Bernier appearing before Parliamentary committee on February 19

telecom | 02/16/2007 5:00 am EST

Opposition members will get their opportunity to ask Industry Minister Maxime Bernier why he has yet to introduce legislation to change the Telecommunications Act when he appears before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology on Monday, February 19.They will point to the report from the...

Non-partisan witnesses lend support to government’s approach to telecom

telecom | 02/16/2007 5:00 am EST

Opposition members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology looking for reinforcement of their position that deregulation in telecommunications was happening too fast were likely disappointed following hearings on February 5 and 12.They were also probably none too happy to hear...

Telecom legislation not likely to pass even if introduced

telecom | 02/16/2007 5:00 am EST

Any hopes of telecom legislation being passed by the government were all but dashed this week, after a private member’s bill on Canada’s commitment under the Kyoto Accord was passed in Parliament. Speculation is rife that the Tories won’t respect the bill, which still has to receive Royal Assent. And this has Liberal...

Government taking good first steps, but new legislation required: Intven

telecom | 02/16/2007 5:00 am EST

Hank Intven, a former member of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel, testified before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology this week regarding its study of the deregulation of the telecommunications market. He both supports recent moves from the government, but also criticizes it for not yet...

Web-based mapping software improves in-home healthcare

telecom | 02/16/2007 5:00 am EST

The use of web-based mapping via a geographic information system (GIS) can accurately illustrate community healthcare needs, and the strengths and weaknesses in the delivery of services such as homecare. "It provides us with information well beyond what we would have in our database," says Stacey Daub, senior director of client services for the Toronto Central Community Care Access Centre (CCAC). "We have wondered over time about the social determinants of health and other things that impact people’s needs and the way we service people. This opens up a whole array of showing us all of that. We can look at our clients, and have a better understanding of service needs and demands." At the annual meeting of the Canadian Home Care Association, some of Daub’s colleagues...

Telehealth taking leaps forward to becoming mainstream service

telecom | 02/16/2007 5:00 am EST

Telehealth may be the cutting edge of medecine, but continual review is necessary to ensure the quality and consistency of delivery of telehealth services across the country.Speaking in Toronto at the annual meeting of the Canadian Home Care Association, Luba Shumsky, lead for international-national markets at Ottawa-based...

Old arguments trotted out for fight on local forbearance proposal

telecom | 02/16/2007 5:00 am EST

Industry Minister Maxime Bernier may have his hands full in the coming weeks with an increasingly divided telecommunications industry if comments filed in response to his proposed order to change local services deregulation criteria in Telecom Decision 2006-15 are any indication.The scope of comments runs the full gamut of...

Commission exempts only telephony-based mobile TV service

telecom | 02/09/2007 5:00 am EST

The CRTC has determined that only the mobile TV services of the wireless carriers should falls under its new exemption order regarding mobile television broadcasting undertakings (Telecom Public Notice 2007-13). Below is an excerpt from the ruling. With regard to the concerns of the CAB, CFTPA and CTV that mobile services...

Bell Canada boomerangs to the home security game

telecom | 02/09/2007 5:00 am EST

Bell Canada is once again providing home security services, announcing last month the creation of its Home Monitoring program. This is a market the company first entered about eight years ago, but exited in 2003 after a series of corporate transactions. Despite being essentially a home security service, the country's largest telephone company...

Apple iPhone gains attention, purchase intent by Canadians

telecom | 02/09/2007 5:00 am EST

Apple Inc.’s iPhone captured a fair amount of attention last month when it was introduced by the company at its Macworld Conference in San Francisco. The announcement even overshadowed product introductions taking place at the prestigious Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The iPhone is considered by many to be just...

Applications determine type of network for municipalities: Siemens

telecom | 02/09/2007 5:00 am EST

An executive with Siemens Canada Ltd. says it’s important for cities to determine the types of applications that will run over their planned municipal wireless networks before embarking on deployment.Speaking at the Wireless Cities Summit in Toronto last month, Mark VanderHeyden, VP of carrier networks at Siemens Canada,...

Canadian satellite market ripe for more competition: Ciel CEO

telecom | 02/09/2007 5:00 am EST

The head of Ciel Satellite LP, the new entrant satellite services provider, says that the Canadian market is ready for more competition, and Industry Canada has a prime opportunity to make that happen. Dave Lewis, president and CEO of the three-year-old firm, made the comments during a wide-ranging interview with Decima...

Access Communications criticizes new local forbearance regime

telecom | 02/02/2007 5:00 am EST

Access Communications is complaining to Industry Canada that Minister Maxime Bernier’s new local forbearance regime will not bring the benefits of competition to Saskatchewan consumers. Below is an edited excerpt from the company’s complaint to the department. It is Access Communications’ respectful opinion that the...

