Wireless subscriber growth rate slows at Rogers, Q4 results show

telecom | 02/22/2012 9:54 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. reported increased revenues in 2011 but fell behind its two chief rivals in the competition for new mobile wireless subscribers, data released by the company Wednesday showed. Rogers, which has the largest postpaid mobile customer base in the country, reported a two per cent increase in...

Telcos still concerned about unknown costs of lawful access bill

telecom | 02/21/2012 8:39 pm EST

Telecom and technology industry groups say they continue to have significant concerns about the cost of implementing the Conservative government's lawful access legislation, Bill C-30. The government introduced Bill C-30 in the House of Commons last week, which would require Internet and mobile providers to have...

Northwestel appeals CRTC regulation of its backbone service rates

telecom | 02/16/2012 10:47 pm EST

Northwestel Inc. is appealing a CRTC decision issued last month to regulate the pricing of the company's network backbone services.  The company, a subsidiary of BCE Inc., is asking the commission to review a decision issued Jan. 5 to regulate the tariff rates for Northwestel’s V-Connect backbone service,...

Tories say they’re open to a ‘broad range of amendments’ to lawful access

telecom | 02/15/2012 11:24 pm EST

OTTAWA—The Conservative government said Wednesday it is prepared to consider broad amendments to its lawful access legislation, Bill C-30. “We’re working with provinces and with police to attack problems of online child pornography,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in...

Government alludes to lawful access oversight role for privacy commissioner

telecom | 02/15/2012 12:02 am EST

OTTAWA—The privacy commissioner could play a role in monitoring law enforcement and security agencies that use Canada’s proposed lawful access provisions, the federal government says.  Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced Tuesday the government’s new lawful access legislation, Bill C-30, the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act. In the last Parliament, the Conservative government introduced bills C-50, C-51 and C-52, collectively known as lawful access legislation, but they died on the order paper due to an election. The legislation was reintroduced in the House of Commons Tuesday as Bill C-30. The law would...

Federal stacking restrictions a disadvantage to territorial broadband rollouts, SSi Micro says

telecom | 02/13/2012 8:54 pm EST

Stacking restrictions on federal funding are constraining broadband service expansion in the territories where funding is needed for backhaul and terrestrial satellite infrastructure, Dean Proctor, chief development officer at SSi Micro Ltd., said in an interview.  To comply with federal...

CRTC completes 5-year review of regs based on Tory cabinet directive

telecom | 02/10/2012 5:12 pm EST

The CRTC said Thursday it has completed a five-year comprehensive review of its telecom regulations with an aim to reduce or streamline the rules based on a cabinet directive to rely on market forces. Initiated in the middle of 2007, the review sought to reduce regulatory burdens for telecom providers following the...

ISPs provide mere ‘mode of transmission,’ Supreme Court says

telecom | 02/09/2012 10:34 pm EST

The Supreme Court of Canada issued a decision Thursday that said Internet service providers (ISPs) do not carry on broadcasting activities under the Broadcasting Act and merely provide a “mode of transmission.” Canadian cultural groups had appealed the issue to the Supreme Court after a Federal Court of...

Telus calls on CRTC for national consumer guidelines for wireless customers

telecom | 02/09/2012 9:06 pm EST

Telus Communications Co. has asked the CRTC to introduce national guidelines that it says will make the wireless phone industry more cost-efficient for carriers and more transparent to consumers. In a submission filed with the commission Wednesday, Telus said a patchwork of provincial and territorial laws governing...

Report urges government to attach oversight protections to lawful access

telecom | 02/09/2012 4:22 pm EST

The federal government should pay attention to the faults of lawful access laws abroad as it prepares to table Canada’s own version of the legislation, said a new report Wednesday commissioned by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA). Those faults, the report said, include the introduction of security...

Regulators should consider crowdfunding to support startups, experts say

telecom | 02/07/2012 8:01 pm EST

Securities regulators and legislators should review possible changes to support Canadian startups through “crowdfunding” models if a new U.S. crowd funding bill moves ahead in the U.S. Senate, experts say.  On Nov. 3, 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2930, the Entrepreneur Access to...

Small telcos challenge ‘obligation to serve,’ say it increases the digital divide

telecom | 02/06/2012 11:06 pm EST

Two organizations representing 30 small telcos in Quebec and Ontario have filed a petition with the federal cabinet asking for a review of a CRTC decision that will allow increased competition in their service territories. The petition, filed with the government Friday by the Association des...

Shaw appeals CRTC’s wholesale capacity billing rates, says they’re too low

telecom | 02/06/2012 7:07 pm EST

Shaw Communications Inc. has filed an application with the CRTC asking for a review of the rates the company can charge small Internet resellers under the commission's new capacity-based billing regime for wholesale services. In an application filed Friday, Shaw said the commission ignored the...

