-Cœur, Sault-Au-Mouton and Ste-Anne-De-Portneuf exchanges.  According to the letter, Videotron wrote to the commission July 3 to request permission to expand its operations to the five territories, which lie east of Quebec City along the St. Lawrence River. Bell Aliant is the...

CMF awards $8 million to 31 projects

telecom | 07/13/2012 4:32 pm EDT

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has awarded $8 million to support 31 aboriginal and “English Point of View” projects, the CMF said Thursday. In a release, the CMF said it awarded $4.7 million to 15 production companies in B.C., Nunavut, Quebec and Ontario through its Aboriginal Program, including $4.1 million to support television productions...

Telus could shed foreign shares if necessary: Canaccord

telecom | 07/11/2012 8:56 pm EDT

Efforts by Mason Capital Management LLC to “turn the heat up” in its dispute with Telus Corp. could come back to hurt it if Telus is forced to take action to relieve a glut of...

Rogers, Vimpelcom, join international M2M alliance

telecom | 07/11/2012 8:24 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. is joining with Wind Mobile’s parent company and other foreign wireless providers with the goal of developing “a single, global platform” for machine-to-machine technologies, Rogers...

NorthwesTel files modernization plan

telecom | 07/11/2012 8:19 pm EDT

NorthwesTel Inc. will seek to bring advanced wireless services and high speed Internet access to Canada’s most underserved northern communities through a “modernization plan” filed with the CRTC last week. The BCE Inc. subsidiary, which was ordered in December to modernize its aging and in some places outdated northern infrastructure,...

Telcos look to public WiFi services to boost brand, showcase technology

telecom | 07/11/2012 8:04 pm EDT

Telcos are increasingly competing for public WiFi contracts to showcase their network technology and boost their brands, an industry insider and analyst say. Last week, Tim Hortons Inc. said it is partnering with BCE Inc. to put WiFi in most of its 3,300 coffee shops across Canada. Bell says on its website it operates the largest WiFi network in Canada, with McDonald’s and Indigo and Chapters bookstores among the chains using Bell WiFi. Until recently, WiFi access at Starbucks shops in Canada were also managed by Bell. Asked why Bell no longer provides WiFi at Starbucks, Bell spokesman Jason Laszlo said in an emailed statement: “The value proposition wasn’t right for...

Telcos object to Industry Department’s ‘lawful intercept’ proposal for 700 MHz band

telecom | 07/09/2012 8:54 pm EDT

Canada’s wireless carriers and the national organization that represents them are raising objections to Industry Canada’s efforts to impose “lawful...

Globalive files more information on Telus’ foreign ownership

telecom | 07/09/2012 3:40 pm EDT

Globalive Wireless Management Corp. filed information from a Telus Corp. proxy vote disclosure to support the new entrant's application for a CRTC hearing on Telus' compliance with the foreign ownership rules.  “The Proxy Vote Disclosure indicates that approximately 42% of the TELUS voting shares that...

Sandvine posts Q2 losses, as forecasted

telecom | 07/06/2012 6:56 pm EDT

Leading Canadian network technology firm Sandvine Inc. reported lower revenues and a loss of $4.2 million US in the second quarter as the company announced a new $2 million US order from a leading American telecom provider. In a release, the Waterloo, Ont.-based company said revenues fell by about 8 per cent in the three-month period that ended on May...

Canadians pay more for higher advertised mobile Internet speeds: report

telecom | 07/05/2012 9:03 pm EDT

Mobile broadband services tend to be more costly in Canada than in other countries and advertise significantly higher average download speeds, a new report released by the CRTC said. “Canadian mobile Internet service rates tend to fall on the high-side of the middle of the group of surveyed countries,” Wall...

CRTC’s ‘obligation to serve’ decision stands: cabinet

telecom | 07/05/2012 9:01 pm EDT

The federal cabinet has thrown out a petition by two groups representing small telecos that sought to overturn a CRTC decision allowing competition in their service areas, Industry Minister Christian Paradis said Thursday. The petition to cabinet, filed in February by the Association des compagnies de...