Vidéotron’s wideband Internet will help converge data, voice, video

telecom | 02/02/2007 5:00 am EST

During a conference call with analysts this week Vidéotron ltée announced that the first trial phase of North America’s first wideband Internet test pilot had returned promising results."Even if there is work to be performed, we consider that we have successfully reached our first goal to significantly increase our Internet speed and capacity for our customers," said Manon Brouillette, Vidéotron’s senior VP of marketing, content and product development. She added Vidéotron’s wideband service will ultimately be able to offer Internet access at a cruising speed of 100 Mbps. The current testing, which began with 150 Vidéotron customers in December, proved that these high...

No right answer to securing electronic health records: vendors

telecom | 02/02/2007 5:00 am EST

Equipment vendors need to think about how to develop and implement solutions that will create a greater sense of faith in the security of health information. While some support an outsourced approach, others note there are a variety of possible solutions."The average physician is focused on patient health," said...

Von Finckentstein appointment likely only first move from Conservatives

telecom | 02/02/2007 5:00 am EST

The federal Conservative government started its makeover of the CRTC last week by appointing Konrad von Finckenstein as the tribunal’s chair on January 25.Von Finckenstein has a long and distinguished career in the public service, particularly in the domain of competition law and free trade. In addition to heading up the...

Canadians support federal government’s telephony deregulation proposal

telecom | 02/02/2007 5:00 am EST

Results of a newly released survey from Ipsos-Reid, commissioned by Bell Canada, demonstrate that approximately two-thirds of Canadians support the federal government’s recent moves to deregulate the local telephony services market. This compares to one in four Canadians who believe the changes are unacceptable.The survey...

Industry committee agrees to call Minister Bernier to testify

telecom | 02/02/2007 5:00 am EST

After what was at times a raucous meeting, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology agreed on January 29 to call Industry Minister Maxime Bernier before the committee to answer questions regarding his telecommunications deregulation agenda.Questioning the minister will kick off broader...

Canadians support telecom deregulation, according to survey

telecom | 02/02/2007 5:00 am EST

With the Parliamentary committee on Industry about to resume studying the impact of deregulation on the telecommunications sector, opposition members will surely be disappointed to see recent results from Ipsos-Reid showing support for deregulation among Canadians (see second cover story). Conservative members of the committee will surely latch onto the results and wave them around as support for deregulation. Opposition members will dust off the September 2006 Pollara study which demonstrates the contrary to use as their ammunition to counter deregulation. So what is the committee to do when research results contradict each other? One possible option is to hire an independent polling firm to determine which questionnaire is the least biased to one side or the other. While that might sound...

Government discusses wireless at recent meetings

telecom | 01/26/2007 5:00 am EST

As Parliament gets set to return after the holiday break, the Conservative Party of Canada met this week to discuss what some of its key priorities might be heading into the winter session. The environment and Canada's presence in Afghanistan are at the top of the list, but the telecommunications file apparently had a little bit of the spotlight as...

Ciel Satellite counters spectrum aggregation call from Telesat

telecom | 01/26/2007 5:00 am EST

Ciel Satellite LP has told Industry Canada that if it believes in the principle of aggregation of orbital spectrum licences with a single satellite operator, it should proceed to a public consultation on the issue. Below is an edited excerpt from comments submitted to an Industry Canada licensing process.The incumbent...

Canada’s wireless penetration growth on track with US

telecom | 01/26/2007 5:00 am EST

The president and COO of the country's largest wireless operator, Rogers Communications Inc., maintains that Canada's wireless penetration growth has mirrored that of the US and there is still a lot of room for growth, even for basic voice services.While data services represent the longer-term growth opportunity,...

Customers buffeted by wireless pricing complexity

telecom | 01/26/2007 5:00 am EST

Complex wireless service prices, combined with complicated data and voice plan choices and confused users have given rise to a new business opportunity - figuring out how much an enterprise spends on wireless and letting that company know if it can be reduced.  No wonder John Tyl, president of Smart Thought Technologies Inc., sounds as though...

Just because TV is on cell phones, doesn’t means people want it…yet — Part II

telecom | 01/26/2007 5:00 am EST

The cell phone and other mobile devices are quickly becoming sought-after platforms for the provision of video and television programming to consumers. But as carriers struggle to convince users to pay for mobile TV, they are also dealing with the convergence quagmire where video is delivered across...

Municipal wireless deployments picking up in steam in 2007

telecom | 01/26/2007 5:00 am EST

Approximately 325 municipal wireless networks will be under construction in 2007 - about 300 in the US, the remainder in Canada - with each one having its own particular objectives. Speakers at the Wireless Cities Summit in Toronto this week emphasized that there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution for successful...

New condidates being considered for top job at CRTC

telecom | 01/19/2007 5:00 am EST

A new year always brings new challenges and opportunities, and 2007 is no different.This year, we saw the elimination of two candidates for the top job at the CRTC, left vacant by Charles Dalfen’s departure a couple of weeks ago. While this may not be good news for Fernand Bélisle and George Addy, it opens the door to other potential candidates....

Technology and application deployment reduce medical wait times

telecom | 01/19/2007 5:00 am EST

Advanced applications and Web-based technology can lead to significantly reduced medical procedure wait times and improved patient care, according to physicians speaking at the Third Annual Electronic Health Records and Information Systems Conference held in Toronto last year. Anthony Fields, VP of the Alberta Cancer Board...