Rogers follows Bell with plan to stop Internet traffic management by year’s end

telecom | 02/03/2012 9:04 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. will stop throttling all Internet traffic on its networks by the end of 2012, the company informed the CRTC Friday. The change will start for some customers in March and will cover half of the company’s Internet subscribers by June, the company said in a letter to Andrea Rosen, the commission’s chief compliance and enforcement officer. “This will be rolled out across the country by the end of the year,” Ken Engelhart, Rogers’ senior vice-president of regulatory affairs, told The Wire Report in an interview Friday. “We’ve been working on it for a while. There’s a whole bunch of factors, but probably the simplest...

Rogers, Lemay-Yates report challenges OECD broadband findings

telecom | 02/02/2012 8:15 pm EST

Canadian Internet service providers (ISPs) aren’t doing such a bad job of providing fast, cost-effective broadband services after all, said a new report  Thursday commissioned by a major ISP that challenged earlier findings released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)....

Cablecos, telcos, seek ways to solve the video-driven capacity crunch

telecom | 02/01/2012 5:29 pm EST

Online video consumption is expected to be one of the “primary drivers” of network capacity building over the next few years, David Purdy, vice-president of video products at Rogers Communication Inc., said in an interview. As Canada's major telcos and cablecos search for ways to build more capacity on...

IMT-Advanced super-fast wireless to see wide-scale rollouts in 2015: ITU

telecom | 01/30/2012 11:03 pm EST

Next-generation, IMT-Advanced wireless technology could be rolled out in some countries as early as next year, but most will launch the super-fast service in 2015, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) says. “We could look at countries starting even by the end of next year,” Colin Langtry, chief...

Rogers challenge of Competition Act first of its kind

telecom | 01/27/2012 10:26 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc.'s Charter challenge of two provisions of the Competition Act are the first test of their kind, Greg Scott, a spokesman for The Competition Bureau, told The Wire Report. At the Ontario Superior Court, Rogers is citing the Charter of Rights in a challenge of the Competition Bureau’s authority to impose financial...

Videotron pulls back from cap proposal, pushes for set-asides

telecom | 01/26/2012 8:26 pm EST

Quebecor Media Inc. has changed its position on the policy framework for the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction and now says it opposes the type of cap-based framework it once supported. Instead, Quebec’s largest media and telecom company now supports the set-aside framework that other new entrant carriers previously called for, Quebecor said in a January backgrounder submitted to The Wire Report. “It is not an exaggeration to say that the survivability of Canada’s wireless new entrants depends in large part on their ability to acquire licences and deploy services in a portion of this [700 MHz] spectrum,” Serge Sasseville, the company’s vice-president of corporate and institutional affairs, wrote in the backgrounder. “As a result, we strongly...

Increasing foreign ownership to 49% ‘changes nothing’: New entrants

telecom | 01/25/2012 11:16 pm EST

Proposals to raise the foreign ownership restrictions to 49 per cent will do nothing to help Canada’s new entrant wireless carriers, those carriers say. “All we do is try to raise capital so we can roll this business out. I can tell you it changes nothing if we were to go to 49 per cent,” Simon...

Tories propose to protect telecom as Canadian-owned in EU trade deal

telecom | 01/25/2012 8:03 pm EST

The Conservative government has proposed an exemption to EU trade negotiators asking that Canada's telecom companies remain Canadian-owned, trade documents show. Canada completed a ninth round of negotiations with European Union officials last October with a view toward finalizing the EU-Canada Comprehensive ...

Von Finckenstein urges spectrum caps over set-asides for 700 MHz auction

telecom | 01/21/2012 5:01 am EST

The government should move quickly to auction off available 700 MHz spectrum frequencies for mobile use and spectrum caps are preferred over set-asides to encourage competition, outgoing CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein said in an interview.  “The key thing is to move quickly. We need that auction...

Bell seeks to double payphone rates to pay for upgrades

telecom | 01/20/2012 9:42 pm EST

Bell Canada, Bell Aliant and Télébec are seeking the CRTC’s permission to double their standard payphone rates, proposing to bump the cost of a local payphone call to as much as $2. In a application filed with the commission this week, the BCE Inc. subsidiaries asked the commission to increase the...

Telcos say new interconnection regime levels the playing field

telecom | 01/19/2012 11:29 pm EST

A CRTC decision Thursday will help modernize Canada’s interconnection regime by requiring traditional telcos to increasingly connect with cablecos and wireless providers using Internet-protocol (IP) technology, industry insiders say. In what's probably the last major decision issued by outgoing chairman Konrad...

Wireless companies expected to slow down network capex this year: Analysts

telecom | 01/18/2012 10:44 pm EST

Canadian mobile providers' expanding investments in wireless network infrastructure is expected to cool off in 2012 as the industry prepares for a 700 MHz spectrum auction later this year, analysts say. Aside from saving cash to spend during the auction, spending reductions are also related to regular investment cycles...