RIM under pressure to cut carrier fees: Bloomberg

telecom | 07/04/2012 9:16 pm EDT

  BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. is facing calls from wireless providers to reduce the fees it charges to transmit mobile consumer data over the RIM network, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The “carrier fees,” which RIM charges monthly to mobile network operators whose customers use BlackBerry devices, account for about $4.09...

Heins defends RIM against pundits, market watchers

telecom | 07/04/2012 2:18 pm EDT

Thorsten Heins, CEO of Research In Motion Ltd., said Tuesday that the Waterloo, Ont., company is not nearing “the end.” “In recent weeks, it’s become fashionable for pundits and market watchers to...

Government consulting on temporary satellite licence

telecom | 07/03/2012 9:11 pm EDT

Industry Canada opened a consultation on a FreeHD Canada Inc. application to use an “interim satellite” to help launch its direct-to-home TV service, the department said in a notice posted on its website Saturday. In the notice, Industry Canada said it intends to approve the application, which proposes that FreeHD’s temporary...

Telus-Bell spectrum sharing unfair, leads to larger, superior 700 MHz blocks: Rogers

telecom | 07/03/2012 8:37 pm EDT

Telus Corp. and BCE Inc.'s spectrum sharing agreement will allow the companies to combine their 700 MHz spectrum licensed in next year's auction and build superior 20 MHz blocks supporting fourth-generation wireless technologies, leaving Rogers Communications Inc. and other carriers at a competitive disadvantage, Rogers said in comments filed with the department. Industry Canada's proposed rules for the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction leave Rogers vulnerable to “predatory...

C-11 receives royal assent

Media | 07/03/2012 8:25 pm EDT

Federal legislation to update Canada’s copyright regime received royal assent Friday after passing through the Senate unchanged. Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, passed third reading in the Senate after the committee studying the bill reported it back to the upper chamber without...

YouTube success measured by ‘watch time’

telecom | 06/29/2012 2:58 pm EDT

Success on YouTube is now measured by “watch time” rather than subscriber numbers, Andres Palmiter, a specialist in audience development at Google Inc.'s YouTube, said at a workshop in Ottawa Wednesday. Palmiter said in a presentation that YouTube users should seek not only subscribers to their content but to also to keep those...

Aitken steps down from Competition Bureau

telecom | 06/29/2012 2:46 pm EDT

Commissioner of Competition Melanie L. Aitken, last appointed as commissioner in 2009, announced her departure effective on Sept. 21, the Competition Bureau said Thursday.  “It has been a tremendous privilege to work at the Bureau for the past seven years, with over half of that time as Commissioner,” Aitken said in a statement....

CRTC closes file on Rogers’ throttling practices

telecom | 06/28/2012 10:06 pm EDT

Ten months after a startup group of video gamers complained that Rogers Communications Inc. failed to properly disclose its Internet throttling practices, the CRTC said it has closed the file on the matter. In a release, the commission said it closed the file first started by the Canadian Gamers Organization (CGO) in...

Zipperstein to replace Bawa at RIM

telecom | 06/28/2012 9:55 pm EDT

Research in Motion Ltd. has appointed former Verizon Wireless lawyer Steve Zipperstein as the company’s new chief legal officer, the company said in a release Thursday. Zipperstein, who previously served as a general counsel for GTE Corp. and as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, will replace RIM’s outgoing chief legal officer, Karima Bawa, who announced her intention to retire in May....

RIM delays BB10, reports loss

telecom | 06/28/2012 9:52 pm EDT

Research In Motion Ltd. will delay the launch of its Blackberry 10 operating system until 2013, the company said Thursday as it reported a loss in its first quarter results. "Our top priority going forward is the successful...

‘System access fee’ class action suit will probably end in settlement: lawyer

telecom | 06/28/2012 9:33 pm EDT

An $18-billion class action lawsuit against some of the country’s largest wireless carriers will probably end in a closed-door settlement after the Supreme Court paved the way for the case to proceed, Tony Merchant, the lawyer representing the defendants, said. “After companies have...