Jousting continues between ILECs and Yak over billing and collection

telecom | 01/19/2007 5:00 am EST

Parties responding to a Yak Communications Inc. application to reduce incumbent telco rates for billing and collection services have roundly panned the dial-around provider’s Part VII (NL, Dec. 21/06). And one interested party has taken the extra step of criticizing CRTC staff for even allowing the application to proceed at all. The Part VII was initially stalled in procedural wrangling, but the commission ruled on December 8 that it would proceed with examining the application. Yak requested the commission reduce billing and collection rates across Canada to $0.01 per record as an interim measure while the incumbent carriers conduct and file new cost studies to set new, permanent rates....

Flat Planet’s wholesale program should help bring VoIP to the masses

telecom | 01/19/2007 5:00 am EST

What does it take to be a VoIP reseller? By the end of March the answer will be $199 and an hour of your time; that’s when Flat Planet Phone Company plans to open the doors on its wholesale hosted VoIP solution. "With start-ups you always assume that somebody else is doing the same thing," says Moshe Maeir, Flat...

Bernier not done tinkering with telecommunications regulation: sources

telecom | 01/19/2007 5:00 am EST

Industry Minister Maxime Bernier apparently isn’t done leaving his mark on telecommunications. According to sources, he is now preparing to makes changes to the deferral account ruling.It’s unclear at this point what the federal government plans to do. Previous actions, however, suggest the feds will do something. Less...

Opponents of government’s approach to telecom regulation making noise

telecom | 01/19/2007 5:00 am EST

Opposition members of Parliament, consumers group representatives and small IP telephony providers have banded together to try to alter recent changes to the telecommunications regulation. They believe that recent pronouncements on VoIP, local telephony deregulation and the policy direction will do more harm than good for...

MTS Allstream not ruling out move to national wireless carrier status

telecom | 01/11/2007 5:00 am EST

While MTS Allstream Inc. believes the door is open to becoming Canada's fourth national facilities-based wireless operator, the company's president and CEO Pierre Blouin says it isn't a done deal.  During the company's 2007 outlook conference call with analysts last month, Blouin noted a national...

Just because TV is on cell phones, doesn’t mean people want it…yet

telecom | 01/11/2007 5:00 am EST

At last year's NATPE Mobile Forum, cell phone content was trumpeted to television producers and marketers as a market with incredible, and perhaps unlimited, potential. Unlike with other mobile devices, this scheme would put entertainment programming immediately, and wirelessly, on the handhelds that 44% of Canadians already own.  Yet as TV networks and content aggregators ramped up efforts to get on-the-go product such as downloadable video and live TV available on handhelds in the past year, the entertainment market for the smallest screen hit a speed bump in both Canada and the United States. With investment dollars riding on its success, content providers and carriers are now...

Wireless long-distance service coming down in price

telecom | 01/11/2007 5:00 am EST

Staying connected with business partners and friends outside local calling areas has never been easy on the pocketbook, especially for those using cell phones. While competition in the landline long-distance (LD) market is well advanced and has reduced rates substantially, there are signs that greater competition is coming to the wireless LD services...

Blouin coy with analysts about expanding MTS Mobility beyond Manitoba

telecom | 01/11/2007 5:00 am EST

MTS Allstream Inc. president and CEO Pierre Blouin is all too familiar with the wireless market, having held the top job at Bell Mobility before joining the MTS near the end of 2005. So when analysts began questioning MTS about possibly becoming the country's fourth facilities-based national wireless carrier, Blouin was...

TV and gambling to dominate mobile entertainment revenue: Juniper

telecom | 01/11/2007 5:00 am EST

Wireless carriers around the world are poised to generate a larger portion of their revenue from data services. A new whitepaper from Juniper Research, an edited excerpt of which appears below, suggests that mobile TV and mobile gambling will be boons to the wireless operators.  The mobile phone is one of the lifestyle...

Telesat Canada gets support from key satellite users in licensing process

telecom | 01/11/2007 5:00 am EST

Canada's one-time monopoly satellite service provider Telesat Canada has secured the support of two major customers and the two main industry associations as part of its bid to acquire a number of satellite orbital licences (RoW, Dec. 14/06). Ciel Satellite LP, the other bidder to respond to DGRB-001-06, received...

Globalstar giving subscribers new voice features and faster data downloads

telecom | 01/11/2007 5:00 am EST

December was a busy month for Milpitas CA-based Globalstar Inc. The satellite voice and data services provider launched its first new handset in more than five years, and signed a deal with Alcatel Alenia Space for a second-generation constellation of 48 low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, with launches slated to begin in...

What did you do in the revolution, Daddy?

telecom | 12/21/2006 5:00 am EST

In October, Darren Entwhistle, CEO of Telus Corp., speaking to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce called for a "revolution" to overthrow the oversight of Telus’ regulator, the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). It was yet another salvo by one of Canada’s telephone giants in a no-holds barred campaign against the...