Expiring terms present opportunity to reduce commission size, analysts say

telecom | 01/17/2012 11:16 pm EST

With a slate of CRTC commissioners set to reach the end of their terms over the next two years, it may be time for the government to consider reducing the size of the commission, analysts say.  In all, 9 of 13 commissioners are scheduled to end their terms between now and August 2013. Four will expire this year,...

30-day notice not needed to cancel services, telcos say

telecom | 01/13/2012 9:26 pm EST

A recent CRTC application by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) may be attacking a policy that wireless carriers keep in place but rarely utilize, two of providers named in the complaint told The Wire Report this week. In a Part 1 application posted on the commission’s website last Friday, PIAC asked the...

Homes and businesses buying second, third and fourth tablets in 2012: Analysts

telecom | 01/12/2012 10:09 pm EST

Competition in the Canadian tablet market will heat up in 2012 as manufactures look to cash in on consumers buying the high-powered handheld devices in multiples, analysts say. “People, families and groups that have a tablet are buying their second, third and fourth tablets,” Duncan Stewart, director of research for technology, media and telecom at Deloitte Canada, said in an interview. “This is sort of a real revolution.” Stewart suggested the tablet market will evolve much quicker than has been the case with other pervasive technologies in the past. He noted that when the television set first entered the market in the 1920s, families bought a single unit and...

Costly telecom service offers great returns for hearing-impaired

telecom | 01/10/2012 10:30 pm EST

Telecommunications services for Canada’s hearing impaired are destined to take a “step backwards” when a special video relay service offered by Telus Communications Co. halts this weekend, the president of Media Access Canada (MAC) says. “We have advanced so far technically that for the deaf and...

Indian telecom expansion opening doors for Canadian companies

telecom | 01/09/2012 10:30 pm EST

The uncharted waters of India’s wireless market present a significant opportunity for Canadian telcos, the head of the non-profit Wavefront Wireless Commercialization Centre says. James Maynard, Wavefront’s president and CEO, told The Wire Report that there are more than half a billion people with...

PIAC challenges cell phone cancellation requirement

telecom | 01/09/2012 10:05 pm EST

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is asking the CRTC to prevent wireless carriers from forcing subscribers to provide 30 days notice when cancelling their service or switching to another provider. In a formal application posted on the commission’s website last Friday, PIAC says the 30-day cancellation requirement imposed by many of...

Startup telco targets U.S. roaming charges for Canadian travellers

telecom | 01/06/2012 10:32 pm EST

A new service offered by startup Roam Mobility that seeks to reduce mobile charges Canadians incur when travelling to the U.S. is part of an emerging global trend to combat roaming fees, analysts say. In a press release Thursday, Roam said it had reached an agreement with U.S. operator T-Mobile USA Inc. that will allow...

CRTC moves to regulate Northwestel’s Internet backbone service

telecom | 01/05/2012 9:09 pm EST

The CRTC has ordered Northwestel Inc. to file tariffs for one of its northern Canadian Internet backbone networks and has promised to review another, the commission announced on Thursday. The commission gave the BCE Inc. subsidiary 30 days to file a tariff and related cost studies for its V-Connect backbone network, an Internet Protocol-Virtual Private Network that carries Internet traffic between Yellowknife and Edmonton. The CRTC also said it would examine whether it should continue to forbear from regulating Northwestel’s I-Gate backbone service during a previously announced review of the company’s services. The decision comes following a complaint from northern...

Analysts pick top telcos to watch in 2012

telecom | 12/20/2011 8:41 pm EST

Telus Communications Co., Cogeco Inc. and Quebecor Media Inc. are  some of the telcos best-positioned for growth and strong profits in 2012, analysts say. The companies have made key investments that are starting to bear...

CRTC considers telco disconnection for failure to join complaints commission

telecom | 12/15/2011 10:17 pm EST

The CRTC said Thursday it is calling Brama Telecom Inc. to a public hearing next March to face a potential disconnection order resulting from a failure to join the national telecom complaints commission. Established in 2007, the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) is an independent agency...

CRTC opens competition in the North; Northwestel’s monopoly comes to an end

telecom | 12/14/2011 11:50 pm EST

Northwestel Inc.’s decades-old northern monopoly will end following the CRTC’s move Wednesday to open up the North’s local phone service market to competition, commissioner Len Katz says.  “I think it’s certainly the dawn of a more competitive and service-oriented marketplace,”...

Government spending review eyes CRTC’s spam, do-not-call list programs

telecom | 11/30/2011 10:51 pm EST

The Conservative government's expenditure review program will examine special allocations to the CRTC for its anti-spam and do-not-call-list programs. As part of the Conservative government’s strategic and operating review—which seeks to find $4 billion in annual government savings and requires all...

Stick to your principles, question everything, CRTC chair advises successor

telecom | 11/29/2011 10:09 pm EST

OTTAWA—Outgoing CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein offered up two key pieces of advice to his yet-to-be-declared successor at a conference Tuesday: stick to the commission’s principles and...