Rogers, York region dispute escalates on costs of burying cable

telecom | 06/28/2012 9:06 pm EDT

A regulatory dispute between Rogers Communications Inc. and the Regional Municipality of York escalated as the municipality asked the CRTC to schedule an oral hearing to decide who should cover the...

Google unveils new tablet, music device

telecom | 06/27/2012 7:38 pm EDT

Google Inc. unveiled a new tablet, dubbed the Nexus 7, at the Google I/O Conference for developers in San Francisco on Wednesday, marking the company’s entry into the tablet business.  The 7-inch tablet, designed by...

Cannot serve broadband to ‘uninhabited’ communities, Telus tells CRTC

telecom | 06/27/2012 5:35 pm EDT

Telus Corp. asked the CRTC for permission to change the communities it will serve with broadband using deferral account funding, the company said in a letter to the commission dated June 21. Telus made the request after discovering that some of the communities designated to benefit from the broadband program are...

Verizon, T-Mobile agree to swap AWS licences

telecom | 06/27/2012 5:16 pm EDT

Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile USA Inc. have reached a deal to swap AWS spectrum licences in 218 United States markets, the companies said Monday. The deal, which requires regulatory approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), “will improve T-Mobile’s spectrum position in 15 of the top 25 markets in the U.S. by...

No plan to separate into two businesses: RIM

telecom | 06/25/2012 8:50 pm EDT

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) will not separate itself into two businesses and remains committed to its restructuring plan, the company said Monday. The company on Monday reacted to a story published in London’s The Sunday...

Comwave launches smartphone VoIP app

telecom | 06/25/2012 8:47 pm EDT

Canadian voice-over-Internet calling company Comwave launched ePhone, a new VoIP app for Android smartphones and tablets intended to compete with Skype, the company said June 20. Comwave said in a release that the app is similar to Skype but offers a telephone number that lets a user receive calls from telephones. The company said the trial of ePhone...

Graphene nanotechnology to be a ‘game changer’ for telecom devices: Analysts

telecom | 06/22/2012 5:34 pm EDT

A thinner, lighter and stronger form of carbon key to the development of nanotechnologies is expected to revolutionize telecom devices in the decades to come, telecom and technology experts say. The qualities of graphene, a “two-dimensional” carbon “allotrope,” make it an ideal material to improve device components like processors, antennas, batteries, sensors and cameras, Ian Akyildiz, group chair of telecommunications at Georgia Tech, said at the Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) international conference in Ottawa this month.  “[It’s] 300 times stronger than steel, and harder than diamonds,” Akyildiz said in a...

Canadian ISPs’ slow deployment of IPv6 due to lack of demand, expert says

telecom | 06/21/2012 9:36 pm EDT

Canadian Internet service providers’ (ISPs) slow deployment of the new IPv6 Internet protocol is largely the result of a lack of demand from business and government, Yves Poppe, director of business development IP strategy at Tata Communications Ltd., said. “They’ve been waiting for the enterprise...

Foreign ownership proceeding on Telus for better industry guidance, Wind says

telecom | 06/21/2012 7:35 pm EDT

Wind Mobile wants the CRTC to hold a hearing on Telus Corp.'s compliance with the foreign ownership rules for better “guidance” on how to comply with the law, Simon Lockie,...

Wind targets business market with aim to become new national carrier

telecom | 06/19/2012 8:24 pm EDT

Wind Mobile is preparing to court Canadian businesses as it moves into the next phase of its push to become a fourth national wireless carrier, Anthony Lacavera, Wind’s chairman and CEO, told...

Canada makes gains on switch to IPv6, still far from goal

telecom | 06/15/2012 7:43 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Canada saw a nearly 500 per cent increase in the number of IPv6-accessible websites in the week leading up to IPv6 launch day June 6 but still has a long way to go, Jacques Latour,...

Tower siting regulations must change to alleviate local political pressure, builder says

telecom | 06/13/2012 10:00 pm EDT

Canada’s cellphone tower siting regulations make communities believe they have the power to decide where a tower can be built even if those powers reside exclusively with the federal government, said Edward Hachey, vice president of tower operator SBA Canada. “Constituents have the expectation that municipalities can deny a tower,” Hachey said in an interview. “In reality, they can't.” Tower operators are aware of the not-in-my-back-yard resistance towers...