Broadband over powerline technology losing its spark

telecom | 12/21/2006 5:00 am EST

The one-time promising technology of broadband over powerline (BPL), touted by some as the third wire into the home that would break the DSL-cable duopoly, appears to be all but dead in Canada. According to industry observers, three things have stopped BPL in its tracks: messy standards, sticky regulatory issues, and a questionable business case....

Bell, MTS Allstream begin jockeying over wholesale access changes

telecom | 12/21/2006 5:00 am EST

Next year’s public hearing on wholesale access and essential facilities could turn in to a Battle Royale over the full deregulation of Canada’s telecommunications service market (Telecom Public Notice 2006-14). The big incumbent telephone companies will be arguing for narrower guidelines, if not their complete removal,...

Electronic health records generate substantial cost savings in healthcare delivery

telecom | 12/21/2006 5:00 am EST

Ongoing public sector investment in information technology in healthcare is necessary to make the electronic health record a reality for all Canadians, and telcos will stand to gain from such investment, says the president and CEO of Montreal-based Canada Health Infoway (CHI).  "Healthcare is an information-intensive industry," says Richard Alvarez, who heads the not-for-profit corporation created in 2001, in an interview with Network Letter.  Alvarez presented highlights of CHI’s progress since its inception and its vision for the road ahead at the Third Annual Electronic Health Records and Information Systems conference held in Toronto in late November. "The...

Despite optics, carriers have roles in Cisco’s TelePresence play

telecom | 12/21/2006 5:00 am EST

At first glance, it seems Cisco Systems Inc. has shut Canadian telcos out of its new telepresence ecosystem. The network equipment maker chose IBM Corp. – not Bell Canada, MTS Allstream Inc. or Telus Corp. – to bring its new high-definition video conferencing system to Canuck businesses. But according to industry...

NL Short Takes

telecom | 12/21/2006 5:00 am EST

CRTC allows Yak application on billing and collection to proceedThe CRTC is going to continue consideration of a Yak Communications Canada Inc. Part VII application regarding billing and collection services. Bell Canada, Bell Aliant and SaskTel had opposed the application, noting that it raises issues that would be better dealt with in the broader proceeding addressing the wholesale access regime (Telecom Public Notice...

NL People

telecom | 12/21/2006 5:00 am EST

The Bell family of companies has made a couple of personnel changes to its regulatory team. Effective January 1, 2007, Denis Henry, VP of regulatory law at Bell Canada, will assume the same role at Bell Aliant. He has spent about 30 years with Bell Canada, most of it in the regulatory department.  In his new role, Henry will report to Fred Crooks, chief legal officer, and will be responsible for the management and...

More shakeups in 2007 for telecom

telecom | 12/21/2006 5:00 am EST

There has been substantial change in Canada’s telecom services market in 2006 and it appears as though 2007 will also see more shakeups in this one-time monopoly market.This year was the year that VoIP really took hold, but it wasn’t the pure-play VoIP competitors which captured the lion’s share of the market. Despite hitting the market first and...

Toronto’s One Zone to have limited impact on big players: UBS Canada

telecom | 12/14/2006 5:00 am EST

A recently released report from UBS Securities Canada Inc. suggests that Toronto Hydro Telecom’s (THT) citywide Wi-Fi network, One Zone, won’t have too much impact on the businesses of the large Internet and cell phone companies.  The report, Q-Series: Canadian Wireless, Wireless disruptive forces – noise or reality?, argues that THT will have a minimal impact on the high-speed Internet and mobile wireless markets in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The document notes that while the utility telco might be able to steal lower-speed DSL/cable customers from Bell Canada and Rogers Communications, the newcomer won’t put a major dent in the established players’ businesses....

ITU World 2006 News and 2007 Trade Events

telecom | 12/14/2006 5:00 am EST

Redline launches new WiMAX productsToronto-based Redline Communications introduced WiMAX products operating in the 3.3 GHz to 3.5 GHz range at ITU World 2006 event in Hong Kong last week. The products will allow operators across the Asia-Pacific region to deliver broadband wireless services to customers using Redline equipment.  Wireless Edge...

Competitive landscape much different if Fido was still independent

telecom | 12/14/2006 5:00 am EST

There has been a lot of talk lately about the competitiveness of the Canadian telecommunications market, not only on the landline side but also in the wireless sector. Rumours continue to circulate that Maxime Bernier, the Minister of Industry, is going to somehow allow for the creation of a fourth national wireless...

ROW Short Takes

telecom | 12/14/2006 5:00 am EST

Mobile charger, battery backup flexes musclesIt has happened to everyone who owns a mobile device: just when you need it the most, the low-battery indicator starts blinking. You may find yourself in the middle of an important call or just about to make one when you realize the remaining juice in your wireless device will not last long enough. But for many of us who have found ourselves in this situation, rest assured that...

Battle brewing for control of remaining satellite orbital resources

telecom | 12/14/2006 5:00 am EST

The fight is on for valuable orbital resources as two companies have applied for many of the same licences up for grabs under Industry Canada’s DGRB-001-06. According to documents released by the department last month, Telesat Canada and Ciel Satellite LP have submitted applications.  Canadian Satellite Radio...