Tory proposal for spectrum caps would benefit Bell, Telus the most, small players say

telecom | 11/25/2011 7:09 pm EST

Spectrum caps that limit telcos to 10 MHz of frequencies in each market would give BCE Inc. and Telus Communications Co. an advantage over new entrants and rival Rogers Communications Inc., industry insiders say. Bell and Telus share network infrastructure and cooperate on build out strategies...

Manitoba, Nunavut, N.W.T. behind on broadband: Report

telecom | 11/23/2011 9:51 pm EST

Manitoba, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories struggled to bring broadband Internet access to rural communities in 2010 as the rest of the country neared 100 per cent accessibility, the CRTC said in a new Broadband Report released Wednesday. More than 98 per cent of Canadian households had access to broadband Internet—defined as any...

CRTC interim chair now a likely outcome in January, sources say

telecom | 11/21/2011 10:01 pm EST

An interim chair of the CRTC is likely under a Conservative cabinet that right now remains more focused on passing key legislation than searching for a replacement for Konrad von Finckenstein by the end of January, industry sources say. Although the Conservative cabinet has enough time to appoint von...

Sawiris’ auction threat triggers swirl of reaction, charges of ‘bluffing’

telecom | 11/18/2011 10:33 pm EST

Wind Mobile’s suggestion that it will not participate in Industry Canada’s 700 MHz auction unless a set-aside policy is implemented is a “bluff” and “blackmail by media,” critics said Friday. Naguib Sawiris, the Egyptian founder of Wind financial backer and lender Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, told the CBC in an interview this week that Wind cannot afford to compete head-to-head against Canada’s well-capitalized incumbent telcos in a bidding war for spectrum. “Our position is clear: if they don’t set aside this [spectrum for new entrants] we won’t bid for it,” Sawiris said in the interview, which aired Thursday on the CBC...

Momentum swelling for review of CRTC’s new UBB rates, telcos say

telecom | 11/18/2011 9:17 pm EST

Incumbent Internet service providers (ISPs) and the smaller players who lease access to their networks are scratching their heads over new billing rates for wholesale Internet access and what those rates mean for long-term competition in the Canadian Internet service market. Days after the CRTC on Tuesday announced new...

Rogers corrects problem with third-party ISP customer disconnects

telecom | 11/17/2011 8:39 pm EST

Rogers Communications Co. says it has taken steps to “plug holes” in a disconnection process that had caused technicians to cut off service to customers served by third-party Internet service providers (ISPs) operating on Rogers' network. Small, third-party ISPs lease access to Rogers' network and resell...

ISPs happy with CRTC’s UBB decision but disagree on rates

telecom | 11/16/2011 12:01 am EST

GATINEAU—The CRTC struck a compromise Tuesday between wholesale usage-based billing and unlimited Internet access with a decision allowing incumbent ISPs to offer capacity-based or flat-rate billing to smaller ISPs that lease access to the incumbents' networks for residential services. “We have now today...

Ontario regional network contract defended as fair and transparent

telecom | 11/15/2011 8:32 pm EST

The chief administrator of the $170-million Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN) is defending the network's contracting process as “completely public and transparent” amid criticism that was a “handout” to incumbent telco BCE Inc. “At the end of the day, we ended up evaluating the...

CRTC issues new home phone disconnection regime

telecom | 11/14/2011 11:08 pm EST

The CRTC implemented a new regime Monday that will govern the way home phone service providers deal with late-paying or non-paying customers, including when they will be allowed to disconnect those customers’ services. The commission adopted new disconnection and deposit rules proposed by an industry working group in July, which brings all home phone services in competitive markets under a single regulatory umbrella for the first time, including those from traditional wireline telcos and cablecos . For the first time, customers of cable home phone services will be protected by rules governing when and how those services can be disconnected, what notice a company must provide before disconnecting them, and what steps they must take to have them reconnected. The new rules also...

Uses of unlicensed white space include machine-to-machine, mobile offloading, surveillance

telecom | 11/11/2011 6:24 pm EST

Stronger WiFi signals, faster mobile broadband and more intelligent surveillance systems for critical infrastructure are some of the possible uses of unlicensed TV “white space” frequencies. That's what a handful of the world’s most influential tech companies have told...

FCC’s Connect-2-Compete program a reminder of Canada’s lagging leadership

telecom | 11/10/2011 10:10 pm EST

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s new “Connect-2-Compete” broadband initiative to support access for low-income Americans is a clear reminder that changes and policy initiatives are also necessary in Canada, experts say. “The FCC suggests, in essence, a...

Companies urge Industry Canada to prevent white space interference with broadcasting

telecom | 11/09/2011 10:42 pm EST

Industry Canada should allow for unlicensed use of white space spectrum but must take steps to ensure it doesn't interfere with TV signals and other over-the-air transmissions, Canadian and international companies have told the department in consultation submissions. In response to the department’s request in...