Mobile operators need 300-500 MHz of spectrum by 2015: Report

telecom | 06/12/2012 9:56 pm EDT

Canadian mobile operators will need between 300 MHz and 500 MHz of mobile spectrum by 2015 to accommodate Canadians’ increasing use of mobile broadband devices and services, RedMobile Consulting...

Companies, groups, to watch Blais in early days for indications of regulatory approach

telecom | 06/11/2012 10:04 pm EDT

Broadcasters and telecom providers will watch upcoming CRTC decisions for any indications of what direction its new chair will take towards industry regulation, industry...

Public Safety asks for seamless roaming requirements

telecom | 06/07/2012 9:47 pm EDT

Wireless carriers should be required to provide seamless roaming handoffs for first responders who use wireless devices on public safety networks, Public Safety Canada said in comments filed with Industry Canada. Public...

Consultations on further foreign ownership changes ‘not in the cards,’ Paradis says

telecom | 06/06/2012 2:59 am EDT

TORONTO—The federal government will not open up Canada’s entire telecom sector to foreign ownership without further consulation on the issue, Industry Minister Christian Paradis said Tuesday at the 2012 Canadian Telecom Summit.  On March 14, Paradis announced the government will...

Telus, MTS so far met 30-60% of rural broadband obligations, Bell lagging, Katz says

telecom | 06/05/2012 7:04 pm EDT

TORONTO—MTS Allstream Inc. and Telus Corp. are leading in the rollout of broadband for remote communities under a 2010 CRTC directive while BCE Inc. subsidiaries Bell Canada and Bell Aliant...

700 MHz cap regime lowers government auction revenues: Analyst

telecom | 06/05/2012 3:22 pm EDT

Industry Canada rules that cap each incumbent wireless carrier to a single block of “prime” 700 MHz spectrum will lower the federal government's proceeds from the auction to $2.6...

Click-to-cloud services a bandwidth crunch culprit and revenue generator

telecom | 06/05/2012 12:56 pm EDT

TORONTO—“Click to cloud” services that automatically send mobile phone photos and other files to cloud services will become “a big bandwidth consumer” that can easily congest mobile networks, Dave Caputo, president and CEO of Sandvine Inc., told The Wire Report in an interview. Otherwise...

Northwestel prepares for Iristel launch and a more competitive North

telecom | 05/30/2012 11:08 pm EDT

BCE Inc. subsidiary Northwestel Inc. will focus on improving its customer appeal in the face of increased northern competition and the loss of its decades-long Northern Canada monopoly, Northwestel CEO Paul Flaherty said in an interview. Five months after the CRTC pledged to open the northern wireline market to...

Paradis defends 700 MHz buildout requirements as ‘pretty aggressive’

telecom | 05/30/2012 3:46 pm EDT

Licence conditions requiring wireless carriers to build out some of the spectrum they acquire in next year's 700 MHz auction are “pretty aggressive” and companies that don’t meet the conditions will “just lose it,” Industry Minister Christian Paradis said at a Senate committee meeting Tuesday. “There are requirements, after 10 years, in general, depending on where you are in the country, [so that] from 20 up to 50 per cent of the network has to be...

Bell says new roaming rules undermine AWS licences; Telus supports buildout rule

telecom | 05/24/2012 7:41 pm EDT

Industry Canada is creating uncertainty for the wireless sector by proposing changes to the roaming and tower sharing rules four years into the licence terms of 10-year AWS spectrum licences, Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. said. Industry Canada in March announced new rules for next year's auction of valued 700 MHz...

Telus, City of Vancouver urge CRTC to dismiss Globalive complaint for rapid transit access

telecom | 05/23/2012 10:11 pm EDT

Telus Corp. and the City of Vancouver have asked the CRTC to force Globalive Wireless Management Corp. to go back to the negotiating table in its aim to build wireless infrastructure in underground tunnels along the city’s rapid transit Canada Line.  In documents filed with the CRTC...