Bell Canada’s Solo going head-to-head against Fido

telecom | 12/14/2006 5:00 am EST

Bell Canada president and COO George Cope said during the company’s annual business review conference in Toronto this week that if there is going to be a discount wireless brand in the market, then Bell will have one, too. The message underscored the venerable telecommunications giant’s new commitment to winning in the market and taking its fair...

Advancements in RFID, healthcare part of the wireless future: PwC’s Jacobson

telecom | 12/14/2006 5:00 am EST

It’s natural near the end of the year to wonder what the future will bring. So it was fitting that before the holidays arrive David Jacobson, director of technology in the advisory services practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, addressed the Ottawa Wireless Cluster with his view of emerging technologies over the next...

New domain for mobile devices doing well here, registrars say

telecom | 12/14/2006 5:00 am EST

Despite initial opposition from some powerful tech industry personalities – including World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee – the latest top-level Internet domain is off to a roaring start according to Canadian domain name registrars.  "It’s growing, and growing quickly," says Cybele Negris,...

Representatives from Bell and MTS debate merits of Competition Bureau’s new stance

telecom | 12/08/2006 5:00 am EST

Two of the most outspoken regulatory officers have sent mixed messages regarding the Competition Bureau’s decision to clarify and define what its role will be in a forborne telecommunications market. Lawson Hunter, executive VP and chief corporate officer at BCE Inc. and Bell Canada, and Chris Peirce, chief regulatory...

Cable companies and competitors wade into Telus forbearance application

telecom | 12/08/2006 5:00 am EST

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that cable companies and other telecom competitors have waded into the debate regarding Telus Corp.’s forbearance application for the city of Fort McMurray AB (NL, Oct. 27/06), stating that the ILEC’s application should be denied. But at the same time, like-minded ILECs support Telus’ application.  In a joint submission, Bell Canada and Bell Aliant argue that the CRTC has to adopt Telus’ proposal for a smaller forbearance region because under current rules, ILECs would have to lose much more than 25% market share before they could apply for forbearance. In the Ottawa economic region, for example, Bell estimates that it would have to lose...

Quitting smoking and losing weight can be improved via the Internet

telecom | 12/08/2006 5:00 am EST

Designers of e-health applications say interventions aimed at modifying health behaviour are highly cost effective and need to be disseminated widely.  Researchers convened in Toronto at Mednet 2006, the 11th World Congress on Internet in Medicine, to present disease management programs that use the Internet as a...

Wi-LAN expands patent portfolio into wireline broadband space

telecom | 12/08/2006 5:00 am EST

Wi-LAN Inc. has secured $49.2 million in revenue – a combination of cash and intellectual property – from Nokia Corp. as part of a deal that saw the cell phone giant license Wi-LAN’s entire patent portfolio. Wi-LAN received $15.2 million in cash and 93 patents valued at $34 million. But perhaps more importantly, the...

ITU World 2006 and Upcoming Events

telecom | 12/08/2006 5:00 am EST

CEOs send message on regulationA CEO roundtable of vendors and service providers at the ITU World 2006 event in Hong Kong this week told government regulators to use a "light touch" when it comes to regulating telecommunications. Patricia Russo, CEO of the newly merged Alcatel-Lucent, highlighted the challenge of regulation to keeping up with...

NL Short Takes

telecom | 12/08/2006 5:00 am EST

Rogers Communications mulling national VoIP serviceThe long-time chief executive of Rogers Communications noted during two recent investors conferences in New York that the media and communications giant is contemplating a national rollout of VoIP services. Ted Rogers made the comments at the Credit Suisse Media and Telecom conference and the UBS Securities Global Media and Communications conference earlier this week....

NL People

telecom | 12/08/2006 5:00 am EST

Brian McFadden has joined the executive leadership team of Baie d’Urfé QC-based Prestige Telecom Ltd. to lead the development of the corporate growth strategy. McFadden has more than 28 years of industry experience including senior executive roles at Nortel Networks, where he was president of optical networks and CTO.  Prestige has also announced that Chahram Bolouri will join its board of directors. Bolouri is president and CEO of Air Canada technical services and has more than 20 years of telecommunications executive management experience. John Milne, president and GM of White Radio LP, a division of Cygnal Technologies Corp., is leaving the company to pursue other interests. Cygnal is a provider of network communication solutions including the design, integration, installation, maintenance and management of wired and wireless communication networks.  Sandvine Corp. has appointed Kenneth Taylor to its board of directors. Taylor is currently the CFO of March Networks Corp. and has more than 20 years of financial,...

Shaw seeking access to inside wiring in Vancouver building

telecom | 12/08/2006 5:00 am EST

Shaw Communications Inc. says Concord Pacific Group Inc. isn’t complying with the CRTC’s rules regarding access to inside wiring in multiple dwelling units (MDUs). Shaw indicates that the property company has repeatedly refused it access to Concord buildings during their construction. In a Part VII filed with the...