Wind calls for separate consultation on set-asides

telecom | 11/09/2011 12:31 am EST

Wind Mobile is urging Industry Canada to hold another round of consultations on the 700 MHz band to address whether the department should set aside spectrum blocks for small players in the next wireless auction.  Speaking as a part of a telecom regulatory panel at the Scotia Capital Telecom and Tech Conference in Toronto Tuesday, Simon Lockie,...

Billing errors, contract disputes, top telecom consumer complaints

telecom | 11/04/2011 8:20 pm EDT

Mobile wireless service complaints continue to increase, reaching 62.3 per cent of all complaints in 2010-2011, the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services' annual report says. Those complaints about mobile wireless services are up from last year’s rate of 51.7 per cent of all complaints...

Tory cabinet denies Rogers’ petition, clears Bell for rural wireless rollout

telecom | 11/02/2011 10:04 pm EDT

The Conservative cabinet has decided not to intervene in a CRTC decision issued last year that cleared the way for Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. to use regulated deferral account funds to roll out mobile wireless broadband services in rural areas.  Rogers Communications Inc. opposed the CRTC decision and filed a...

Up to $4.5 billion per year for broadband connectivity in new FCC fund

telecom | 11/02/2011 9:57 pm EDT

A new Canadian regime for interconnecting IP-based telco services “will probably be a model for all of North America,” CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein says. Von Finckenstein made the statement this week during a CRTC hearing into Canada’s telco interconnection regime, during which telcos from across...

Von Finckenstein’s final hearing marked by industry appreciation

Media | 11/01/2011 10:13 pm EDT

GATINEAU—Incumbent telcos, new entrants and even a consumer advocacy group all joined forces during the closing moments of the CRTC’s interconnection hearing Tuesday to offer praise and congratulations to outgoing commission chair Konrad von Finckenstein. “There is one other matter that we wanted to...

Agreement emerges around Rogers’ proposal for IP interconnection regime

telecom | 11/01/2011 10:05 pm EDT

GATINEAU—Telco executives say they expect the CRTC to implement new rules requiring incumbent telcos to connect competitors’ IP-based phone calls wherever they have the ability to do so. Some companies say the new rules would be based on a proposal submitted this week by Rogers Communications Inc. that garnered support from the telecom industry at the commission's hearings on interconnection issues. Support for the proposal solidified Tuesday morning when BCE Inc. offered small amendments to establish tests that would determine when the requirements would kick in. The company suggested the requirement to connect competitors’ IP-based phone calls when an incumbent is...

CRTC elevates Rogers throttling complaint to enforcement sector

telecom | 10/28/2011 8:55 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. became the first Canadian Internet service provider (ISP) to be elevated to the CRTC's network neutrality compliance and enforcement division this week. In a Thursday afternoon letter to the Canadian Gamers Organization (CGO), the CRTC said it had elevated the group’s mid-summer complaint...

CRTC should look at ensuring basic rural mobile services: Manitoba premier

telecom | 10/28/2011 7:44 pm EDT

Arguments are growing for the CRTC to ensure basic levels of rural mobile services, Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger says. "I think there's a case that can be made for the CRTC, which regulates telephone companies in the country, that those basic levels of services can be provided," Selinger, the NDP premier,...

Rogers urges ‘light licence’ regime for freed up spectrum blocks

telecom | 10/28/2011 4:59 pm EDT

Industry Canada should open up a trio of spectrum blocks under a “light licence” regime to help cope with the increasing demand for wireless backhaul systems, Rogers Communications Inc. says. In a submission filed with the department last week, the company said those blocks should be dolled out for fixed...

CRTC should step in to ensure timely transition to more IP services, providers say

telecom | 10/27/2011 8:49 pm EDT

Incumbent “corporate inertia” is slowing the pace of a national conversion to Internet-based voice communications and the CRTC must step in to ensure Canadian technologies don’t fall behind, wireless service providers told CRTC commissioners at a hearing on interconnection issues. Over the final two...

ISPs should look at peak-pricing models for consumers: Sandvine report

telecom | 10/26/2011 8:28 pm EDT

Internet service providers (ISPs) should look at peak-pricing models as their networks become increasingly inefficient with heavy users straining them at just a few peak hours of the day, a new report from Internet technology company Sandvine Inc. says. The report, released Wednesday and titled “Global Internet Phenomena Report: Fall 2011,” said that, in North America, peak usage time has become more concentrated and pronounced. It shows that Internet traffic reaches a low at about 5 a.m. but slowly climbs throughout the day and spikes between about 7 to 10 p.m., mostly due to real-time entertainment streaming. The heaviest 1 per cent of upstream users now account for...

Rogers calls for regs to bring mobile providers into shared-cost interconnection regime

telecom | 10/25/2011 9:42 pm EDT

GATINEAU—Wireline telcos should face regulations ensuring that wireless providers can interconnect to their networks on a shared-cost basis, executives from Rogers Communications Inc. told CRTC commissioners at a hearing Tuesday. But the company added that Canada's mobile sector is...