Bell, Outremont move beyond ‘deplorable aesthetic,’ agree to fibre rollout terms

telecom | 05/23/2012 4:12 pm EDT

BCE Inc. and the Montreal borough of Outremont have avoided CRTC mediation after reaching a deal to let the telco roll out fibre-to-the-home services in the historic community, both sides confirmed. “Outremont city council and its urbanism committee have approved our reworked...

DOCSIS 3.1 to offer faster upstream speeds, better product for cablecos

telecom | 05/22/2012 2:05 am EDT

A new cable standard under development in the United States will increase Canadian cablecos' network capacity and transfer speeds, analysts say. In a May 14 webcast, Mark Palazzo, vice-president of Cisco Systems Inc.’s cable access business unit, said Cable Television Laboratories Inc. (CableLabs), an...

Wind adds 15,000 subscribers since March

telecom | 05/15/2012 10:05 pm EDT

Wind Mobile added more than 15,000 subscribers since the end of March and now has more than 430,000 customers, Nisha Amin, a spokeswoman for the company, said. Wind is privately owned by Globalive Wireless Management Corp. The company's multinational parent company VimpelCom Ltd. on Tuesday released a 2012 first quarter earnings report that said Wind had 415,364 subscribers as of March 31. That total represented an increase of approximately 12,000 subscribers over the 403,000 customers the company reported at the end of December, and a 53 per cent increase over the 271,659 subscribers it had as of March 31, 2011. Wind continues to add customers with competitive pricing as it competes with other new entrants in major markets as well as national incumbents BCE Inc., Rogers...

Faster wireless networks can connect ‘last mile’: DragonWave

telecom | 05/11/2012 9:55 pm EDT

Canadian telcos can use wireless, point-to-point technologies as a cheaper substitute for fibre-to-the-home and other wireline “last-mile” connections, Chris York, product marketing manager at DragonWave Inc., said in an interview. Incumbent telcos like BCE Inc. and MTS Allstream Inc. are  rolling out...

Carriers seek better residential coverage; Rogers plants tower in backyard

telecom | 05/10/2012 10:08 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. has established a wireless tower in a residential backyard, a strategy that analysts say they expect other carriers pursue. According to Industry Canada guidelines for broadcast and wireless towers, mobile carriers are required to take part in a public consultation to gain regulatory approval...

Lawful access law sleeping, but not dead, experts say

telecom | 05/09/2012 11:17 pm EDT

A lack of movement on the government's lawful access legislation doesn’t necessarily mean the bill will be scrapped, experts and opponents of the legislation say. "I know the summer break starts soon, but I think the legislation is still on the table,” Tamir Israel, staff lawyer with the Canadian Internet Policy and Public...

Mobile providers need freedom to ‘prioritize’ own customers under new spectrum regime, SaskTel says

telecom | 05/03/2012 9:33 pm EDT

Industry Canada's new mandatory roaming regime should allow wireless carriers to prioritize their own customers’ traffic over other providers' customers roaming on their networks, Ron Styles, president and CEO of SaskTel, said in an interview.  Styles told The Wire Report this...

Mobile operators looking to provide better in-home service, more towers

telecom | 05/02/2012 2:51 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Canadian telcos are seeking to put up more mobile towers than ever, particularly in residential areas, to meet the growing demands of mobile users, industry officials said at mobile industry event Tuesday. “The only way to offer consumers the speed, reliability and capacity they require is to use a...

Nova Scotia broadband project still trying to connect 800 rural addresses, three years on

telecom | 04/27/2012 9:49 pm EDT

The completion of a $75 million broadband project in Nova Scotia has been delayed by nearly three years due to the province’s rugged seacoast terrain.  According to Nova Scotia’s Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism, the province’s landscape is making...

Costly push to IPTV to put Rogers at ‘forefront’ of cable industry, analysts say

telecom | 04/27/2012 7:06 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc.'s plan to convert its cable TV services to Internet protocol TV (IPTV) will be costly but will pay off and put the company at the “forefront” of the...