Competition Bureau makes positive move for telecom industry

telecom | 12/08/2006 5:00 am EST

The Competition Bureau’s decision to clarify and define its role in a forborne telecommunications market can only be good for the industry. If the CRTC is going to deregulate there still has to be some oversight, and the bureau is the logical choice. The bureau’s move has also generated general consensus in the...

ROW Short Takes

telecom | 12/04/2006 5:00 am EST

3G should stay ahead of WiMAX this decade: In-StatA recent study from high-tech market research firm In-Stat suggests that broadband wireless acces (BWA) technology in the form of WiMAX is unlikely to pose a big threat to wireless 3G services in the Asia/Pacific market this decade.  While BWA technologies provide complimentary services to 3G, a lack of standardization and interoperability holds them back. Highlights...

ROW People

telecom | 12/04/2006 5:00 am EST

Route1 Inc. has appointed Rene McIver to the newly-created position of CIO. Prior to joining Route1, McIver was the technologies director for Bioscrypt Inc.  She is also the chair of the Canadian Advisory Committee on Biometrics and serves as Canadian Head of Delegation at international SC37 meetings and International Convener of the SC37 Working Group on Harmonized Biometric Vocabulary.  At Route1 she will guide...

Government can do several things to encourage entry of more players in the wireless sector

telecom | 12/04/2006 5:00 am EST

With an auction for the next swath of spectrum coming in late 2007 or early 2008, the Canadian government has a prime opportunity to create conditions that would almost certainly lead to more competition in the Canadian wireless sector – that is, if the feds feel the industry isn’t competitive...

Next spectrum auction to net gov’t lower amount than previous one: UBS

telecom | 12/04/2006 5:00 am EST

A new report from UBS Securities Canada Inc. predicts that Industry Canada’s next spectrum auction, expected to take place in late 2007 or early 2008, will generate revenue for the federal government on the order of approximately $1.1 billion. This is about $400 million less than the 2001 spectrum auction brought into the...

Wireless to own lion’s share of broadband connections: Maravedis

telecom | 12/04/2006 5:00 am EST

New research from Maravedis predicts that broadband wireless technologies will make up the majority of high-speed Internet connections into Canadian homes by 2017. The Montreal-based research firm projects that more than 46% of broadband connections will be wireless compared to 28.2% and 25.5% for cable and DSL,...

Spectrum set-aside issue raised in consultation on 3.6 GHz band

telecom | 12/04/2006 5:00 am EST

LEONARD EICHEL • The United Telecom Council of Canada (UTC) and Rogers Communications Inc. have submitted surprisingly frank comments in response to Industry Canada’s call for submissions regarding its proposed spectrum utilization policy for the 3.6 GHz band (DGTP-006-06).  Stating that its utility members...

Canadian wireless companies girding for international deals in Hong Kong

telecom | 12/04/2006 5:00 am EST

The federal government plays a crucial role in helping Canadian telecommunications and wireless companies enter new export markets and create business partnerships, according to one company heading to the International Telecommunication Union’s ITU World 2006 event in Hong Kong this month.  Kevin McCormack, director of market for NewStep Networks, a Toronto-based provider of fixed-mobile convergence products, tells Report on Wireless in an interview that getting exposure to 14 markets in the Asia-Pacific region would have been nearly impossible without the help of the Canadian government. "It definitely helps…for a small company," he says. "All the logistics and...

New voice-activated communicator improves patient care at Orillia hospital

telecom | 12/04/2006 5:00 am EST

Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital seems quaint when compared to large health networks across the country. Orillia’s 235-bed hospital, about an hour north of Toronto, employs approximately 1,000 staff. Their revolutionary communication system, however, sets them apart. Vocera Communications Inc.’s new communications system...

Messaging services still rank high among mobile users

telecom | 12/04/2006 5:00 am EST

The various types of mobile messaging services are popular among cell phone users in North America, Europe and Asia with text messaging taking the top spot, according to figures released by the GSM Association this week.  But the numbers also show that mobile email and multimedia messaging services (MMS) – second and third respectively –...

CAVP moving to redefine a CLEC

telecom | 11/24/2006 5:00 am EST

The Canadian Association of VoIP Providers (CAVP) is considering its next steps in convincing the CRTC to redefine what constitutes a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC). Under current rules, VoIP providers are essentially resellers and they find themselves in regulatory hinterland – not regulated directly by the commission but rather indirectly...

Vonage fixing problem of subscribers not reaching toll-free numbers

telecom | 11/24/2006 5:00 am EST

The head of marketing at Vonage Canada says the company is aware that some calls to federal government toll-free numbers aren’t going through and the VoIP provider is working diligently to fix the problem with its network architecture.  "Because we’re routing [toll-free calls] out of the US, the call looks...