Incumbents say regs for IP interconnections mean hundreds of millions of dollars in capex

telecom | 10/24/2011 10:24 pm EDT

GATINEAU—Requirements for local telcos to offer Internet protocol (IP)-based interconnections would add huge costs to incumbent carriers without providing any additional benefits to consumers, Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., SaskTel, and Telus Communications Co. told a CRTC hearing Monday....

Black market satellite piracy reached 300,000 to 350,000 people, Bell witness tells court

telecom | 10/20/2011 3:26 pm EDT

MONTREAL—Bell ExpressVu, a subsidiary of Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., has always worked to fight the “proliferation” of grey market satellite piracy, Bell witness Michael Newman told the Quebec Superior Court at a hearing Wednesday. “We took great pains to find it,...

‘There is no place to hide when enforcement agencies across borders work together’

telecom | 10/18/2011 4:58 pm EDT

A new CRTC agreement with a pair of Mexican telemarketers sends a strong signal that foreign telesales services seeking to call Canada must play by the national rules here, analysts say. They add that much of the credit should go to Andrea Rosen, the commission’s chief compliance and...

Rogers ad goes after fibre-to-the-node, draws predictions of new marketing war

telecom | 10/17/2011 10:28 pm EDT

A Rogers Communications Inc. television ad intended to challenge competing services on fibre-to-the-node networks may be the first shot across the bow in a new ad war between Rogers and Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., analysts say. Running in Ontario from Oct. 3 through Nov. 7 and airing during popular programming such as...

Eastern Ontario broadband contract under fire as an incumbent ‘handout’

telecom | 10/14/2011 8:51 pm EDT

The new Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN) is bringing together public bodies and companies Bell Aliant (a subsidiary of BCE Inc.) and Xplornet Communications Inc. to establish a broadband network stretching across 13 rural communities by early 2014. But the contract to roll out the network is drawing fire from...

RIM trying to ensure BlackBerry outages never happen again

telecom | 10/13/2011 7:54 pm EDT

Top executives from BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion Ltd. apologized Thursday for three days of data disruptions on the company’s secure data delivery system, telling investors they were working to ensure the problem does not happen again. “I want to apologize to all of the BlackBerry customers we’ve...

Providers not ‘stupid enough’ to be audited under new CRTC guidelines, ISPs say

telecom | 10/12/2011 9:10 pm EDT

New CRTC guidelines allowing the commission to order third-party audits of Internet throttling systems are unlikely to ever be used because service providers are not “stupid enough” to misrepresent information to the commission in the first place, ISPs say. Senior executives from...

BitTorrent promoting its protocol to separate P2P traffic, decongest networks

telecom | 10/11/2011 10:34 pm EDT

Peer-to-peer giant BitTorrent Inc. is promoting its updated protocol for managing the delivery of peer-to-peer data that it says will help Internet service providers ease network congestion.  “This could be profound for the [Internet service provider] business if they understood it and operated their networks accordingly,” Eric Klinker, BitTorrent’s president and CEO, said in an interview with The Wire Report Tuesday. Known as Micro Transport Protocol (μTP), the protocol for delivering peer-to-peer data packets, attempts to identify and relieve congested traffic nodes before problems start affecting end-users, Klinker said. Before μTP’s formal release...

The North is falling far behind on broadband, where ‘you learn to work within your means’

telecom | 10/07/2011 9:18 pm EDT

Following a special, two-day CRTC hearing in the North this week to discuss telecom competition, telcos and analysts say a lack of affordable and reliable broadband in many northern communities is starting to leave them far behind the rest of the country. “If you talk to people in the...

Territorial governments, companies, call for telecom competition in the North

telecom | 10/05/2011 10:01 pm EDT

An absence of facilities-based competition in Canada’s Arctic has left northern residents and businesses with overpriced and under-developed telecommunications infrastructure, groups, companies and territorial governments told CRTC commissioners this week at a hearing in Yellowknife, N.W.T. “The benefits of...

RIM’s new ‘BBX’ devices will need speed, good marketing, to succeed, analysts say

telecom | 10/05/2011 4:29 pm EDT

As conventional wisdom would have it, the release of Research In Motion Ltd.’s new devices next year may mean a recovery for the company. But how soon those new devices come to market and the marketing strategy attached to the launch will be important success factors, analysts say....

Globalive says Public Mobile Supreme Court appeal is ‘regulatory gaming’

telecom | 09/30/2011 9:19 pm EDT

Two competing new wireless entrants are now arguing before the Supreme Court over whether the federal Conservative cabinet erred when it permitted Globalive Wireless Management Corp. to operate in Canada as a Canadian-controlled telecom carrier. Globalive, which operates in Canada under the Wind Mobile brand, filed a...