TV viewers now ‘socialized’ to connect to video ‘at the flick of a button’

telecom | 04/27/2012 1:44 pm EDT

Internet-connected devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops will outnumber traditional television sets in Canada by the end of 2012, Kaan Yigit, president of consulting firm Solutions Research Group, said at a conference in Ottawa Thursday. In a speech at the New Developments in...

Katz, Pentefountas, Denton, seeking CRTC chair position

telecom | 04/26/2012 10:48 pm EDT

At least three current commissioners have applied for the CRTC chair vacancy that the government says will be filled within weeks, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Wire Report this week.  Three CRTC commissioners—acting chair Len Katz, vice-chair for broadcasting Tom Pentefountas, and national commissioner Tim Denton—have filed applications to serve as the commission’s new chair for a five-year term, the source, who asked not to be named, said. Katz has served as chair on an interim basis since former chair Konrad von Finckenstein’s term expired in January. James Maunder, a spokesman for Heritage Minister James Moore, told The Wire Report in an emailed statement that the government will appoint a new chair in a number of weeks....

‘Final’ court ruling clears Globalive as Tories table changes to foreign ownership rules

telecom | 04/26/2012 4:27 pm EDT

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an application for an appeal hearing on whether Globalive Wireless Management Corp. is Canadian-owned, putting to rest a three-year legal battle for the new entrant wireless carrier. The issue of whether Globalive is Canadian-owned under the existing...

New transatlantic fibre cable to be ready next year, save traders 5 milliseconds

telecom | 04/25/2012 9:43 pm EDT

Hibernia Atlantic is approaching the final year of construction of a $300 million US transatlantic fibre optic cable that will provide the fastest Atlantic round-trip transmission time at 59.8 milliseconds, the company's vice-president of business development, Mike Saunders, said in an interview. The cable, called...

Verizon plan benefits new entrants, pushes AWS band ‘from marginal to mainstream’

telecom | 04/25/2012 2:17 am EDT

Verizon Communications Inc.'s plan to sell off some of its 700 MHz spectrum in the United States to gain more AWS holdings could deliver significant benefits to new entrant carriers in Canada, Iain Grant, managing director with the Seaboard Group, said in an interview. Last week, Verizon said...

Rogers, new entrant dropped call differences ‘imperceptible’: Competition Bureau

telecom | 04/24/2012 7:02 pm EDT

TORONTO—Rogers Communications Inc.'s advertising campaign in 2010 that declared its services had fewer dropped calls than competitors took place while the actual difference between its dropped call rates and those of wireless startups were “inconsequential and imperceptible to...

Cell towers 20-50% more costly disguised as trees, clock towers, flagpoles

telecom | 04/23/2012 8:10 pm EDT

From chimneys and clock towers to flagpoles and fake trees, Canada’s incumbent wireless providers are increasingly using a variety of disguises to help hide mobile towers and avoid public opposition to potentially obtrusive telecom infrastructure. Industry experts say the rising practice of disguising mobile phone towers as natural or community objects has become a costly but effective way to assuage public opposition to the increasing prevalence of cell towers in communities. Rogers Communications Inc. spokeswoman Leigh-Ann Popek said in an emailed statement that Rogers strives to maintain design standards that fit in with the environment. “We have built tree-like...

Globalive seeks CRTC ruling for access to Vancouver rapid transit line

telecom | 04/20/2012 9:13 pm EDT

Globalive Wireless Management Corp. is asking the CRTC to wade into a dispute with the City of Vancouver and Telus Corp. over whether the startup company can offer mobile wireless services in...

CBC defends LPIF funding, says ad revenues still returning

Media | 04/17/2012 10:01 pm EDT

GATINEAU—CBC/Radio-Canada spent $15 million of local programming funding last year on news shows that resulted in $1.1 million in additional advertising revenues for local stations during the supper hours, officials from the public broadcaster said at a CRTC hearing Tuesday. That $15 million, spent directly on...