Three CRTC rulings undercut actual costs of competitor services: Telus

telecom | 11/24/2006 5:00 am EST

Saying that "we don’t want to be a savings bank for the competitors," Telus Corp. is asking the CRTC to review three of its decisions regarding the rates Telus charges to competitors for certain wholesale services.  In three separate decisions (Telecom Decisions 2006-22, 2006-23 and 2006-42), the commission ruled that rates for the Telus competitor services of access tandem and direct connect services would be reduced and made retroactive by four years, while rates for its collocation power rates would be reduced and made retroactive by six years.  "During the period 2000 to 2002, there were a lot of files before the commission that just piled up without...

Broadband penetration to approach 70% in next 10 years

telecom | 11/24/2006 5:00 am EST

Penetration of both cable and DSL in Canadian households has grown considerably since they were first introduced, but both technologies appear to be reaching a saturation point, according to new research from Maravedis.  The Montreal-based research firm indicates 2006/2007 could be a turning point as wireless...

Lawyer raised the bar in telecom

telecom | 11/24/2006 5:00 am EST

A telecom lawyer known for living every day as if it could be his last was inducted into Canada’s Telecommunications Hall of Fame in October. According to those who remember him, Ernie Saunders well deserves the distinction.  Saunders (1923-1988) is credited with raising the calibre of discussion surrounding telecommunications law during his...

NL Short Takes

telecom | 11/24/2006 5:00 am EST

Foreign ownership issue rears head at Heritage CommitteeIt shouldn’t likely come as any surprise that the contentious issue of foreign ownership in telecommunications and broadcasting was discussed at a recent hearing of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. On October 30, CRTC chair Charles Dalfen testified in front of the committee as part of its study of the commission’s mandate and...

Government reverses CRTC decision on access independent VoIP

telecom | 11/24/2006 5:00 am EST

Last week, the federal government said the CRTC erred in its VoIP ruling by deciding to regulate the ILECs’ access independent VoIP services. In announcing the decision, Industry Canada Minister Maxime Bernier said the barriers to entry in this market are low and therefore regulation of these services is unnecessary....

NL People

telecom | 11/24/2006 5:00 am EST

Kingston ON-based CMC Microsystems has appointed Jim Roche as acting president and CEO while the board of directors continues to search for a new president and CEO. Roche is replacing outgoing president and CEO Brian Barge who is leaving the company after holding the position for six years. Roche has more than 20 years of leadership experience including co-founding Tundra Semiconductor Corp. in 1995 and serving as its...

CRTC allows use of price ranges for conventional regulated services

telecom | 11/24/2006 5:00 am EST

The trend towards telecommunications pricing deregulation took another step forward as the CRTC agreed to allow the incumbent telephone companies to use price ranges for their tariffed local exchange services.In Telecom Decision 2006-75, the commission ruled that it’s appropriate to use rate ranges for local telephony...

ROW Editorial

telecom | 11/17/2006 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.Industry Minister Maxime Bernier announced this week that the federal Cabinet had reversed a section of the CRTC’s decision on VoIP. He declared that prices for independent VoIP services would now be deregulated.  "It’s [the] logic of competition. When you have competition, you have better...

Wireless services RFP submission deadline set for December 1

telecom | 11/17/2006 5:00 am EST

Offering a calling-party-pays system is one of the key provisions wireless carriers will have to provide as part of a series of Government of Canada (GoC) contracts up for tender. The contracts come from a request for proposals (RFP) issued on October 19, which solicits bids to provide wireless devices and services for all...

Wireless carriers overpricing BlackBerry service: RIM’s Kavelman

telecom | 11/17/2006 5:00 am EST

Research in Motion Ltd.’s CFO Dennis Kavelman suggested recently event that some wireless operators are perhaps overcharging for BlackBerry devices and services, which could be hindering a broadening of RIM’s user base. He made the comments during a session at Scotia Capital’s Telecom & Tech 2007 event in Toronto on November 7 regarding a greater push from RIM into the consumer space.  There is still room to grow in the business sector – even though the vast majority of the approximately six million BlackBerry users in the world are business users – but the consumer segment also represents a significant opportunity for Waterloo ON-based RIM. The introduction of the Pearl...

Analysts divided on competitive nature of Canada’s wireless market

telecom | 11/17/2006 5:00 am EST

In Part II of Report on Wireless’ examination of Canada’s wireless market, Leonard Eichel explores the state of competition in the Canadian wireless market and the possibility of conducting an industry-wide review.  The Telecommunications Policy Review Panel report suggests that competition could be at a lower...

ILECs and competitors sparring over wireless in forbearance calculation

telecom | 11/17/2006 5:00 am EST

Companies party to the proceeding reconsidering the CRTC’s original forbearance criteria (Telecom Public Notice 2006-12) are waging a war of words over whether wireless subscribers should be included in the market-share loss calculation. Under current commission rules, the 25% market share loss threshold doesn’t include...

High-speed 3G network rollouts benefiting Sierra Wireless

telecom | 11/17/2006 5:00 am EST

The rollout of high-speed 3G networks such as EvDO and HSDPA in many global markets presents opportunities for Sierra Wireless Inc. Speaking at Scotia Capital’s Telecom & Tech 2007 event, president and CEO Jason Cohenour explained that not only do these networks offer penetration growth in traditional markets, but...