‘No one is more interested than we are’ in providing good service for online gaming, Rogers says

telecom | 09/28/2011 6:03 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. will routinely test the country’s most played video games to ensure they aren’t affected by traffic shaping errors, the company said in a letter to the CRTC Tuesday. “[S]tarting immediately, we will proactively test the top ten most popular online computer games in the Canadian market,” Ken Thompson, Rogers’ director and counsel of copyright and broadband law, wrote in the letter. The new tests will serve as one of two tactics the company will employ in a five-point plan to fight misclassification errors that in recent months have slowed down online gamers on the company’s network. Rogers did not say how frequently it will...

Whitelisting, an ISP solution to throttling, may conflict with net neutrality rules

telecom | 09/27/2011 10:26 pm EDT

“Whitelisting,” a new solution that ISPs are using to avoid the problem of mistakenly throttled Internet applications, may not conform with the CRTC's telecom rules, a Canadian expert on Internet traffic management techniques says. Whitelisting attempts to resolve misclassified, time-sensitive...

Von Finckenstein urges staff to remain focused as government looks to replace him

telecom | 09/27/2011 8:55 pm EDT

CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein is urging commission staff not to get distracted about his possible replacement and to stay focused on key tasks he'd like to accomplish before his term ends in January. “The government has a well-established process to fill senior positions in the public service. A notice will...

Consumer advocates say CRTC’s net neutrality guidelines a ‘good step’

telecom | 09/23/2011 5:16 am EDT

The CRTC is seeking to "name and shame" Internet service providers that break its rules on traffic shaping. Internet providers will have any complaints against them published quarterly and could be called before commissioners to explain their actions, the CRTC said Thursday in new guidelines for...

CRTC imposes ‘heavy handed,’ ‘interventionist,’ consumer-friendly vertical integration rules

Media | 09/22/2011 2:42 am EDT

GATINEAU, QUE.—In a highly anticipated decision Wednesday, the CRTC took several steps to check the power of vertically integrated broadcast companies, including a ban on the companies’ ability to offer their own TV programs exclusively on new media platforms. ...

Governments must coordinate on mobile health technology, executives say

telecom | 09/21/2011 7:57 pm EDT

Federal and provincial governments and their health agencies must make a concentrated effort to help Canada’s health care system realise the promise of mobile wireless technologies, a panel of telco executives said at the Wireless Canada Technology Showcase in Ottawa Tuesday.  Real-time treatments via video,...

Mobile subscriber data a ‘perfect storm’ for advertisers: comScore

Media | 09/20/2011 10:12 pm EDT

New data on Canadian mobile use and subscriber numbers point to a “perfect storm” for the wireless advertising industry in the months ahead, comScore Inc. vice-president of sales Bryan Segal said at the Wireless Canada Technology Showcase in Ottawa Tuesday. A high number of Canadians about to retire their old...

Paradis urges wireless innovation, growth, but no talk of digital strategy

telecom | 09/20/2011 9:38 pm EDT

OTTAWA—The federal government is counting on continued innovation in the wireless industry to help spur economic growth in a troubled international economy, Industry Minister Christian Paradis said Tuesday at an event hosted by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA). “Innovation enabled...

CRTC requests Rogers to devise plan to protect gamers from throttling

telecom | 09/16/2011 9:00 pm EDT

The CRTC has asked Rogers Communications Inc. to devise a plan to ensure online gamers are not inadvertently targeted by the company’s Internet traffic shaping practices. In a letter to the Internet provider dated Sept. 16, the CRTC noted that, by Rogers own admission, errors in classifying video games as non-time...

Telus-Bell network sharing to reap savings in LTE deployments: Canaccord

telecom | 09/16/2011 7:29 pm EDT

Telus Communications Co. and BCE Inc. are poised for a better return on capital in the gradual conversion to fourth-generation LTE, Canaccord Genuity said in a research note to clients Friday. The projection are based on assumptions that the two companies will extend a 10-year network sharing agreement to their new LTE services—a move that could save each company over $300 million in capital expenditures as they deploy a national 4G network, the report said. The report estimates it would cost a single provider $500 million to launch LTE across Canada’s urban markets and $800 million to build a national network. Canaccord notes that Rogers Communications Corp. is left...

Cogeco’s summer acquisitions to help solidify, grow Montreal presence

telecom | 09/16/2011 7:10 pm EDT

Following a pair of strategic acquisitions this summer, Cogeco Cable Inc. is readying to expand its physical capabilities and geographic footprint in the commercial data services market, Cogeco Data Services president Tony Ciciretto told The Wire Report this week. “Our position right now is a position of...

Canada drops by six places in ICT ranking: ITU

telecom | 09/15/2011 9:44 pm EDT

Canada’s ranking in information and communications technology (ICT) development has fallen to 26th place from 20th in 2008, a new report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) says. The ITU global ranking report, released Thursday and titled “Measuring the Information Society 2011,” noted Canada's difference with the...