Wind in talks about consolidation, spectrum sharing

telecom | 04/04/2012 7:19 pm EDT

A takeover of Wind Mobile by financial backer VimpelCom Ltd. is an option but not a “foregone conclusion” after the federal government removes the foreign ownership limits for small players, Wind CEO Anthony Lacavera told The Wire Report in an interview. He said Wind is also looking at spectrum sharing and possible consolidation with...

Rogers says London ‘pick-and-pay’ trial drew new customers, revenues

telecom | 04/03/2012 10:36 pm EDT

A Rogers Communication Inc. trial that offered TV subscribers more control over the channels they pay for drew new cable customers and helped to offset losses caused by some channels' lower penetration rates, the company said in a brief filed with the CRTC Monday. The Rogers trial, which ran in London, Ont., from Nov. 8,...

New entrants need foreign ownership limits lifted by summer: Kirby

telecom | 04/02/2012 9:40 pm EDT

New entrant carriers need the foreign ownership rules lifted this spring to capitalize on current funding opportunities with foreign investors and to plan for next year's spectrum auction, Bruce Kirby, vice-president of strategy and business development at Public Mobile, said in an interview. “If you get the...

Q&A: When the market is competitive, deregulate, Intven says

telecom | 03/30/2012 7:28 pm EDT

Hank Intven, a telecom expert and partner with McCarthy Tetrault in Toronto, says it's taken a while, but Canada's telecom regulator has got it's economic theory right. When a market is sufficiently...

BitTorrent says its new protocol eliminated 80-90% of p2p congestion

telecom | 03/29/2012 10:12 pm EDT

A redesigned BitTorrent protocol is now in use by about 80 to 90 per cent of BitTorrent clients around the world, eliminating congestion caused by peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing during peak traffic periods, BitTorrent Inc.’s chief executive told The Wire Report in an interview.  The protocol, known as Micro...

Without iPhone, Videotron competing in about half the market

telecom | 03/28/2012 10:37 pm EDT

Acquiring “prime” 700 MHz spectrum will be key to Videotron Ltd.'s ability to sell the Apple Inc. iPhone and compete for about half of the Quebec market the company is missing due to...

Pricing, data caps, to determine edge in Quebec Internet wars

telecom | 03/26/2012 9:09 pm EDT

Pricing and monthly data cap sizes will determine the success of new, competing Internet services from BCE Inc. and Quebecor Media Inc. in the Quebec City market, analysts say.  “That’s going to be the deal maker, or the deal breaker,” Amit Kaminer, a research analyst with the Seaboard Group, said in an interview. Quebecor subsidiary Videotron Ltd. announced this month that it is launching a new hybrid fibre coax Internet plan in the Quebec City region. In a release, Videotron said the new service would be made available to Quebec City consumers by mid-May and...

Quebec Internet competition surges as independents offer unlimited plans

telecom | 03/21/2012 8:20 pm EDT

Competition in Quebec's Internet service market has picked up since the release of the CRTC's new wholesale Internet access regime as small Internet service providers (ISPs) offer unlimited packages for the first time, providers and experts say. Those providers and experts say independent ISPs that lease access to the...

SaskTel says new auction rules mean unused spectrum in rural areas

telecom | 03/21/2012 4:17 pm EDT

Industry Canada's new rules for the 700 MHz spectrum auction means SaskTel will remain the sole provider of advanced mobile wireless services in rural Saskatchewan, John Meldrum, president of corporate counsel and regulatory affairs at SaskTel, said in an interview. “SaskTel is concerned that the public policy...

Public safety agencies optimistic about spectrum decision

telecom | 03/20/2012 6:59 pm EDT

Public safety agencies are optimistic about Industry Canada's spectrum decision but want to move the process along as the department holds a consultation on the allocation of the 700 MHz band's D block to the public safety sector, Lance Valcour, executive director of the Canadian Interoperability Technology Interest Group...

Divides sharp on spectrum rules as final round of consultations begin

telecom | 03/15/2012 10:17 pm EDT

Incumbents and new entrant wireless carriers were divided Thursday on the Conservative government’s plans for caps and unfettered access to foreign capital in next year's 700 MHz auction, laying the groundwork for further regulatory battles as the government prepares for a final round of consultations. Telus...