ROW Short Takes

telecom | 11/17/2006 5:00 am EST

Kangaroo TV device gets honourTime Magazine has honoured the NASCAR Nextel FanView portable device as one of the year’s best inventions. The handheld device, which features live NASCAR race broadcasts, in-car video and audio, and real time data and statistics was developed by Mirabel QC-based Kangaroo TV for Sprint Nextel. The FanView portable device also lets race fans select camera feeds from seven different cameras...

ROW People

telecom | 11/17/2006 5:00 am EST

Mark Johnson has been appointed VP and GM of worldwide sales and technical marketing at Intrinsyc Software International Inc. Johnson joins Intrinsyc after 22 years at Intel Corp. where he supported Intel’s wired and wireless communications businesses as the director of worldwide technical sales and support, director of global marketing for the cellular and handheld products group, and GM of communications sales and marketing for Asia Pacific. He began his career with Intel in Canada in 1984.  Spotwave Wireless has named Lawrence Jennings president and CEO. Jennings was most recently the COO at Intrado, which was named one of Forbes Magazine’s top 200 best managed small companies. In total, Jennings has 20 years of experience in the wireless industry. Prior to his time at Intrado, he served in executive capacities at Teletrac Inc. and Premiere Page Inc.  Nancy Plocica has been promoted VP of sales and marketing for Maximo Impact, a wholly owned subsidiary of wireless telecom reseller TelePlus World Corp. Plocica previously...

Department considering rule changes for air-to-ground spectrum

telecom | 11/17/2006 5:00 am EST

Industry Canada has issued DGTP-11-06 requesting comments on proposed changes to spectrum used to transmit information between aircraft and ground stations. The bandwidth is currently used to support air-to-ground public telephone services. Below is an edited excerpt of the Gazette Notice.  The bands 849-851 MHz and...

ILECs fight competitors on re-evaluation of forbearance forumla

telecom | 11/09/2006 5:00 am EST

The CRTC’s decision to re-open the debate on some of the forbearance criteria in the local telephony market (NL, Sept. 1/06) has succeeded in solidifying well-entrenched opinions on competition in the telecommunications market. But it has also served to expose a rift between the cable companies and smaller competitors....

Shaw Communications criticizes Telus forbearance application

telecom | 11/09/2006 5:00 am EST

 Shaw Communications says that Telus Corp.’s recent forbearance application for Fort McMurray is premature and is nothing more than a test case to review and vary the CRTC’s April 6, 2006 local forbearance decision (Telecom Decision 2006-15; NL, Oct. 27/06).  "If you look at what the commission has in front...

Technology implementation results in commoditization of healthcare

telecom | 11/09/2006 5:00 am EST

A perfect storm is brewing in healthcare, predicts the healthcare industry director for Microsoft Corp.  Citing global phenomena such as labour shortage, reduced reimbursement for healthcare practitioners, the growth of technologies in healthcare, as well as an aging population, Bill Crounse said the crashing currents...

MTS Allstream not impressing National Bank Financial analyst

telecom | 11/09/2006 5:00 am EST

 In one stock jockey’s reckoning of telecommunications, Rogers Communications Inc. is tops and MTS Allstream Inc. has some work to do."I’m worried about MTS," said Greg MacDonald, senior VP of telecom and cable analysis at National Bank Financial. Providing a pointed fiscal assessment of...

NL Short Takes

telecom | 11/09/2006 5:00 am EST

Bell performing better on traditional business Bell Canada has improved the performance of its traditional local telephony and long distance businesses, the company reported in its third quarter financial results conference call on November 1. George Cope, president and COO of the incumbent telephone company, said during the call that local line erosion was down considerably in the third quarter compared to line losses in...

NL People

telecom | 11/09/2006 5:00 am EST

Nortel Networks Corp. has made two appointments recently. Ellen Bovarnick has been named VP, lean Six Sigma and global quality, effective October 30. She will lead the company’s implementation of Six Sigma and will be responsible for managing customer satisfaction, driving process improvements, and establishing corporate quality standards, goals and programs.  Bovarnick joins Nortel from Coca-Cola Co. where she...

NL Editorial

telecom | 11/09/2006 5:00 am EST

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.  The decision by the federal government to change the tax rules for income trusts put a kink in plans by Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. to convert to the tax-friendly structure.  While there was much debate prior to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s decision, and certainly more following his...

Employers association challenges CRTC ruling to exclude QoS results

telecom | 11/09/2006 5:00 am EST

 The Federally Regulated Employers – Transportation and Communications (FETCO) has asked the Governor-in-Council to rescind Telecom Decision 2006-27, which allowed Aliant (now Bell Aliant) to be excused from meeting certain quality of service (QoS) standards as a result of a work stoppage. Below is an edited excerpt of the petition to Cabinet.  Decision 2006-27 jeopardizes the stability of Canada’s longstanding labour management system. It is an unwarranted intrusion into the current stable environment for Canada’s labour market by a regulator that has no expertise or mandate to intervene in such a way.  It also represents a serious disruption to a long-established...