Shaw WiFi network to initially target malls, arenas, transit; expand later

telecom | 09/15/2011 9:20 pm EDT

Shaw Communication Inc.’s early WiFI deployments will be in shopping malls, sports arenas and transit systems in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary, Cisco Systems Inc., the company hired to build the network, says. On Sept. 1, Shaw announced the launch of a WiFi network in place of a mobile network—but the...

Groups, companies, line up to target draft anti-spam regs

Media | 09/14/2011 9:32 pm EDT

Proposed anti-spamming regulations are too broad and will impact consumers and legitimate businesses, telcos and other industry associations have told the CRTC. Overly restrictive definitions, unrealistic requirements, and a wide scope that fails to accommodate today's communications tools are some of the complaints...

U.S. embassy cable highlights new twist in industry lobbying on ‘Priority Watch List’

Media | 09/09/2011 7:29 pm EDT

Newly released U.S. embassy cables about Canada's copyright reform process have shone a spotlight on the industry lobbying that goes into the U.S. Special 301 Priority Watch List. The list is where the U.S. publicly identifies countries as laggards on copyright protection, but in a new twist, one cable highlights Canada's apparent willingness to go along with an elevation on the watch list if it meant a faster passage of copyright reform legislation in Parliament.  Experts and insiders say the cable is further reason to call into question the list's legitimacy. New diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks this month contain several reports from the U.S. embassy in Ottawa about...

Little evidence that converged legislation more effective, Australian regulator says

Media | 09/09/2011 7:28 pm EDT

As countries around the world look to merge their telecom and media legislation, there remains little information evaluating how effective converged statutes are in an ever-changing online environment, a new report by Australia’s regulator says. Packet prioritisation, online data protection, and privacy and...

Gamers association, CIPPIC to request change to throttling disclosure policy

telecom | 09/07/2011 9:28 pm EDT

In the latest salvo fired over an escalating dispute between online gamers and Rogers Communications Inc., the Canadian Gamers Organization (CGO) says it intends to ask the CRTC to force Internet service providers (ISPs) to report all throttling-related complaints they receive to the regulator.  The request stems from...

Blockbuster closure won’t affect Wind sales, Lacavera says

telecom | 09/02/2011 6:40 pm EDT

Wind Mobile is preparing to lose a good portion of its retail locations across the country through the closure of Blockbuster Canada but company chairman and CEO Anthony Lacavera says sales should be mostly unaffected. “We have already diversified our distribution so there will be no impact on Wind,” Lacavera...

Shaw’s WiFi move ‘smart’, comes after failed network sharing negotiations

telecom | 09/01/2011 9:32 pm EDT

Shaw Communications Inc.’s announcement Thursday to build out a WiFi network rather than a mobile HSPA+ or LTE service comes after spectrum sharing negotiations with Rogers Communications Inc. fell through. Industry analysts said Thursday that Shaw's decision to deploy a WiFi network...

PIAC, Wind Mobile, request review of CRTC decision on ‘seamless roaming’

telecom | 08/31/2011 9:13 pm EDT

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC) have joined Wind Mobile in an appeal of a CRTC decision to determine whether mobile operators should be required to provide seamless roaming to their competitor’s subscribers. On Tuesday, the two consumer advocacy groups...

Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS continue march to smartphone domination

telecom | 08/30/2011 9:09 pm EDT

Now in the hands of more than two-thirds of American smartphone users, the popular mobile platforms from Google Inc. and Apple Inc. are continuing to squeeze competitors out of the U.S. market, comScore Inc. said in new research released Tuesday. In data about American smartphone usage, comScore reported that, during the...

LTE development, rollout to boost employment, GDP

telecom | 08/30/2011 5:51 pm EDT

Canada is set to follow in the United States' LTE footsteps within the next 24 to 30 months, boosting employment and GDP, analysts say. According to a report released Aug. 22 by U.S. research firm Deloitte LLP, wireless  providers south of the border are expected to invest $25 billion US to $53 billion US in fourth-generation LTE networks...

Telcos meet with Paradis to lobby on auction rules

telecom | 08/30/2011 2:44 pm EDT

Telco executives from across the country had the opportunity to lobby the new minister of industry with their visions for next year’s 700 MHz spectrum auction in a series of one-on-one meetings this month. In all, Paradis met with CEOs and other executives from 13 telcos over four days of meetings from Aug. 16-24, the minister's press secretary,...

Von Finckenstein would like to stay on in 2012, sources say

Media | 08/25/2011 8:54 pm EDT

CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein would like to remain on the job for the time being but a term renewal beyond January 2012 appears unlikely, industry sources say. The Conservative government's public skirmishes with the regulator over the past few years—on issues such as wholesale usage-based billing and whether Globalive Communications Corp. can operate in Canada as a Canadian-owned carrier—has made it difficult for the government to reappoint the chair without appearing awkward, industry insiders say.  “I don't think he has a snowball's chance [in hell] of getting reappointed,” one industry source said on a background basis. Although the Conservative government never expressed it publicly, sources add that it also disagreed strongly with the...