Caps on ‘prime’ 700 MHz spectrum, no foreign ownership rules for small players, Industry Canada says

telecom | 03/14/2012 9:53 pm EDT

RUSSELL, Ont.—The Conservative government will remove the foreign investment restrictions for small wireless carriers and cap the amount of “prime” spectrum licences that incumbent telcos can purchase in the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction, Industry Canada said Wednesday. The auction rules will include build-out requirements for existing wireless service providers to help ensure better services in rural areas, Industry Canada officials told reporters at a background...

Wireless competition increases in the West as Bell expands retail

telecom | 03/14/2012 5:29 pm EDT

BCE Inc.'s strategy to increase its retail presence in Western Canada may not go very far to improve the company’s market share there, where Bell has sought to make gains for several years, analysts say. In a conference call with investors last month, George Cope, BCE’s president and CEO, said the company...

CNOC questions network costs put forward by incumbents, says rates too high

telecom | 03/09/2012 10:53 pm EST

The country's incumbent Internet service providers (ISPs) may be using the CRTC's confidential rate-setting process to overstate their network costs and gain approval to charge higher wholesale rates for small providers that lease network access from them, Bill Sandiford, president of a coalition of small ISPs, said in an...

Rogers joins Telus’ push for national wireless contract regs, issues draft code

telecom | 03/09/2012 9:53 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. proposed national code to the CRTC Thursday that would govern wireless service providers' contracts with customers.  Rogers' request follows a submission from Telus Communications Co. on Feb. 8, which proposed that the CRTC introduce national standards of...

Shaw registered to lobby on 700 MHz auction

telecom | 03/08/2012 5:18 pm EST

Shaw Communications Inc., which last year abandoned plans for the rollout of a mobile wireless network, is registered to lobby the federal government for a set-aside or spectrum cap policy in the upcoming auction of the 700 MHz and 2500 MHz bands to mobile providers. Shaw spent $190 million on spectrum licences in Industry Canada's 2008 wireless...

Bell turns to CRTC after Montreal’s Outremont district rejects fibre rollout

telecom | 03/07/2012 11:56 pm EST

Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. is asking the CRTC to step in and mediate a decision from Montreal's borough of Outremont that rejected the company’s plan to roll out fibre-to-the-home services in the district. In an application submitted to the commission last week, Bell said that the decision, from Outremont's...

ISPs failing to comply with police information requests still unknown

telecom | 03/07/2012 9:57 pm EST

Almost all telecom service providers are meeting law enforcement agency requests for information as a few “sketchy” service providers drive the argument for lawful access laws, service providers and industry experts say. “There is sort of a formalized system in place whereas most of the major ISPs...

Wireless auction rules now expected after this month’s federal budget

telecom | 03/06/2012 1:57 am EST

Wireless carriers are advocating their positions on the 700 MHz spectrum auction rules that are now expected to be released after the federal budget is tabled March 29.  The Conservative government has been silent about the coming auction rules and any changes to the foreign ownership regime since Industry Minister...

Small ISPs file for review of CRTC’s capacity wholesale Internet ruling

telecom | 03/02/2012 10:53 pm EST

The Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) on Friday became the latest organization to contest the CRTC’s capacity-based billing decision for wholesale Internet service. The organization, which represents small, reseller ISPs that lease network access from the incumbents, filed an appeal with the commission...

Wireless industry players prefer national regulation over provincial ‘patchwork’: CWTA

telecom | 02/29/2012 10:49 pm EST

Canada's largest wireless industry association says it supports the national regulation of mobile contracts if it means a patchwork of provincial regulations can be avoided. Telus Communications Co. submitted a proposal to the CRTC on Feb. 8, recommending that the commission introduce national standards regulating consumer mobile contracts. The company said consumers face “multiple, conflicting standards” from province to province, and called on the CRTC to impose regulations governing contract terms and conditions; customer obligations to pay for service charges while wireless devices are repaired; the advertising of service rates and data consumption limits; the use of...